Courses & Workshops 2008 Schedule
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Basic Blacksmithing Workshops Peter Wells
These classes are designed for students with little or no experience in the craft. You will be introduced to the tools and materials, instructed in the management of a coal forge and learn basic hot metal forming techniques. Safety considerations are also covered. Gloves, goggles and leather aprons will be provided. You may expect to complete several projects during the workshop. Basic content of the 2 and 3 day workshops are the same though the 3 day sessions allow more time for practice.
Dates: June 28,29; July 11,12,13 9:30-4:30
June 30, July 1 Teens only (ages 14-17) 10:00-4:00
Cost: Adult: $215 (2 day), $285 (3 day) Teens: $160
Blacksmithing Projects Workshops Peter Wells
Open to students with experience. These 2 or 3 day sessions will allow you to strengthen your basic forging skills and explore advanced techniques. You may expect to complete one or more projects of your own design. The Blacksmithing Projects Workshops scheduled in August will include theory and practice of "steeling iron", the ancient practice of forge welding steel cutting or working surfaces onto softer iron tool bodies.
Dates: August 9, 10 August 15,16,17 9:30-4:30
July 14,15 (Teens only, ages 14-17) 10:00-4:00
Cost: Adult: $215 (2 day), $285 (3 day) Teens: $160
One-On-One Blacksmithing Instruction
Warren Rinehart
Work one-on-one with the man who inspired LCMM’s new Blacksmith Arts Center. Blacksmithing has been Warren Rinehart’s passion since 1974. He has trained under many outstanding blacksmiths in the USA, Czechoslovakia, Israel and Mexico. Warren will tailor your day with him to meet your request to learn or refine a technique, start or finish a special project, or learn how to use the power hammer or press to broaden your blacksmith skills.
Dates: By Reservation Cost: $150/day
Sea Kayaking Basics Kevin Rose
Lake Champlain paddling fun begins with the basics. Develop efficient forward and reverse strokes. Learn to launch, land, and maneuver your kayak with ease. Get tips on essential equipment selection and paddling safety. Kevin Rose, owner of PaddleWays and founder of the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail brings decades of sea kayaking experience and teaching skills to this introductory session. All necessary equipment provided or bring your own.
Dates: July 20th, 9am – noon Cost:$55
Sea Kayaking: Intermediate Skills
Kevin Rose
The ability to prevent capsize, or reenter your kayak following capsize can give you the confidence to extend your paddling horizons. Enhance basic strokes for effectiveness in rough water or safely navigating an unexpected storm. Practice assisted and solo reentries; learn which techniques work best for you and your boat. Kayaking instructor, Kevin Rose, owner of PaddleWays, brings his twenty plus years of teaching experience to this session. All necessary equipment provided or bring your own.
Dates: July 20th, 2pm – 5pm Cost: $55 (combination with The Basics for $100)
Longboats Rowing Museum Staff
Join us for a great weekly rowing experience and get a great workout in the process. Row one of our 32' Pilot Gigs which can accomodate six rowers, a coxswain, and a passenger. No experience necessary. Call LCMM to sign up: (802) 475-2022.
Rowing is dependent on weather and a sufficient number of rowers. Basin Harbor.
Dates: Thursday evenings May—November
Cost: $10/session or $60/season
Recording and Documenting Small Craft Rob Thompson
Learn the fascinating techniques used to record the shape and document the construction of small boats. Examining boat plans and using the concepts of stations, buttocks, waterlines, and diagonals, we will “take off the lines” of a boat selected from the museum’s small watercraft collection to create a “table of offsets” (the numerical representation of the hull shape), a construction diagram, and builder’s notes for the boat. In a subsequent workshop we will “loft” the boat used in this workshop.
Dates: June 28-29 Cost: $225
Lofting Rob Thompson
Lofting is the full-scale drawing of a boat’s three-dimensional shape into two dimensions. It is a critical process in perfecting a boat’s shape and being able to make accurate molds and patterns for construction. Learn to lay out a grid, convert offsets (numerical plans) to drawings, and then refine and fair those lines. We will loft a boat from the LCMM collection using offsets created in an earlier workshop.
