We had six enthusiastic individuals participate in the first 2021 workshop held at our training site in Isanti, Minnesota. Two of the participants had previous experience working with stone in their landscape business and are looking to improve their stone working skill, two of the participants work in the construction trades as well as farming,…
text Spring Test Day could not have dawned more beautiful, just the right weather for the special kind of day Test Day feels! People gathered before 8 — wallers ready to prove their stuff, fellow wallers present to support and quietly cheer them on, examiners and the site coordinator. All gathered peacefully, expectantly near the…
Four participants each built their own feature over the course of three days, selecting an arch, a square corner, a round corner, or a squeeze stile. On day one, instructor Brian Post engaged students in lots of learning and discussion about each feature’s structure, purpose, traditional use, and variations. Days two and three involved practical…
As is often the case, the thirteen people who participated in May’s 2-Day Introduction to Dry Stone Walls and Cheek Rebuild arrived with varied experience. Some brought experience handed down from parents, others from dabbling with walls on their property. One brought her landscape architect’s perspectives, another the lenses of an architect. Two noted that…
Workshop day dawned chill and windy. Seventeen people, fourteen participants and three teachers gathered around two double-face freestanding dry stone walls. Each person may have felt eager to feel the warmth that comes from a working body. But you have to know what you’re doing before you start working. How are these walls built? Why…
We had a great turnout for the first Stone Trust workshop in Nashville. Participants came from Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee and Michigan. A 50/50 male/female split of beginners with little or no experience. This was a two-day introduction to dry stone walling covering all the basic techniques required to construct a section of freestanding wall.…
In this 3-day workshop, you can build an arch, a square or round corner, or a squeeze stile, features relatively common in modern landscaping. You’ll also find them in the Dry Stone Walling Association Master Craftsman test. We’ll introduce you to the theory and techniques for all the features being built. You can use the…
It’s rare that the Stone Trust is able to host a workshop with two participants, but that’s what took place at the Steps & Stairs workshop on April 19. To accommodate social distance, we have cut class spots in half and scheduled workshops back to back. Sometimes that works with people’s schedules, other times it…
Everyone at April’s Introduction to Stone Shaping class came with experience building with dry stone. One woman learned from her father when he was building walls and a dock for the beach. Several took introductory workshops and are building walls on their property. One man apprenticed in the United Kingdom and has run a landscape…
Our Contractors Introduction to Dry Stone Walling attracts professionals and homeowners alike. In each category, people come with a range of experience. Many of the eight men who braved the cold and snow on April 16 take weather conditions into account as a matter of course, given years of experience as hardscapers and landscapers–from two…
