Lathe Turning Workshops in Portland, Maine

Length: 9 hours over 3 weeks
Times: 6-9 pm
Class Fee: $420

Bowls: Tue, Feb 3, 10, & 17 - SOLD OUT
Bowls: April 7, 14, & 21

We offer two beginner level workshops:

Bowl turning: Learn how to turn small (8-10 inch) bowls. You'll start with material preparation and sharpening, and then do some activities to challenge your cutting touch. The core of the workshop is learning to turn bowls using bowl gouges and negative rake scrapers. You'll end with sanding and finishing techniques.
Spindle turning: Learn how to turn between centers, focusing on turning spindles from rough stock, and turning coves and beads. These are the skills needed to make furniture parts for chairs, stools, and tables. The exercises will include activities to challenge your cutting touch, sharpen lathe edge tools, and start to explore bowls.

For both workshops, the class fee includes materials.

About the instructors:

Paloma Díaz-Dickson (bowls) is a Portland-based illustrator, artist, and woodworker. She was born in Houston, TX, and grew up in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, in a home where play, work, and making things were inextricably and happily linked together. Her educational background is in illustration, but she decided to dive into woodworking as part of her MFA thesis project and has never looked back. Moving away from digital and 2D illustration, her work has become more three-dimensional and she enjoys straddling the line between fine arts, craft, and design. Plainly put, she just likes making objects and is at the moment focusing on hand turned wooden objects.

Annalise Rubida (spindles) is a fine furniture maker from Port Townsend, Washington. She loves combining machine and hand-tool woodworking practices and is just as happy with a drawknife as she is a table saw. With a background in fine furniture and chairmaking, Annalise's own work focuses on functional and sculptural pieces that bring joy to use. Her goal in teaching is to create an environment where people have the guidance and comfort to experiment with new concepts and grow their love for woodworking.