2-Day Workshops

MT1 - A Quintessentially English Tea Room
Gail Tucker and Karen Kirby

This 2-sided room box was designed for us with a Tudor style façade illustrating the wattle and daub infill and cruck timberings built by the prosperous middle class in 16th century England. To highlight the effect, we will add the thatching over the front of the shop.  The box can be flat-packed for easy transportation home.  Inside we will create a typical flagstone floor and wallpaper a wall, but embellish in the style of a modern 20th century English Heritage Tea Room.  The furniture is included, along with 2 cakes, a plate of sandwiches, china tea setting, 2 place settings, shop signs, welcome mat and warming pan on the wall.  Other food, accessories, plants in picture not included.

Miss Marple’s stone walled garden welcomes all to a small yard filled with a birdbath, hollyhocks and other small bright flowers.  Her 2 room brick Tudor cottage is covered with climbing roses.  The small alcove entry opens onto the main room with a large fireplace big enough to hold an old fashioned stove.  Upstairs is a cozy bedroom with dormer window.  There is a conservatory attached to the side of the house where Miss Marple can grow special plants and contemplate her next case.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Monday & Tuesday
Scale: 1/4" Cost: $165

Construct a Medieval Castle’s Great Hall modeled after a real Medieval castle layout.  The inside will include faux stone rafters, steps, minstrel’s gallery, fireplace and dais.  The outside will have battlements and bartizans.  “Tapestry” wall hangings will be provided.  The hall will be wired for lighting.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Monday & Tuesday
Scale: 1/4" Cost: $182

For the queen of the castle!  This beauty shop vignette in 1” scale has all the ingredients needed for a day of pampering including the shop and all the furniture and accessories seen here.  E-mail instructor at hcsc@maine.rr.com for a list of tools and supplies to bring along and let’s have fun! 
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Minimum skill level: Beginner - Monday & Tuesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $132

Come to the Woodland Cottage.  Its whimsical appearance is enhanced by its sagging roof line, flying dormers and gingerbread trim.  This fully landscaped cottage will only be available in this class.  Students will construct and landscape the cottage. 

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Tuesday & Wednesday
Scale: ¼" Cost: $150

Everybody loves a porch swing!  Join me for a day of building and accessorizing one.  You’ll assemble a pre-cut wood swing, paint, age and, of course, hang it.  You’ll build a free standing stand, lay and stain wood flooring, finish and stuff machine-stitched pillows, arrange cut flowers in a gathering basket, build an upholstered footstool and fill a basket with strawberries.  Your kit also includes a set of 3 terra cotta pots with matching saucers for you to fill as you desire, a teacup and saucer, a book and a special surprise.  Come and spend the day creating this cozy scene.  Potted plants not included.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Monday
Scale: 1" Cost: $82

This house was constructed with quilts and whimsy in mind.  From the step up covered porch, you open the door onto an entry of lace and flowers.  Crossing into the living room of soft peach wainscoting and floral and striped paper, a fireplace will give off a warm glow.  Upstairs is a small bathroom with happy clouds and a rainbow drying summer quilts.  The bedroom has plenty of space for a reading nook and bed.  Complete your exterior landscaping with a patchwork walkway.

Minimum skill level: Beginning - Monday
Scale: ¼" Cost: $97

Fill this wire wicker bakers rack with bagels, donuts, turn-overs, buns, rolls, éclairs, cannoli, cream horns, Napoleons, breads, pies and bundt cake made from Model Magic air-dry clay.  Cranberry glass plates from England and metal trays included.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Monday
Scale: 1" Cost: $97

Create a lovely hatbox with a ¼” scale hat shop inside.  Students will assemble 2 walls and a floor in the box and 2 pieces of laser cut furniture.  They will learn how to make 2 kinds of hats, hat pins, a hatbox, a couple of flower arrangements, and apply decals to the furniture.  Students will have a choice of wallpaper to cover the outside of the box or they can bring their own.  The kit includes hat stands, mirrors, fans and a Quicker Wicker couch. 

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Monday
Scale: ¼" Cost: $97

What better way to bring your castle into the Victorian age but by having a nice Victorian dinner consisting of a crown roast garnished by pearl onions, adorned with mushroom caps and garnished with roasted potatoes, carrot sticks and parsley.  Finish the meal with broccoli florets, braided bread and rolls, 3 types of grapes and a Dundee (fruitcake) topped with almonds.  Delicious!!

