Hi all!
For those of you who didn’t know; Up in Plymouth Massachusetts there is a group of handcrafters that call themselves Plymouth Crafts (http://www.plymouthcraft.org/). They consist (mostly but not wholly) of People who used to work for Plymouth Plantation.
This Year they set up a sort of woodworking conference. It was AWESOME!!!!
Nearly a dozen instructors, all working with green wood and hand tools. Not a Power tool to be seen! @150 participants (myself included), all invaded Pinewoods Dance Camp outside of Plymouth Mass..
Lots of spoon whittlers, some bowl carvers, some bowl turners, and a few furniture makers.
I mostly wanted to meet Mr. Peter Follansbee, I’ve been following his work for several years now. but I also wanted to see if I could try out a springpole lathe (I did).
STORY TIME: I went up to Plymouth on Thursday. The Google said that it should take me @ 6 hours….. 11 1/4 hours later I finally get there… somewhen on the “cross Bronx expressway” my muffler blew and the engine started knocking.. I pulled off in New Rochelle to check it, added radiator fluid and oil. And continued on my very noisy way.
I met up with my good friend Kate Field that evening to split a room so we would be rested. we had a great dinner at Mama Mia’s on the Plymouth waterfront.
The next morning we traveled the last 16 miles to the site and were promptly kicked out!! They weren’t allowed to let anyone on site before 11:00am but things were supposed to start at 12:30…. so we pulled out and parked in the lot of a nearby church.. we gathered quite a crew there. and several of us got out chairs and tools and sticks and started sharpening and whittling and talking and introducing and etc etc (and we had a great time sitting there on the group W bench)
And the mass of us pulled in right at 11:00
So: pictures or it didn’t happen!
Our cabin:
springpole lathe on stage at “Newbiggen”
Miss JoJo Wood (from England) looking a mite bit lost…
they had these large purple lady slippers in clumps all about the woods…
a cute little red squirrel scolded me
some shots of the participants waiting for lunch…
and for desert at lunch!!!! OMG Schnickerdoodles!!!! My Favorite!!!
the next morning saw a little fog over the pond…
and a chipmunk…
and in most of the toilets something like:
Obviously a mad marble race maker got loose in camp one summer… they all contain some kind of chime for the marbles to bump against and ring..
breakfast and morning announcements…
The food was fabulous! fresh baked bread every meal (except breakfast).
Friday was “wander around and meet the instructors” day. I got to try out Jared Stone-Dahl’s lathe. (sorry I forgot to take a picture)
So I hung out at Peter Follansbee’s morning demo And attended his hands on activity in the afternoon.
That was my main reason for attending after all.
Saturday night they had a Hoedown… and I went to bed “early”.
On Sunday I spent time with Tim Manney showing ladderback chair making and with Derrick Sanderson making bowls on the springpole lathe.
By the time I left my head was full and my hands were itching… closing ceremonies at lunch on Sunday (it was actually the middle of the day). Paula Marcoux and Peter Follansbe there joking around.
I should mention that the majority of the attendees were avid spoon carvers, as are Jogge Sundqvist, Peter Follansbee, and JoJo Wood ( I wish I had time to also see her carve spoons and make a clog), they all seemed to have a blast too. And there were instructors for hewing beams! Pret Woodburn and Rick McKee! There was simply too much to do!
So (to sum up): Lots to do, Great food, Good people, Gorgeous camp…
Well I have gotta go do something now.. there’s just too much in my head, gotta empty it 😉
count your fingers
K
Leave a Reply