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The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) is holding a Known World Metals and Glass Symposium over labor day weekend, in East Bethel, MN. Links to a google website and facebook page are below. There are plans to hold a reduction smelt along with doing a wootz crucible run. Other classes will be offered, this is a good chance for those new to the craft to gain some experience. https://sites.google.com/site/knownworldmetalandglass/home https://www.facebook.com/events/1529824643905337/

I have a very exciting teaching schedule this year. I am very happy to have been asked back to all of these schools. This is what is set up so far I will be adding more classes through out the year to my schedule as I book them. First beginning in Jan. my return to Brookfield craft center in Brookfield CT this is a great shop that has seen some hard times financially over the last few years and has been forced to close its doors more than once, but with a totally new board of directors in place new life is being breathed back into this school. I have a real soft spot for it as it is the first place I ever taught! Jan 10-11 and March 21-22 Introduction to bladesmithing Feb 7-8 The forged kitchen knife In Feb I will be teaching a cool little class at the Guilford arts center in Guilford CT, another great school that is doing its best to promote great blacksmithing and bladesmithing instruction. In this class we will be making a small chasing hammer along with a set of basic gravers for doing wire inlay, and a then try then out doing a small amount of inlay in to mild steel. Following that in March I will be teaching a class on Tongs for bladesmithing, blades can be tough to get a good hold of with tongs but in this class we will make the same two designs for tongs that I use to forge just about every blade I make! Feb 14-15 Wire inlay tools March 21-22 Tongs for Bladesmithing April sees my return to the New England School of Metalwork for the very popular Pattern Welded Seax class. This is the most amazing shop I have ever taught in. In fact it is the only shop I have ever worked in that was as well equipped as my own! last years class went very well and I have some ideas on making it even better this time around! This class filled up very quickly last year, so waiting to sign up might not be a good idea, April 20-25 In June I will be again teaching a weeklong bladesmithing course at the Peters Valley Arts Center in Layton NJ this is My favorite school to teach at it is so much more than just a craft school it is a meeting and melding of the like minded from across the country and from many disciplines. It is a weeklong total immersion in what I love to do, and the students are a huge part of that. June 4-9th an introduction to bladesmithing Also In June is a new class I am offering at the Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne, NY. the Hudson Valley Trapper survival Kit. This five day class is designed to make the three basic trade tools needed for survival, a camp axe, a fire striker and a sheath knife all based on examples from late 1700s to the late 1800s. I have had the idea for this class for a number of years but hadn’t’ found a school that was the right Fit for the class until now. I am extremely excited for this class, so much of the history of these kind of pieces is tied to this area of the country it is the perfect location with very nicely laded out well equipped shop to do it in! In the fall I will also be returning the AFS shop to teach two basic bladesmithing classes one in Sept. and one in Oct June 25-30th Hudson valley trappers survival kit Sept.5-6 & Oct. 3-4 basic bladesmithing feel free to contact me if there are any other classes that any one would like to see, or schools that would like to host me. MP