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Monday
Scale: 1" Cost: $87

This delightful scholarly dragon sits on a log enjoying the beautiful day and reading fantastic dragon tales, dreaming of his own adventure.  You will carve this dragon out of leather and fashion his wings and the log he sits on out of leather.  Since dragons come in many colors, you can paint him any color you choose.  Bring paint brushes and an x-acto knife and/or scalpel with extra #11 blades.  

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Tuesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $137

“Who left this mess?”  Age the work table and chair.  To create the ‘after the prep’ scene, more than 50 items will be finished and added to the table and chair for a cluttered, messy look.  A paper bag will be made to fill with a variety of (what else!) garbage.  In this fun class, learn techniques to take home and use to create a realistic, lived-in look. 

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Tuesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $122

This combination desk is made from cherry.  The bookcase side has several shelves (perfect to house your small scale collections, books, or other precious mini pieces) and a working door with “glass.”  In addition to the drop front writing compartment, the desk side contains a mirrored top with shelf, a working drawer and a door that opens to reveal another shelf.  The writing compartment has several cubbyholes and a small drawer. 
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Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Tuesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $97

Harry spent many hours in the Common Room and the Dorm.  Recreate both rooms in book form.  Build the book and removable room boxes and electrify the rooms with special medieval lighting including the fireplace.  Then, fill the rooms with the specially made furnishings for each room.  A bonus library room will also be provided.

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Tuesday
Scale: ¼" Cost: $87

Our contemporary preoccupation with “storage solutions” is nothing new.  The Shakers found extra space to add another drawer in an unusual place!  This quartersawn cherry chest of drawers is an example of the Shaker ideals of simplicity and beauty in utility.  From a partially prepared case, you will build and fit the graduated drawers, construct the base and make the underhanging drawer assembly.  Learn to rip, crosscut, dado, rabbet and make finger joints using the Preac table saw.  Emphasis is on safe and effective use of the table saw.  Beginners are always welcome. 

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Tuesday
Scale: 1" - Cost: $112

This shop is divided into 2 sections - a delightful, romantic bay area at the front of the shop area and a greenhouse section that can be filled to overflowing with plants.  Could it be a Flower Shop?  Or a Gift Shop?  You are limited only by your imagination.  During the class you will build the basic structure, paint and wallpaper and apply the finish trims.  The shop area is 3-7/8” wide and 2-1/2” deep.  The greenhouse is 2-3/4” wide and 2-1/2” deep.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Tuesday
Scale ¼" - Cost: $101

Make a feast fit for the king of any castle.  In this class, you will make a roast leg of lamb with apricot garnish and mint jelly, new potatoes with parsley, baby carrots, broccoli with a cheese sauce, gravy, dinner rolls, butter and a pineapple upside down cake for dessert.  Learn how to use Fimo brand polymer clay along with resin, glass stains and sand to make this realistic looking meal.  You will be able to use the skills learned to create more fabulous foods after you return home.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $65

The drill press can be used for much more than just drilling holes.  Using hands-on Dremel and Cameron drill presses, learn to cut: perfect circles; rabbets, mortise/tenons, and dados for joinery; cove/dovetails for tops/bases; and custom moulding.  Also learn to make a pin routing jig to cut perfect odd-shapes, and how to make your own custom jigs for pin routing - even cabriole legs.   In this workshop, students will use some of their newly-learned skills to modify pre-cut wood to make a fancy 1” scale bookcase.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
All Scales - Cost: $114

Let’s make a traditional vignette.  Pierce real tin for your wall shelf that will hold a wealth of folk crafts.  Stencil a “Heart in Hand” framed print.  Paint a spatterware bowl. Make candlesticks.  Cover an oval bandbox with a country scene. Create a pineapple, the New England sign of welcome.  Paint tiny block houses.  Construct a toy settle chair.  Make a garland of fabric hearts.  Make an old-fashioned penny doll in her petticoat.  Receive a framed hand-stitched sampler made by the instructor.  Your pieces will be displayed in a wallpapered framed box, decorated on the outside with a painting technique you’ll learn called combing.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $99

3-D Decoupage with a TWIST!  Using paper cutting techniques to create a 3-D effect, you will transform detailed pictures of a Vintage Clothing Shop into a 3-D vignette.  The cut paper pieces will be embellished with laces, trims, ribbons, pearls, greenery, floral pieces, glitter and more to enhance the 3-D effect.  The completed scene is 1-1/2” deep in a decorative 5 x 7 frame.  Class includes everything shown.  The paper cutting and embellishing techniques you learn can be applied to projects you might want to try on your own. 

