What's the best way to improve your woodworking skills? Practice, of course! But if you're ready to make a quantum leap, there's no better way than taking a class at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. It's not only one of the nation's top woodworking schools, but also enjoys an especially picturesque location in the coastal town of Rockport, Maine.

The Center's schedule offers 27 one- and two-week summer workshops in furniture making and design, turning, carving, and finishing for all skill levels. Courses are taught by a virtual who's who of outstanding professional woodworkers from across the nation and around the world. Still ahead this summer are courses in basic woodworking with Peter Korn, carving with Chris Pye, a hand tools skill-builder with Garrett Hack, finishing with Teri Masaschi, and much more.

If a summer workshop leaves you anxious to dive in deeper, you can always head back for a Twelve-week Intensive in furniture making beginning in October. The Intensive is geared toward individuals considering furniture making as a profession, as well as those on sabbatical from their present career or simply pursuing woodworking as a life-enhancing skill.

For more information and to see the full schedule, visit the Center's website at www.woodschool.org, or contact them directly at 207-594-5611 or cfc@woodschool.org. Woodworking with experts, famously delicious sea creatures and some of the country's most beautiful surroundings - what beats that?

The 5th Annual Milwaukee Fine Furnishings & Fine Crafts Show will be held October 1-3, 2010 in The Garage at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. If you are in the Milwaukee area over that weekend, this is a don't-miss event.

The show features handcrafted furniture, furnishings, fine art and crafts for sale, order or commission from approximately 75 exhibitors from across North America. While almost half of the exhibitors are talented Wisconsin residents, the show also features exceptional artisans from Illinois, Michigan, California, Indiana, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, Utah and Vermont.

Members of the Chicago Furniture Designers Association (CFDA) will once again add to the excitement of the 2010 show. This year 16 CFDA members are participating as part of a 400-square-foot collaborative booth exhibition — nine are returning from last year and seven are new to the show. In addition, 3 CFDA exhibitors from the 2009 show will have their own booths, including S. Lloyd Natof (Frank Lloyd Wright's great grandson).

Traditional, modern and everything in between, attendees will find products in numerous styles made from a variety of materials — from "Green to Greene + Greene"! Exhibitors will educate visitors on resources such as urban wood, recycled materials and live edge products; they will tell the unique story behind the design and the journey of the materials used to bring each design alive. In addition, they will learn how craftsmen master different styles of architecture and furniture such as Gallenberg Studios portfolio of "Greene + Greene"-style work.

The 2010 show offers attendees a second look at over 80% of last year's exhibitors as well as a number of new talented artisans. The show includes 10-15% more exhibitors due to booth sharing and some creative new display space along the exterior walls of The Garage.

While the furniture makers and craftsmen have the capability to create custom pieces specifically tailored to the unique homes of any attendee, many of the exhibitors offer numerous cash & carry items great for gift giving and the approaching holiday season!

This is really an event you won't want to miss. Rockler is proud to sponsor all three Fine Furnishings & Fine Crafts Shows in 2010, with Rockler Gift Cards as awards for the "Best in Show" winners. The next show is October 22-24 in Providence, Rhode Island. Visit FineFurnishingsShows.com to learn about attending and exhibiting, show specials, and to sign-up for the show eNewsletter. Also follow the show on Twitter @finefurnishings or become a fan on Facebook.

Today is Day One of the 2010 Build Challenge put on by one of our favorite podcasts, The Sawdust Chronicles! I talked with Rick Waters, host of the show, about what it is that makes the TSDC Challenge different from many of the other build challenges out there. Rick explains,

Our Build Challenges have always been restricted by time and peppered with rules, rules, rules. Each Challenge has a theme and a new set of rules which, to some extent, are different than the previous Challenge. This year's theme is 'Earth Friendly', so there are also restrictions on types of materials and finishes.

These constraints are definitely what make this Challenge so interesting!

[More]

The LumberJocks are at it again! Summer 2010 is here, and with it comes another woodworking challenge from Martin Sojka and the gang.

This year's challenge is to create a piece with "fluidity".

"Like grasses swaying in a summer breeze, the fluid motion is visible in the solid form of the wood." Create a woodworking project that portrays fluidity and/or movement. Be sure to describe your inspiration and vision - the interpretation is as important as the finished product.

[More]

Fine Furnishings and Fine Crafts kicks off its 2010 show schedule this weekend, May 1 & 2, at the Hippodrome Theater/France-Merrick Performing Arts Center in Baltimore, Maryland. The Fine Furnishings Shows are the brainchild of Karla Little of KL Comunications. Karla created the shows because she noticed a real need for an platform for artisans to showcase their work for potential buyers.

The Baltimore show will feature approximately 50 exhibitors from throughout the Mid-Atlantic as well as from across North America who design and handcraft furniture, accessories, fine art, and craft.

[More]

Rockler was the proud sponsor of the Winter 2010 LumberJocks' Woodworking Awards, and the winners were announced today! LJ had a record-breaking 151 entrants for this season's challenge which was "Yin Yang, The Dark and the Light". The idea was to create a project that used color (dark and light) "to convey how contrasts work together to make the whole". Imagine 151 variations on this theme! Completing and submitting an entry for this contest was a huge accomplishment, and we congratulate all the entrants on their efforts!

The voting was done by the LumberJocks themselves. Anyone who had ever posted a project on the site was eligible to vote, and the four top vote-getters won prizes from Rockler.

[More]

Rockler is proud once again to have sponsored the recent Woodworking Challenge by one of our favorite podcasts, The Sawdust Chronicles. This second Challenge was done a bit differently than the first (see our previous blog post '30-Day Woodworking Challenge Inspired Beginner Woodworkers'). The Fall Challenge was longer (60 days instead of 30) and instead of being required to make a particular project, contestants were allowed to choose their own project, with the only stipluation being that they create something that "positively impacts [the] environment/community".

[More]

The gang over at the Woodworker's Zone runs online classes in their WoodWiki section that are really interesting and fun to follow along with. The current class happens to be on making a screwdriver, using the 4-in-1 Screwdriver Kit from Rockler!

Instructors Jim and Steve (or router-jim and stwoodie as they're known on the Woodworker's Zone site) do a really good job of going into great detail on the how-to of turning the handle, and yet still allowing for plenty of creativity on the students' part.

[More]

Last weekend the Rockler Blog Team (actually my ten-year-old-sidekick/daughter and I) attended a blogger party of a most unusual sort - it was a potluck, for junking bloggers, held in the middle of a flea market, with the food served on... junk! And it was a blast!

The party was hosted by Amy Versnik Nowak of Junkologie in her booth at the annual Oronoco Gold Rush Days flea market (in southern Minnesota). Oronoco is no ordinary flea market. People literally come from all over the country to go to this thing, and if you are a junker, Oronoco is the place to be.

[More]

Two of us from Rockler (Lin Cable, a veteran junker, and yours truly, a newbie junker) were lucky enough yesterday to have the opportunity to go to Sue Whitney's JunkMarket garage sale — and what a sale it was!

You've never seen anything like a sale that Sue puts on. First, I have to say that I was so awestruck and excited (and yes, there might have been a little hyperventilating going on) that I forgot to take even one picture! (''Thanks,'' you're all thinking. ''Thanks very little.'') I'm filching a couple pics from the JunkMarket blog, though, so you'll get the idea. (Thanks, Sue!)

I can tell you that this was more like a cross between an elaborately-staged magazine photo shoot and a big, fun party than any ''garage sale'' you've ever seen before. There was fun music, breakfast and coffee, and our fabulous host, Sue, flitting through the crowd and talking with everyone!

[More]