DAY FOUR – Wednesday

Today was our half-day – we worked in the morning, and had the afternoon to ourselves. Got a lot of things fired this morning, and we were able to creep into our classroom after dinner tonight to see some of the results. We’re all getting better as the week progresses, and it’s fun to see what everyone is doing. The goal now seems to be to use all of our scraps of glass, which should lead to some pretty interesting projects over the next day and a half. We’ll only have three more firings, and then we’ll have to stop.

A couple of girls in the class asked if I wanted to go with them to explore another nearby folk art school in North Carolina, so off we went. The other school is huge – John C. Campbell Folk School – and has a much larger selection of classes. Jewelry arts are only a minor part of their curriculum. They also teach things like weaving, music, quilting, pottery, blowing glass, woodwork, painting, blacksmithing, cooking, and sculpting. Of course, it’s also proportionately more expensive. Roughly twice the cost of this school, and that’s if you choose dorm-style accommodations – four to six people to a room. If you choose a room for two, you can add another third to the cost. So it’s a toss-up – cost vs. curriculum. I admit – I’d be tempted ….

One of the nice things about the Campbell school is that they allow visitors to observe classes briefly, so we wandered in and out of a few classrooms. Everyone was very welcoming and took time to explain to us what each class was about. Their grounds are lovely, and we were fortunate enough to pull up just when the fiddle class was out on a balcony practicing for bluegrass music night. I could have stood there all afternoon. Mountains rising from the mist in the background, a warm, breezy afternoon, smells from the nearby flower garden, and those fiddles … those fiddles !!! It was haunting ….

We spent about an hour there, and then took off to explore the neighboring town of Brasstown, North Carolina. Brasstown’s main street (nope, no capital letters, it doesn’t have a name) is roughly one city block long, and is comprised of a small folk art gallery (2 rooms), two antique stores, four art studios, and a pool table store. Apparently, there’s a booming business in pool tables up here. Who knew?

Back to our school for a quick dinner and a riveting conversation at my dinner table about retirement communities. I zoned out, and escaped as soon as I could. Retired folks are a lively bunch, but the things they are lively about just don’t interest me … yet. One lady’s community has a great pool, and they have yoga and tai chi classes, computer classes, book clubs, and cooking classes, so maybe … ahh, never mind.

Tomorrow, we’re learning one more technique, and then we’ll have the exciting “tailgate party” after dinner. Students and teachers will display things they’ve brought with them to sell – sort of like a mini-craft fair. My checkbook is feeling a little heavy . . . .