Marquetry is the delicate art of creating intricate images, decorative elements, and lettering by cutting and fitting together different wood species. Originating during the Italian Renaissance, marquetry has adorned furniture, church pews, and grand panels in homes and palaces for centuries. Over time, its techniques and styles evolved as the craft spread worldwide.

In this two-day introductory class, Frank will guide you through his favorite marquetry techniques, including packet cutting and double-bevel sawing, revealing that anyone can bring this timeless art to life. You’ll learn how to select and prepare veneers, use essential tools, and practice foundational skills. Starting with simple designs, you’ll then explore reproducing historical paterae—classic motifs found on 18th and 19th-century furniture. Along the way, you’ll master sawing methods and ancient techniques like sand shading to achieve depth and a three-dimensional effect.

The course culminates in double-bevel cutting, where you’ll practice precision techniques for creating flawless lettering with no visible gaps. Join us for a journey into the rich tradition of marquetry and discover how to bring beautiful, wood-crafted artistry into your work.

Class fee: $385

Materials fee: $50

Class size limited to 10

Frank Strazza is a master traditional fine furniture maker with over 30 years of experience, based in Central Texas. His woodworking journey began at the tender age of 11. After graduating, Frank served many years as an apprentice honing his craft under the tutelage of renowned artisan Paul Sellers. Frank's work has been showcased in local and national publications and is part of the White House's permanent collection. His masterpieces have garnered multiple top awards in nationally recognized furniture shows, including Best of Show and People's Choice. He has been building furniture for over 25 years and his work has been featured in both local and national publications, including Woodworker West, Woodwork Magazine, and Fine Woodworking. A passionate educator, Frank travels across the country imparting the timeless skills of hand tool woodworking to eager students. His diverse interests span Windsor chair making, intricate inlay, violin crafting, and the art of marquetry. When he's not in the shop, Frank can be found cycling, and making music on the mandolin and cello. http://www.strazzafurniture.com/

In this immersive class, students will gain a strong foundation in traditional hand-tool woodworking, learning core joinery techniques that have stood the test of time. Led by Frank Strazza, who brings over 30 years of experience and knowledge from his own traditional apprenticeship, this class is an ideal opportunity to build lasting skills. Instead of focusing on completing a project, students will practice fundamental techniques, developing a deeper understanding of woodworking essentials that can be applied to future projects with confidence and precision.

You’ll learn to work with essential hand tools—saws, planes, chisels, and scrapers—while discovering the methods to keep them sharp and effective. You’ll hand-cut a variety of classic joints, including dados, dovetails, and mortise and tenon joints, each skill building upon the last. By starting with a rough board, you’ll also learn to four-square it entirely by hand, gaining hands-on experience in planing and working the wood from its raw state. Toward the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to use your new skills to begin creating a simple dovetailed box, blending all of the techniques you’ve learned. The emphasis is on technique rather than rushing to finish a project, giving you a solid grasp of joinery fundamentals.

Key Techniques Covered

Joinery Fundamentals:

1. Hand-cut dados
2. Dovetails (through and half-blind)
3. Mortise and tenons, including through mortises

Tool Mastery:

1. Adjusting and using essential hand tools, including saws, planes, chisels, and scrapers
2. Sharpening chisels, saws, scrapers, and planes to keep them at peak performance
3. Four-Squaring a Board:
4. Learning to plane a rough board to a fully four-squared state

Course Takeaways

By the end of the class, you’ll have the confidence to hand-cut various joinery types, tune and use hand planes to their fullest, and apply sharpening techniques to keep your tools in top condition. This course gives you a solid foundation in joinery, allowing you to approach future woodworking projects with skill and confidence.

Class fee: $900

Materials fee: $25

Class size limited to 10

Frank Strazza is a master traditional fine furniture maker with over 30 years of experience, based in Central Texas. His woodworking journey began at the tender age of 11. After graduating, Frank served many years as an apprentice honing his craft under the tutelage of renowned artisan Paul Sellers. Frank's work has been showcased in local and national publications and is part of the White House's permanent collection. His masterpieces have garnered multiple top awards in nationally recognized furniture shows, including Best of Show and People's Choice. He has been building furniture for over 25 years and his work has been featured in both local and national publications, including Woodworker West, Woodwork Magazine, and Fine Woodworking. A passionate educator, Frank travels across the country imparting the timeless skills of hand tool woodworking to eager students. His diverse interests span Windsor chair making, intricate inlay, violin crafting, and the art of marquetry. When he's not in the shop, Frank can be found cycling, and making music on the mandolin and cello. http://www.strazzafurniture.com/

Start your year off right with something new! We won’t be drinking but things will get hot and sweaty while we Bang in the New Year!

This class is limited to 6 students. Experience what it's like to work hot steel. Students will learn to create a leaf. Focus will be on the fundamentals of hammer control to get the steel to respond the way we want it to. The class will go over the basic operations of isolating material, forming, and finally texturing with the anvil and hammer to give the leaf life.

This class is an excellent way to get a taste of forging. Candy will use a combination of demonstrations and hands-on instruction to enhance your learning experience.

This class is limited to 6 students, is from 8 PM to Midnight on January 31st.

Candace started blacksmithing in 2006 and has explored many aspects of working metal. Through her explorations she has developed a strong belief that regardless of what you create a strong foundation in the basic, fundamental techniques is critical. All her classes incorporate this focus on developing strong foundational skills.

This two-day workshop introduces students to the safe and effective use of the power hammer for forging steel.

Students will learn how the machine works and how to control hot material beneath the dies. Demonstrations will cover drawing out, tapering, spreading, isolating mass and creating texture. The class will also address forging temperature, work holding, body position and basic tooling.

Students will practice moving between the power hammer and the anvil as they complete a series of structured exercises. The goal is to build confidence with the machine and develop skills that can support future sculptural, functional or toolmaking projects.

Prior blacksmithing experience is helpful but not required.

Students Should Bring

● Leather steel toe boots or safety-toe boots

● Long natural-fiber pants

● Long-sleeved natural-fiber shirt

● Notebook or sketchbook

● Reusable water bottle

Annalisa Barron is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York City and Rochester, NY. She graduated from Penn State University with a BFA in painting and drawing in 2013 and with an MFA in sculpture from the Pratt Institute in 2017. Her work has been exhibited at the Cooper Union, University of Rochester, Southern Oregon University, BunkerPROJECTS Gallery (Pittsburgh, PA), U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, NO/GLOSS film festival (UK), and the Anthology Film Archives (NYC). The Kingdom of Back (2017) was featured in Berlin, Germany, as part of GRRL HAUS Cinema’s 2018 European tour. She served as a panelist for the 2020 NYFA Craft and Sculpture Fellowships and is a recipient of NYSCA’s 2021 DEC Regrant Program/Individual Artist Grant. She has received support from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York Film and Video Council, the AAUW, the New York State Inspire Grant, Penn State University, and the Simmons-Jansma Project Renew Grant. Currently, Annalisa teaches in the College of Art and Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. http://www.annalisabarron.com