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.... 

The class on 'Building a Game Table' that was held at MASW a couple of years ago was fading out for me but when this photo was just sent to me by a student, it brought back memories...I am amazed on the diversity of styles and designs. It was pretty funny, since we were suppose to have a set size, shape and task to do a table that would fit into a 2' x 2' x 3' cube, and as you can see, everyone did something completely different!  At least they were all tables.... 

In 2012 I will conducting a seven-day class called 'Cabinets into Furniture' where we will design and make a bow-front cabinet, with Marquetry, shiny hardware, and decorated to the hilt, which is basically a furniture grade cabinet that would be installed into a home. We shall see what happens!