Explore the natural world through forged metal in this hands-on botanical forging class. Students will learn fundamental blacksmithing techniques while forging a variety of leaves, flowers, stems, and other organic forms from steel.

You’ll also be introduced to plasma cutting to create shapes from sheet metal and MIG welding to assemble your work. Using these skills, each student will design and create a unique botanical sculpture that combines traditional forging with modern metalworking techniques.

No previous blacksmithing or welding experience is required.

Mark Teece is an artist blacksmith near Syracuse, NY, with over 10 years of experience running his own blacksmithing business. He is passionate about teaching this ancient craft, offering blacksmithing classes to students of all ages—from youths to retirees—ensuring each student enjoys a hands-on, personal experience in a small class setting. Mark specializes in creating custom ornamental ironwork for homes and gardens, blending traditional techniques with artistic craftsmanship. Mark's work is deeply influenced by his upbringing in Britain, where he was surrounded by historical ironwork, as well as the rich legacy of colonial blacksmiths in New England. Instagram: @TheBritishBlacksmith

This three-day workshop explores practical ways to develop an idea from a drawing into a three-dimensional form. Students will begin with short drawing exercises that focus on shape, proportion, space and movement. They will then translate selected drawings into simple physical models using paper, chipboard, wire and other accessible materials.

Through repeated cycles of making and revision, students will explore structure, balance, scale and joining. The emphasis is on using sketches and maquettes as tools for thinking rather than treating the first idea as a final solution.

Students will leave with drawings, models and a repeatable process for developing future projects.

The workshop is appropriate for artists, designers, craftspeople and makers at any experience level.

Students Should Bring

● Sketchbook

● Pencils and eraser

● Personal drawing materials if desired

● Images or sketches of projects

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

Experience what it's like to create a sheath fitted to your blade. Students will learn the basics of making a custom sheath. Focus will be on fit, tooling and general processes of leatherwork. The class will go over design of a sheath, transfer to and cutting of the leather, and order of operations for assembling the pieces.

Candy will use a combination of demonstrations and hands-on instruction to enhance your learning experience.

Note: Students should bring a knife, either fixed blade or folding. It does not have to be a handmade knife, just anything you need a sheath for or just practice.

Who Should Take this class:

This class is open to all experience levels.

Class will make use of leather knives and scissors, awls and needles and various other tooling associated with leatherwork.

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.

Chasing is the art of using specialized hammers, punches, and chisels to emboss images into the surface of metal. From simple to complex, adding chased elements to a metal's surface softens and dignifies its appearance. This class will introduce you to the various tools and techniques to create images and patterns on any metal. You'll use these techniques to create a one of kind cylindrical vessel that can be used as a planter, vase, pencil holder or be an objet d'art on its own.

Who Should Take this class

This class is open a to all experience levels. Students with a meticulous eye for detail will love this class.

Student tips: Bring your glasses or best magnifying readers. Your Noise Cancelling earbuds or headphones can make many simultaneous hammers more pleasant.

Class will make use of hand tools, torches, and mild chemicals for cleaning and patination.

Class fee: $350

Materials fee: $25

Class size limited to 10

Brian took his first blacksmithing class in 2005 under local smith Richard Rightmyer to learn how to make his own woodworking tools. Captivated by the feel of hot metal under the hammer, Brian poured all his free time into advancing his smithing skills taking classes whenever he could. Brian began teaching blacksmithing and coppersmithing in 2012 and has demonstrated at many public events and conferences. Recently, he has focused on the art of copper chasing, finding the meticulous attention to detail it requires to be a form of meditation in motion. Brian is an electrical engineer by day and holds a 6th Degree black belt in Aikido. He finds many commonalities with the efficient body movements of martial arts and the proper ergonomics for blacksmithing and coppersmithing. Brian has blended the arts to create effective and safe hammering techniques for people of all sizes. s an engineer, he is fascinated by the science of blacksmithing, specifically the metallurgy that goes into tool making. He firmly believes that true learning happens when you are having fun.

Experience what it's like to work hot steel! Students will learn the fundamentals of blacksmithing tool making. Topics will include forging tool steel, heat treatment of different steels and using your tools to create animal faces.

Note this class is a project-based class, depending on your skills you may leave with several tools. Making faces with those tools may not end up with a completed project just samples.

The focus of this class is on building comfort with forging tools and heat treating them appropriately.

Candy will use a combination of demonstrations and hands-on instruction to enhance your learning experience.

Who Should Take this class:

This class is open to all experience levels. Class will make use of hammers and forges.

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 class takes up where we left off in 2026, using both the skills from the circular light as well as developing two new skills. Students will cut and shape sheets of copper as well as use the pan and box brake to create a wall plate and will solder the joints. It’s an exciting and enjoyable class, with the end result of a wall sconce ready to bring home and admire. These warm and attractive lights are easy to build and great to have around the house. And the new skills can add arrows to any wood worker’s quiver for the creation of non-wood elements for furniture.

