Lost Art Press

Category: Woodworking Classes

Classes at the Storefront, Jan.-May 2025

Posted on by fitz
Welsh chairmaker and teacher Chris Williams, who will join us once again in March/April. We have alerted Crafts & Vines so the owners have ample time to stock up on red wine.

We have a handful of new classes – including one from Welshman Chris Williams – to announce for the first half of 2025, tickets for which will be on sale at 10 a.m. Eastern on Sept. 16, 2024, on our ticketing site.

• Build a Welsh-style Comb-back Chair with Christopher Schwarz, Jan. 13-17
• Build a Dutch Tool Chest with Megan Fitzpatrick, Feb. 7-9
• Build a Welsh-style Comb-back Chair with Christopher Schwarz, March 10-14
• Comb-back Chair Class with Chris Williams, March 31-April 4
• Make a Dovetailed Step Stool with Megan Fitzpatrick, April 26-26
• Build a Welsh-style Comb-back Chair with Christopher Schwarz, May 5-9

For more information, click through (above) to each class (but pay no mind to the “Register Now” button you’ll see – you cannot register until 10 a.m. Eastern on Sept 16).

Christopher Schwarz’s Welsh-style stick chair, which he’ll be teaching three times at LAP this winter and spring.

– Fitz

p.s. Classes sometimes sell out within nano-seconds (class sizes are quite small, so there are very few spots available), so if you’re interested, limber up those fingers and get ready. And if you don’t get in, sign up for the waitlist – we almost always have at least one spot that needs filling.

p.p.s. We might add a class or two in the coming months – so stay tuned!

The prototype of a Shaker-inspired dovetailed step stool that I will be teaching; I have finally tired of making and teaching Shaker trays.

New class: Woodcuts with Rudy Everts

Posted on by fitz

We’ve added a special class and spaces are available now: Learn How to Make Woodcuts with Rudy Everts. The class is Sunday, Nov. 24 and Monday, Nov. 25. Rudy, who is visiting from Munich, will also be filming a video on making a stick chair using nothing but feral green woodworking techniques, from log to finished chair. (But not during the class, of course.)

Students will learn how to draw a design, transfer it to a woodblock, cut the block using edge tools, then print the woodblock by hand onto paper using printing ink.

Rudy has developed a woodcut style that draws inspiration from MC Escher, Wharton Esherick and Paul Landacre, and he has developed numerous shading techniques making woodcuts over several years. (You might know just some of Rudy’s work from the cover of “The Stick Chair Journal” and “The Stick Chair Book” – as well as various carvings he’s made for Chris over the years. Also, Rudy is one-third of the Chair Chat trio, so you know it’s going to be a fun class.)

To learn more (and to register), click here.

Video Postcards from Germany

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Driving on the comb during a chair class in Bavaria.

I just returned from two weeks (and then some) in Bavaria. For the most part I was teaching classes put on by Dictum GmbH. It’s been more than five years since I’ve taught there, so it was great to catch up with old friends and make some new ones.

Here’s a typical scene at dinner one night with the students. We got our menus and the students were explaining what a “divorce salad” was. 

“Is this what you eat when you want a divorce?” I asked.

“Yes, of course,” they said.

“No,” I replied. “You are pulling my chain.”

Eventually we realized they were saying “die wurst,” which means “the sausage.” Not “divorce.”

And yes, they put hot sausages on a green salad here. Don’t knock it until you try it.

I’m returning to Dictum next year for two more weeks of teaching. The plan is to teach two chairmaking classes: A big ole comb-back at the workshop in Niederalteich. And an Irish armchair in the workshop in Munich. When registration opens for these classes, I’ll post the links here.

I made a short video of the Dutch tool chest class. Students came from all over the globe.

In between a few too many beers and Bavarian food, I managed to finish editing Megan’s Dutch tool chest book. It was worth waiting for. Soon we’ll begin designing the book, so it’s definitely coming out  this year.

After teaching, I traveled to Nuremberg with Lucy to explore the city and see a lot of folk furniture at the Fränkisches Freilandmuseum. I could have spent three or four days there, but we had only one. I made a video of some of my favorite pieces and interiors. Take a look.

And now I’m back in the States. Happy to be home, but falling asleep at odd times until my body adjusts.

— Christopher Schwarz

Behind the Class-prep Curtain

Posted on by fitz
Arms, doublers, legs, stretcher and sticks.

Christopher Williams, author of “Good Work: The Chairmaking Life of John Brown,” arrived in town on Thursday night to get ready for his Welsh Stick Chair class here next week – so we thought we’d give you a look behind the scenes at just some what goes into getting ready for a class.

The Christophers left Covington at around 8:30 on Friday morning (when it was still a tolerable 85° or so) for the hour drive to C.R. Muterspaw Lumber to choose enough 8/4 and 4/4 red oak for seven chair “kits” (red oak because it’s strong, available in straight grain and reasonably priced, and it looks nice with a clear finish, or paint).

Kale and I stayed here to hold down the fort – so there’s no video from the lumber picking. (And I, for one, literally can’t stand the heat; I’m considering a move to the Northern Territories.)

Seat blanks (the angled lines are how Chris Williams helps students get the front and back legs on each side in the same plane).

But Kale picked up the camera as soon as the guys were back, and caught some shots of what goes into class prep (at least on day 1 – Chris and Chris are finishing up as I write this at lunchtime on Saturday).

Making sure we have enough good parts ready (with a few extras) is key to a worry-free class. It’s a lot of effort – but worth it, so that students have a good experience…without our having to scramble (much) during the week.

– Fitz

Dutch Tool Chest Class & Woodworking Bazaar

Posted on by fitz

There are still a few spots left in my Dutch Tool Chest class, Oct. 30-Nov. 1 in London, England. In the class, you’ll learn some fundamental hand-tool woodworking skills (planing, sawing and chisel use, as you cut dados, rabbets, dovetails, thumbnail mouldings, chamfers and more – plus how and why to use cut nails) as you build a solid tool chest that will serve you (and your heirs) well for many years. (Note: It also makes an excellent toy chest – kids love the hidden compartment!)

Plus, tickets are go on sale Sat., June 22, for the London IWF Bazaar on Fri., Nov. 1 and Sat. Nov. 2. The bazaar will feature Saturday seminars, with talks on 18th-century furniture, cricket tables, peasant furniture, Shaker furniture, saw sharpening and more, as well as the following vendors: Classic Hand Tools, Lie-Nielsen Toolwords, Lost Art Press (hey – that’s us!), Bad Axe Toolworks, Ian Parker, The Windsor Workshop, Niegel Melfi/Melfi Planes, Michel Auriou, Richard Arnold, Veritas, Sean Hellman, Skelton Saws, St.John Starkie & Bryony Roberts/The Quiet Workshop, Oscar Rush/Hand Forged Edge Tools, Philip Edwards/Philly Planes, Southern Fellowship of Woodworkers, Furniture Maker’s Company, Lowfat Roubo /Derek Jones, G-Sharp Tools/Gervaise Evans, Festool UK, Lamello.

The courses and the bazaar are at the London Design & Engineering UTC, 15 University Way, London E16 2RD.

Holds all this, with room to spare.
Any excuse to show off my Olivia!