Dates: August 9-10 Cost: $175
Use, Care, and Sharpening of Hand Tools Simon Watts
In this era of power tools, the use of hand planes, chisels, and cabinet scrapers has become a lost art. Knowing how to properly sharpen and care for these tools gives a woodworker “the edge” to truly achieve fine craftsmanship. Students will bring their own tools—new, used, or borrowed—tune them up, and use them to complete a simple take-home project. One or two-day course.
Dates: October 18-19 Cost: $75 per day
Introduction to Wooden Boat Repair Simon Watts
The repairing of wooden boats is a skill that can provide great personal satisfaction—and give a treasured boat extended life. Whether you own a wooden boat, are thinking of buying one, or just enjoy solving problems with wood, this introductory course with renowned instructor Simon Watts will start you on the journey towards putting boats back in the water. Participants can either bring their own boat, or work in the repair of one from the museum’s collection. Runs concurrently with Oar/Paddle/Spar-making
Dates: October 20-23 Cost: $350
Oar/Paddle/Sparmaking Simon Watts
Learn to use a variety of tools to craft an elegant pair of oars, paddles, or spar. Participants should have basic woodworking skills plus a smoothing plane, a block plane, spokeshave, and scraper. You’ll make a sparmaker’s guage (to keep) and use it to build your project from a 2x8 piece of spruce (provided). Runs concurrently with Introduction to Wooden Boat Repair.
Dates: October 21-23 Cost: $250
Introduction to Letter Carving Simon Watts
A wooden name board adds an elegant finishing touch to your boat or home. This course is designed to get you started in the wonderful art of carving incised letters in wood, covering lay out, use of simple carving tools, and the types and technique of cuts.
Students must provide own basic set of carving tools and purchase Introduction to Letter Carving by Chris Pye.
Dates: October 25-26 Cost: $185
Build Your Own “Wood Duck” Kayak Geoff Kerr
In a tenth of the time it takes to launch a heavy kayak or drag the big canoe down, you can slide one of these little kayaks into the water and be on your way to explore all the bays and backwaters of Lake Champlain. Comfortable and stable, these boats are also fast; tracking is solid in stiff crosswinds. No experience necessary; all tools provided. Adults to 16 years old, age 12+ with adult.
Dates: June 16-21(noon) Cost: $1400
Build Your Own Kayak Paddle Geoff Kerr
There’s nothing like paddling your kayak with a paddle you made yourself. We will provide you with clear, straight-grained piece of “paddle wood” and the tools you’ll need to shape it into an elegant, working kayak paddle. You choose between two options—a one piece paddle, or a take-apart two piece.
Dates: August 22 (eve.), 23 and 24 Cost: $125
Build Your Own “Sassafrass” Lapstrake Canoe Geoff Kerr
Geoff Kerr will guide you through the building process to complete a gorgeous, highly-capable boat that you will enjoy for years. Chesapeake Light Craft’s revolutionary LapStitchTM building method allows lapstrake canoes to be built by someone with no previous woodworking experience. All tools provided. Age 16 if building alone; age 12+ with adult.
Dates: July 28-August 2 (noon)
Cost: 12’ $1450
16’ $1600
Family Boatbuilding Don Dewees, Al Stiles, Dean Percival
One of our most popular workshops! Families or groups of friends build and launch a 12’ Bevin’s Rowing Skiff. This traditional boat design comes in kit form from the Alexandria Seaport Foundation. Some basic hand tools required, but no special carpentry skills necessary. Final painting done at home.
Dates: July 18-20 Cost: $1,100
Lake Champlain
Natural &
Cultural History
Reptiles and Amphibians of Lake Champlain
Jim Andrews
The waters, wetlands, and woodlands of the Lake Champlain margin are home to a fascinating assemblage of turtles, snakes, frogs, toads, and salamanders. Join Middlebury herpetologist Jim Andrews for a slide show followed by a fun field outing to look for, identify, and observe some of these amazing creatures. You’ll learn how valuable your field sightings are, how to fill out reports the next time you find a reptile or amphibian and how to photograph them for the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas.
