The class filled up the shop at the local Woodcraft Store in Phoenix, and was great!

These guys are an interesting group of woodworkers, and it was my first time working with them. They did so well, and produced a diverse set of panels, all of them excellent and everyone finished, some just in the nick of time! Raul hosted me and cooked great meals, and a past student, Marco , assisted in the classroom, made jokes, running errands and making this tight space workable for all. The people at Woodcraft and I had the tough job of judging the final panels that everyone designed and made, which was interesting given the level of artwork everyone did. The classifications were for the 'overkill' (most pieces used), most Challenging, most Humorous, most Unusual (design wise that is) and the best piece overall, which went to the frog on a limb.

Excellent class!

The annual class at my shop here in Santa Barbara was quite successful, fun, fast-paced, and productive. Everyone made a couple of pieces, we did a group project, and Randy tackled an intricate ebony table. I have limited this class to 6 people, where we can spread out, and do many different things during the five days.The comments were 'fast paced', 'very informative', 'intense'. One of the students, Michael, blogged about the class on the Sawmillcreek.org woodworking forum. Free to sign up, big following with a lot of content....  here is the link to the blog, with a more in depth day-to-day commentary with pics, if you sign up:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?175490-Marquetry-Course-with-Paul-Schurch&p=1804970&posted=1#post1804970

Here are a few photos of the week.... 

This was the 'Jewelry box with Marquetry' class at William Ng School of Fine Woodwork in Los Angeles, where everyone designed and built an walnut box with a marquetry lid. The different designs everyone generated were quite astounding!  Most had never done marquetry before and just about everyone finished their boxes by the fifth day.

The doggie box won first place (Check out the reflection of the eyes!) I will be doing this class next year, and again, it will be limited to twelve people.

Here is the trailer for a PBS show featuring a piece I did with Tommy on ‘Rough Cut with
Tommy Mac’ it is a ‘Standing Mirror’ episode #207, which aired all over the country on November 12th. (Check your local PBS listings for rebroadcast dates)

 

Thomas J. MacDonald - Episode 07 – Standing Mirror

 

 

This is a commission was born some time ago and seems to be one of the most challenging mechanics I have ever tri¬ed to develop. The spinning cabinet done several years ago, was quite simple in comparison, http://www.schurchwoodwork.com/portfolio1/page1.html

This marquetry and inlaid table of the fish caught in a whirlpool, http://www.schurchwoodwork.com/portfolio1/page56.html
is the top for this 29” diameter pedestal table.

When the top is rotated 90 degrees, four drawers pivot, or deploy open and closed on a cam mechanic mounted between the undersides of the table suspended over the drawer. The pedestal table will become a sushi table (of course!) A fun project, but quite critical with dimensions down to fractions of a millimeter with a hyper-exact need to mill all the parts properly. I really do not know if this thing will actually work, but am optimistic of the successful completion of this piece, and a fluid movement of all the parts!