The Kuksa - Carving a Wooden Cup (Oct 2024)

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, October 26-28
10am-5pm (with lunch breaks)
Instructor: Alex Yerks
Class fee: $210
Materials fee: $40 paid directly to instructor
Registration will close Friday, October 11 or when sold out. 

The kuksa is a carved wooden drinking vessel of Nordic origin. This course is a great introduction to green woodworking as well as a unique opportunity to learn to safely use a large array of tools while developing techniques which bridge the gap between spoon and bowl carving. This class is open to beginners as well as experienced carvers ages 18 and up. 

Over three days we will be carving fresh locally harvested wood, and your instructor will guide you from tree to table. The course will cover just about all you need to know, including sourcing wood, designing your own cups, learning various knife and tool grips, innovative ways to use tools, decorative carving and painting, learning Alex’s unique and advanced hollowing techniques with carving axes, adzes, gouges, and unlocking the potential of the great Scandinavian multitool - the Slöjd knife. We will even discuss tool maintenance. The goal of the workshop is to build a relationship with each of the tools while gaining an understanding of how they work in relation to the timber itself. Alex will be bringing his collection of wooden cups to use as design examples, as well as some freshly carved kuksas he will have for sale.

Please bring sharp and ready tools. Although we will be discussing and demonstrating sharpening, there’s not enough time to completely restore old and damaged tools which may be a class in the future.

These techniques require the hand strength to open a jar and a lot of repetitive axe work like hammering nails over and over.

Your instructor will provide:

Adze

Hook knives

Sloyd knives

Axes

Gouges

Students will have access to the instructor's tools if needed.

Students are asked to bring:

Hook knife or gouge

Axe

Sloyd knife (Mora 106)

Pruning saw

Pencil

Ruler

Compass or dividers

Carving gloves or work gloves

Students can find these items online.