Dates: June 21 Cost: $50
Dragonflies for Dummies Bryan Pfeiffer
They are among our most glittering and fascinating insects. They patrol, hunt, eat, fight, and mate in wetlands, rivers, lakes. You can watch the dragonfly drama unfold during a half-day lecture and field outing with entomologist Bryan Pfeiffer. Beginning with a slide program on dragonfly diversity and ecology, we’ll head outside with nets, binoculars, and cameras to discover some of Vermont’s most common and exciting dragonfly species. Bring a lunch and be prepared to get your feet wet.
Dates: July 18, 10-3 Cost: $60
Fish Seining and Identification Matt Witten
In this fun workshop, we’ll use a seine net to catch and observe some of the eighty species of fish found in Lake Champlain. Seine nets have been used for centuries and all over the world. In 1771, George Washington ordered a seine net from London to catch herring on the Potomac River. He seemed to be in a hurry to have it for the spring run of fish! We have a special scientific permit to use this shallow-water drag net to catch, identify, and release fish back into the lake. Participants will get a chance to help wade (in waders), to operate the net, transfer flopping fish from the net into a bucket on shore, and view them in special transparent containers. We will also examine a plankton catch to see what the small fish are eating.
Dates: June 1 Cost: Free with Museum Admission
Prehistoric Paddle Matt Witten and Joanne DellaSalla
Come paddle back in time and visit an ancient Native American village near the confluence of Dead Creek and Otter Creek – an area that was at one time one of the most prized and active Native American campsites and settlements in all of Vermont. We will canoe a short distance on Otter Creek (known to early European settlers as “The Indian Road”), explore the marshes of Dead Creek, and take out at a spot that shows ample evidence of Native American habitation. Staff Archaeologist Joanne DellaSalla will show and explain chert and quartzite artifacts, and give a stone tool-making demonstration using techniques that date to thousands of years ago. Staff Interpreter and Ecologist Matthew Witten will lead a seine-netting activity which includes participants’ helping to catch, handle, examine, and identify the numerous fish species that Native Americans came here to catch.
Date: Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, 9:30am – 3:30pm
Cost: $40/adults $15/age 15 and under
Row to The Wild Side Jeff Meyers
Explore Lake Champlain’s dramatic Split Rock Mountain shoreline from the seat of a classic wooden boat. We’ll row our 32-foot Cornish pilot gig (room for six rowers plus two passengers) to Barn Rock Harbor and walk up the granite bluff – a spectacular vista overlooking the site of the Champlain II shipwreck. Listen to the colorful story of that 1875 wreck. Learn of the lake’s geologic origins. Hear the tales of the area’s mining history. Our return route will take us past peregrine falcon nesting sites at the Palisades cliffs. On the June and July dates we’ll be treated to the full moon’s rising at trip’s end.
Dates: June 18, 5pm – 9pm;
July 17, 5 pm – 9pm;
September 14, 1pm – 5 pm
Cost: $45
Juniper Island Lighthouse Tour Kevin Rose
Juniper Island Light was the first lighthouse built on Lake Champlain. Today, the historic tower remains as the oldest standing cast-iron lighthouse in the United States, alongside the recently restored lighthouse keeper’s house. What better way to visit an historic nineteenth century site than in a replica of a nineteenth century wooden boat? Join us when we row one of the museum’s 32-foot pilot gigs from Burlington Harbor to Juniper Island. While we picnic on the island, Kevin Rose will spin the yarns of yesteryear in the Champlain Valley.
Dates: July 26th, 10am – 5pm
Cost: $80
Valcour Island Lighthouse Tour Geoff Kerr
The historic lighthouse at Valcour Island was placed in service in 1874. Fittingly, we’ll visit the historic structure aboard a replica of a wooden boat from the same period. Join us as we row a 32-foot pilot gig to the island and walk to Bluff Point for a tour of the restored lighthouse. While enjoying your picnic lunch overlooking the waters where Benedict Arnold engaged the British fleet in the Revolutionary War Battle of Valcour, Geoff Kerr will tell the stories of the Champlain Valley’s past.
Pack lunch, dress for weather.
Dates: August 9, 10am – 5pm Cost: $80
Digital Photography Jim Blair
Learn from the best! Jim Blair, a professional photographer from National Geographic Magazine, will guide students through the basics of digital photography: lighting, composition, and basic functions of your camera. The unique ability of the digital camera allows the student to preview and even print a photo without the delay or cost of developing. Bring your digital camera and don’t miss this unique opportunity.
