In the past six weeks, I’ve hosted two weekend workshops in my studio. The first one was a popular three day Bootcamp for newbie upholsterers who want to double down on time and start and finish an open armed side chair in three days instead of committing to a six week course. The second workshop was last Saturday and it was my signature Salvaged Spool Ottoman workshop. In both classes I teach basic upholstery skills and techniques that students can put to use on many different styles of furniture. For the most part, students come through my classes wanting to create a perfectly executed, fully upholstered, work of art–a showstopper. It’s like trying to convince someone that they need to learn how to trot properly on a horse before they just assume they’re ready to enter a Hunter/Jumper competition at the fair.
I’m not sure what makes people believe that upholstery can be learned in a day. More realistically, in a one, two or three day workshop they can watch to see how things are done, they can copy it right there on site and then they MUST practice these skills and techniques in order to become proficient. Every now and then, though, somebody comes through and they just get it from the start. It’s clear they have what it takes when I begin to explain some step and they seem impatient, grab the tools from my hands and start to get on with it. Usually, they do understand. Occasionally, they think they know more than they do.
To me, it doesn’t matter. I do my best to demonstrate, explain, explain in a couple of different ways and then show them a better, more efficient way if they didn’t get it. There is absolutely NO criticism or condemnation in my classes, live or online. That’s out of the question under my roof. If you’re taking a class from me, you are appreciated, valued and respected. Now I do lovingly tease sometimes and I always tell students that I’m truly kidding just to lighten the mood. When the ‘perfectionism’ trait begins to slow everyone down, I have to jolt them out of this rut. Perfectionism is not a good quality. It’s the mistaken perception that nothing is ever (or ever will be) good enough. We can discuss that subject at greater lengths in another blog post.
When I was unwinding after the Saturday workshop, I began to think about what had happened throughout the day. First of all, three strangers gathered to design and create something in my shop. Jane flew in from Montana, Jennifer was visiting her mom, but lives mostly in Nice, France, and one of my oldest and dearest friends, Susie, was in town from Dallas while her dad was rehabbing from surgery. Quite an unlikely group of characters to meet up on any given day. The feelings of self satisfaction in the studio were palpable, them for what they created and me, for what I was able to share. There is more and more scientific research on the healing power of making, among other creative activities, for all kinds of our human problems. James Clear explains it beautifully in his blog post, Make More Art: The Health Benefits of Creativity.
We started out with a quick explanation of the project, safety precautions and then jumped into it. The ottoman frames, legs, hardware, webbing and other foundation materials and tools were all ready and waiting. I showed them the first step, they executed it, and then we moved on. As the project started to take shape, the students began to loosen up, feel more comfortable and started to get to know each other. Then, before I knew it, I see that they’re helping each other. I’m a firm believer that peer learning/teaching is one of the most most effective ways to learn. But, there’s another aspect to witnessing that, which I don’t really know how to explain other than it’s just sheer delight to see how quickly we, as humans are willing to help one another when we have the same goals. In my little shop, with no other personal agendas, we experience kindness, harmony and peace with each other. It’s an atmosphere I wish I could bottle up and send your way.
In the early afternoon, as they started to lay out their fabrics, you could see their creative juices starting to flow. At this point, they had more individual options with fabric direction, pattern, buttons, added trim, legs and such. It was a beautiful thing watching this unfold.
The satisfactions of manifesting oneself concretely in the world through manual competence have been know to make a man quiet and easy. —-Matthew B. Crawford
In the end, here’s what happened on Saturday.
- three individuals learned how to make three very different upholstered ottomans
- four people from four different places came together with one specific goal
- four people got to know total strangers in a social and workshop sort of way
- three people made functional pieces of furniture from start to finish with their own two hands
- four people walked out of my shop with the memory of a rich, unusual Saturday in May
Needless to say, it was a memorable day.
Our next 3 Day Bootcamp/Intensive/Retreat is June 17-19. Join us for Hot Upholstery Fun!
Registration for Flipping Furniture closes on May 20th.
