Teaching a weekend workshop is often like a two day stage performance. I’m up at dawn to prep, drive down, unload, on my feet non-stop for the class, then cleanup, head home, quick dinner, then out like a light, and lather rinse repeat. For most people that sounds like torture, but for me it’s fun.

I love to share my passion for woodworking with others and teaching helps to feed the tool and and supply kitty for my various projects .

Last weekend I taught a two day workshop on drywall, mud work and textures. I designed the class last January and this was the second time we ran it. I’m happy to say that it sold out both times and we covered a lot of ground given we only had 2 days to work.

Each student had the opportunity to learn all the basics needed to tackle a new drywall installation or repair project.

The course covered a wide range of topics including:

• Basics of Stick Framing
• Hanging Drywall and Coursing
• Taping, Inside and Outside Corners
• Working with ‘Mud’
• Wet and Dry Sanding
• Texture Work
• Repairs

My last workshop back in May was going to be the last workshop the NBSS Arlington Location which is a 10,000 square foot workshop which was my home when I was a student at NBSS. (It used to be the workshop and classrooms for Preservation Carpentry and Carpentry departments at the school). The school has now relocated all the programs back under a single roof on North Street in the North End of Boston a couple of blocks from where the school spent its first 134 years. This workshop requires a lot of space, ceiling height and access to a large dumpster and with all the hustle and bustle of the school setting up at the new location it made sense to run this workshop in the old and largely empty space left in Arlington. The class went great, but the the one sad part for me was at the end of the second day when I had to say goodbye to the Arlington space for the second time. But like all good-byes, it is also a new beginning…

The good news is that I have a few workshops scheduled in the spring at the new campus location. You can learn more about them here.

-Bill