Dates: August 16-17 Cost: $175
Make a Lake-Design Silk Pillow Jen Labie
Design, paint, and batik your own silk pillow cover. Incorporating techniques learned in class using wax, salt, and sugar, students will create their own original designs to bring out their individual style. The class is geared towards adults, but kids middle school age and up are welcome.
Dates: June 17,19,24,26 Cost: $150
Monoprints with Lakeside Materials
Jen Kristel
Students will learn the basic technique of Monoprinting. a process of painting on a zinc or plexiglass plate using oil paints and etching inks and adding found objects and natural materials (grasses, leaves, feathers, etc.) to create a picture with deep and interesting results. Students will be able to make multiple prints and/or “work into” one or more images by reprinting or painting with paints, watercolors, or colored pencils.
Dates: September 20-21 Cost: $75
Sea Shanty Workshop Matt Witten
The singing of shanties as working songs at sea is a lost art. Spend some raucously delightful time singing with your shipmates and reclaiming the lost art of singing working songs at sea. There’s no “work” in this workshop, just harmonious fun under the tutelage of LCMM’s Matt Witten. No experience is necessary; just bring your voice. This workshop is free with admission to LCMM’s Small Boat Festival.
Dates: June 1, July 19
Cost: Free with Museum Admission
Learn to Play the Penny-Whistle Lausanne Allen
Learn to play this most portable traditional instrument during an eighteenth-century weekend! Participants with any level of experience will learn the basics of the back-pocket pennywhistle, from basic fingering to breath control. Learn some easily played tunes that open the door to experiments with the traditional musical forms and ornamentation of jigs, reels, hornpipes, and slow airs.
Dates: August 16
Cost: Adults $35 Children $20
Make a “Common Shirt” Sharon Lewis
During Rabble-In-Arms weekend, make a linen or cotton shirt using traditional sewing methods, just as they would have done in the era of the American Revolution. You’ll see plenty of these shirts this weekend, as this is a fixture in the colonial re-enactor wardrobe. Now you can make one for yourself or for a friend or family member. Participants should bring scissors and straight pins.
Dates: August 16-17 Cost: $60
Native American Crafts and Skills
Introduction to Porcupine Quillwork Rose Hartwell
Porcupine Quillwork is perhaps the oldest form Native American embroidery, and was a widespread form of decoration for peoples living within the natural range of the porcupine. In this course you will receive hands-on instruction in the zig-zag and single-line stitch patterns working on a piece of braintan hide that can be made into a medicine bag if desired. Bring a pair of tweezers to assist in handling of the quills. Otherwise, all materials included.
Date: June 7; 1pm - 3pm
Cost: $90
Introduction to Native American Beading Vera Longtoe
Learn and use two beading techniques practiced by eighteenth and nineteenth-century Eastern Woodland Indians to create either a 4”x5” pouch (that can be used as a wallet or cell phone holder) or an eyeglass holder. Previous sewing is a plus, but not required. All materials included.
Date: June 7 1pm - 4pm
Cost: $105
Make a Fire with Flint and Steel
Roger Longtoe
Learn how to make a charcloth, how to identify and find fire fungus, and how to start and maintain a proper fire with flint and steel. The workshop requires movement and kneeling. Participants will bring home a fire starting kit which includes: steel, flint, charcloth, and fire fungus.
Date: June 7; 1pm - 4pm
Cost: $115
Wampum Bracelet Linda & Roger Longtoe
Make your own 2-row glass wampum bracelet; learn the historical significance of wampum and wampum belts; see demonstrations of wampum weaving.
Date: June 20; 6pm - 9pm
Cost: $90
Make a Basket of Black Ash Splints Jessie LaRocque
Create an authentic, handmade Abenaki-style basket that will endure for decades. Taught by master Abenaki craftsman Jessie Larocque, you will weave your basket in the traditional way, the way Abenakis have made them over the centuries—both beautiful and highly functional. Materials will be pre-pounded, split, shaved, cut to length, and ready to weave.
Date: August 2; 9am - 5pm
Cost: $80