Materials: 24 oz copper sheet, laminated shoji paper, electrical parts

Tuition: $350

Material: $100

Capacity: 10

Andrew Glantz is a furniture designer and maker who lives and works in Scottsdale, Arizona. Born and raised on the East Coast, he graduated from the Frederic Gunn School, 1967 and Wesleyan University; BA, 1971 and MAT, 1972. After teaching Graphic Arts for ten years, he turned to period piece renovation and construction from 1978 to 1984. When he moved West in 1984, he began to devote his efforts solely to contemporary, sculptural furniture design and construction. He is the owner of Zenith Design, a one-person studio, and is responsible for all phases of design, construction and marketing. He is an arts activist and before moving to Scottsdale, he lived on the Navajo Nation from 1984 to 1987. He moved to Salt Lake City in 1987, and was involved with the Salt Lake Arts Council, the Salt Lake Arts Center, and the Utah Arts Council’s Endowment Fund Development Committee. He also ran the Vital Arts Gallery as volunteer executive director for three years and has curated several major exhibitions. He relocated to Scottsdale in 2002. A longtime member of the Furniture Society, Andrew was tapped to serve as a trustee in 2005, and served as treasurer, vice president and president of the board of trustees, as well as chair of the development committee. His term of office ended in 2011. He is an active advisor for the Southwest School of Woodworking. He teaches furniture design and construction at the Southwest School of Woodworking in Phoenix and the Marc Adams School of Woodworking in Franklin, Indiana. He is a presenter committee member of he Yuma Art Symposium. His articles on furniture design and construction appear in several trade magazines. He delights in mentoring makers far and wide through teaching and Zoom meetings from Florida to Utah and locally.

Learn to create a wonderful conversation piece and functional tool. In this class we will cover the basics of designing and building a simple friction folding knife in the Higo Style.

Students will start by learning about appropriate steels and how to process them to bring out the desired qualities such as durability, edge retention and sharpenability. After discussion of material size constraints students will work a small piece of copper to create a decorative handle.

Then they will design a blade to fit inside their handle. Finally, students will create a pattern from their design and forge a blade just slightly larger than the pattern to allow for grinding.

After rough grinding and an overview of the basics of hardening and tempering students will heat treat their blades. To finish the weekend the knife will be assembled.

Candy will use a combination of demonstrations and hands-on instruction to enhance your learning experience.

Note this class is a project-based class, completion depends on your skills and ability to follow directions.

Who Should Take this class:

This class is open to all experience levels but some forging experience is highly recommended. Class will make use of hammers, forges and grinders.

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.

Experience what it's like to create a sheath fitted to your blade. Students will learn the basics of making a custom sheath. Focus will be on fit, tooling and general processes of leatherwork. The class will go over design of a sheath, transfer to and cutting of the leather, and order of operations for assembling the pieces.

Candy will use a combination of demonstrations and hands-on instruction to enhance your learning experience.

Note: Students should bring a knife, either fixed blade or folding. It does not have to be a handmade knife, just anything you need a sheath for or just practice.

Who Should Take this class:

This class is open to all experience levels.

Class will make use of leather knives and scissors, awls and needles and various other tooling associated with leatherwork.

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.

In this class, students will create a hunting knife. Starting with a section of flat 1080 steel bar, the class will cover forging, grinding, heat treatment, handle fitment and finishing techniques. Students will leave with a finished, hidden tang blade ready to take home. There will be opportunities for additional forging as time allows. Beginner blacksmithing experience is recommended but not required.

Zach is a welder by trade with experience in a wide range of industries. Based in rural NY, he is an ABS bladesmith who creates custom, heirloom-quality, hand forged kitchen cutlery and edged tools. He strives to blend traditional and modern techniques and materials to create quality tools to be used for decades in the kitchen. After teaching welding for Monroe Community College and at the Arc + Flame Center for seven years, Zach now runs his own company where, in addition to blades, he manufactures tooling and machines for blacksmiths and metalworkers. He is passionate about collaborating with other local artisans, makers, and tradespeople. In his classes, Zach seeks to inspire students by sharing the functional artistry of modern bladesmithing. https://tarbellindustries.com/

This two-day workshop provides a hands-on introduction to MIG welding and basic steel fabrication. Students will learn how the welder works and how to set up the machine for mild steel. Practice exercises will focus on establishing a stable arc and producing consistent welds.

Students will make several common joints and learn how to recognize basic welding problems. Demonstrations will also cover measuring, marking, cutting, grinding, clamping and fitting steel. Safety, ventilation and material preparation will be discussed throughout the workshop.

After completing the practice exercises, students will apply their skills to a small fabrication project.

The class is designed for beginners and does not require previous welding experience.

Students Should Bring

● Leather steel toe boots or safety-toe boots

● Long natural-fiber pants

● Long-sleeved natural-fiber shirt

● Notebook and pencil

● 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

In this class, students will create a 6-7" European-style chef knife. Starting with a section of flat 1080 steel bar, the class will cover forging, grinding, heat treatment, handle fitment and finishing techniques. Students will leave with a finished, hidden tang blade ready to take home and prep a meal. There will be opportunities for additional forging as time allows. Beginner blacksmithing experience is strongly recommended but not required.

Course fee: $500

Materials fee: $50

Class size limited to 6

Zach is a welder by trade with experience in a wide range of industries. Based in rural NY, he is an ABS bladesmith who creates custom, heirloom-quality, hand forged kitchen cutlery and edged tools. He strives to blend traditional and modern techniques and materials to create quality tools to be used for decades in the kitchen. After teaching welding for Monroe Community College and at the Arc + Flame Center for seven years, Zach now runs his own company where, in addition to blades, he manufactures tooling and machines for blacksmiths and metalworkers. He is passionate about collaborating with other local artisans, makers, and tradespeople. In his classes, Zach seeks to inspire students by sharing the functional artistry of modern bladesmithing. https://tarbellindustries.com/