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: 1/2" Cost: $92

A cozy room, a crackling fire, and a view outside the window - that’s my idea of Cottage Heaven!  You choose whether it’s decorated for Christmas, aged and distressed for Halloween or set for High Tea; this pre-assembled half-inch scaled cottage room will be lovely in any season.  We will stucco, wainscot and paint the room, build a beautiful mantel on a brick fireplace wall, and learn a few simple landscaping techniques to suit the season of your choice.  Mine is done in country blues and white to complement the brick fireplace wall, but you will have a choice of colors or may bring your own.  This room is sized to fit a standard 5 x 7 frame, not included. 

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: ½" Cost: $112

Spend an enchanting day learning how to make a simple but elegant costume for this 5” fairy. You will also learn how to make beautiful fairy wings from fibers. The instructor will have several different colors of fabric, trims and fairy wing material so that everyone can make their fairy unique. We will be making a simple wig and adorning the top of her head with a glass crown. Our fairies will be holding a crystal ball and sitting on a base that we will be accenting with a flow of water, snow, and a sprig of white angel pine.  

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $92

Using silk thread, learn to cane the seat and back panels of this laser-cut chair.  Techniques taught will include vertical, horizontal and diagonal weaving and finishing the panel edges with binding cord.  A color-coded thread reference board and caning chart simplifies understanding the process.  Easy assembly of the finished panels into the side frame pieces and insertion of a stretcher bar complete the rocking chair. 

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Wednesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $87

Be it a Tuscan stone house or Fantasy Castle, this class teaches students to complete aged stone-look plaster walls along with painting techniques on poured resin pillars and a fireplace with brick firebox.  The back and front walls will be covered, dried and painted in a choice of colors.  Use as a stand-alone vignette (8-1/2 x 11-1/2 x 3” deep) or separate the fireplace (8 x 5 x 2-1/8” deep) for use in any structure. Resin work is from instructor’s original design.  This piece includes atmospheric floor- ing, aged color-washed walls, burning wood look and fireplace screen. The instructor is an AOH and IGMA Artisan with 30 years in the movie business doing this work in full size. 

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Wednesday
Scale: 1" or 1/2" Cost: $137

W9 - Feast for Castle or Cottage
Carl Bronsdon

A delightful feast of meat, cheese and pastry awaits you! Suitable for either the castle or the cottage, this meal would be a delightful addition to a kitchen or a grand banquet hall. Learn basic Fimo skills and then use them to create: a standing rack of lamb roast, fruit and vegetable garnishes, several varieties of cheese and crackers, and a dramatic standing pear tart. Tips on color mixing, painting and texturizing will be included. Your finished foods will be displayed on English pewter and glass serving pieces for an old world look.

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Wednesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $82

Vivian is a half-inch scale Lady who is dressed in a full white silk gown.  The bottom edge of her skirt is trimmed with 2 rows of ruffled lace topped by a pink scalloped edge braid.  The peaks of the scallops are embellished with clusters of pink flowers, leaves and tiny gold beads.  The bodice is form fitting and is surrounded at the top with a lace flounce.  A large bow accented by pink flowers appears at each shoulder.  Vivian will be partially wigged with students adding the curls and her flowered headdress.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: ½" Cost: $112

Outside the window, beyond your artfully crafted castle wall, is the famous Moat.  Built to keep intruders at bay, its lush landscaping holds an array of wildlife: cranes, gold fish, a robin red breast, frogs and turtles made in class will inhabit this peaceful spot; and tucked into a quiet corner, a private bench carved just big enough for 2 lovers to perhaps meet on a moonlit night.  The indoor area showcases your own furniture beneath a diamond pane window.  You will learn paperclay techniques, working in Fimo, landscaping, water and designing the perfect faux castle window.

Minimum skill level: Beginner - Wednesday
Scale: 1" Cost: $87

Little Red Riding Hood, ready to visit her grandmother in her cottage, is dressed in a plaid skirt, white blouse, black bodice, white apron, and, of course, her red hood and cape.  She carries a basket for her grandmother filled with a loaf of bread, the flowers that got her into trouble in the first place, and maybe some other goodies.  All porcelain doll already wigged and ready to dress.

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Wednesday Morning
Scale: 1" Cost: $77

Mary Had a Little Lamb, dressed in school dress, pinafore and sun bonnet, carries her books and an apple to school, accompanied by her lamb. Accessories shown included in class.  All porcelain doll already wigged and ready to dress.

Minimum skill level: Intermediate - Wednesday Afternoon
Scale: 1" Cost: $77