Using Workshops To Improve Your Skills - And Your Home

The duel combination of winter's chilly grip and the mad holiday crush certainly can push house projects aside, but there is one thing you can easily do right now: plan.

At the top of my list for Spring 2012 is a dismantling and refinishing of the split-level oak staircase in our 1970s ranch house. The treads are separated, the tongue-and-groove wall boards are buckled (thanks to a leaky chimney), and the railing is loose.

For those of you who will be attending the Arts & Crafts Conference in February, the opportunity awaits for you to take a hands-on workshop on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning before the official opening of the conference. Each of these workshops are designed to teach you a specific skill that you can use to bring even more Arts & Crafts style into your home.

Textile artist Ann Chaves will be teaching her class how to duplicate the embroidery stitches used to create Arts & Crafts table runners, pillows and curtains. This year's project will be a table runner with an Arts & Crafts design.

Professional woodworker and restorer Dennis Bertucci will also be returning to lead a workshop on using stains, dyes and finishes, providing you with what you need to know to finish or refinish antiques, new wood or woodwork in your home. You will be coloring and finishing a quartersawn oak frame to take home with you.

Amy Miller, noted stencil queen and author, will be coming back to teach her students how to use stencils to create a frieze around a room -- a classic Arts & Crafts design element.

Author and television host Paul Duchscherer is leading a workshop on Landscape Design and can help you add some Arts & Crafts style to your outdoor living space.

Noted printmaker and artist Laura Wilder can guide you through the steps in carving and printing your own Arts & Crafts cards, and will send you home with the skills and materials needed to do even more simple printmaking.

Asheville's own Peg Morar will again be teaching two workshops. The first will be on Tile Decorating and is designed for beginners as well as those of you who have had your fingers in wet clay. She will also teach a workshop on Vase Decorating, that is more suited to people who have had some experience with clay.

Interior designer Karen Hovde will provide those of you in need of a kitchen facelift with the information you need to know to break what seems like an enormous project into manageable steps.

Additional information on all of these workshops, including times, projects and fees, is available at http://www.arts-craftsconference.com.

Seating is purposefully limited to insure that each workshop teacher can spend quality time with each student, so call (828) 628-1915 to check on availability.

See you soon!

- Bruce