Peter Follansbee will spend four days with us to teach a class in carving various 17th-century designs from pieces he’s studied from museums and private collections. This class – suitable for those new to carving or those new to this style of carving – will start with basic techniques and posture, and simple gouge work. Then more gouges will come into play as students delve deeper into patterns, proportions, spacing and the relationship between background and foreground. Each successive pattern builds upon the previous example, adding more tools and concepts.
The class runs Monday, April 17 through Thursday, April 20. Class size is limited to six students – so you’ll get plenty of personal attention from Follansbee. Plus the shop cats (if they deign to visit). The cost is $1,200, which includes the stock (quartersawn oak). Tickets go on sale a week from today at 10 a.m. Eastern (that’s 10 a.m. Eastern on January 12) through our Ticket Tailor page.
You can read more, and see the tool list, by clicking here.
– Fitz
$1800 a day is a hefty daily wage. $1200 each for 6 attendees is almost a half a million a year for Peter if he taught 5 days a week. Out of my price range. I guess if you can get it, then go for it.
Most woodworkers live modestly at best. Peter has dedicated his life to the craft and is an outstanding teacher.
Don’t be a toad.
Do we get veto power? I thought I read someplace that we had one lifetime veto, and could banish one reader to the cornfield. Is that still a thing?
Ha ha! Word.
Doesn’t sound like you have ever been self-employed. The daily income from teaching is a not a 50-week year, it is at best a periodic boost available only from getting a reputation from your previous 20-30+ years learning your craft. Then there is the cost of the supplied materials, ever read anything he wrote about how to chose your tree? and travel with extra tools, and lodging and meals along with the wood…. $300 a day for training materials included is not at all unreasonable, especially if you have done “professional development”, classes to keep your skills up in a technical field. I know of no one else specialising in his style of carving who even could teach.
I am modestly retired, but if I had not already won the lottery for another class at LAP I would try to sign up. I budget myself to have one class a year.
The rate is reasonable, especially compared to technical training rates I’ve been charged by guys not that good at what they do. And I never got to play with any sharp tools. Having read Joiners Work, and watched his episodes with Roy Underhill on Woodwright’s Shop and read his many magazine articles I know how good a craftsman he is. I would be willing to pay that much just to watch Peter drink tea and eat crumpets.
Crumpets? You think he’s a crumpet guy?
Pimento loaf. Definitely pimento loaf.
I wish I had the money for such a session. His knowledge and insight makes it totally worth it.
Most people know this, but in case you or someone else doesn’t: Peter offers a number of video classes through Vimeo that are very reasonably priced. Here is his latest:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/follansbeejoinedchest
I don’t know what a crumpet guy Is in the US. Crumpet is more 16th century than donut. I don’t think Plymouth plantation had dunkin donuts then. early crumpets were hard pancakes cooked on a griddle. Early word may be referring to a crumpled or curled-up cake, based on an isolated 14th century reference to a “crompid cake”,and the Old English word crompeht (‘crumpled’) being used to gloss Latin folialis, possibly a type of thin bread.
“A crumpet (/ˈkrʌmpɪt/ (listen)) is a small griddle bread made from an unsweetened batter of water or milk, flour, and yeast, popular in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.”
The term has changed over the centuries and by region.
The basic definition seems to imply a type of bread or bun, cooked in a pan rather than an oven, and made without sweetener.
Basically an unsweetened pancake maybe similar to a Thomas’ English Muffin.
The older definition seems to imply a harder form, made without yeast or baking soda (when it later became available) to make the dough rise, so maybe like an unsweetened American Scone, or maybe like an oatcake.
As for the cost of the classes, I doubt Peter Follansbee is doing these every day of the week, or every week of the year.
He doesn’t live locally to Lost Art Press, so he has travel time and expenses there and back.
The books he has published on show extensive historical research into the methods of construction of historical furniture, and while I don’t recall his official “education level”, I presume at this point, his knowledge in the subject would be “doctorate level” or higher.
He’s basically charging what a more expensive plumber or electrician would bill at, but the subject of Peter Follansbee‘s knowledge is way more specialized.
A six person class is also a really small class size.
For those who can’t afford, or don’t want to pay for the personalized experience, there are at least the books he’s written, and articles, and videos he has made thru various sources. While these can even seem expensive, the amount of work that went into researching and writing them makes the cost seem inconsequential, when compared to something like the cost of a fancy Starbucks drink.