Workshop Level: 1. Up to 16 participants with Certified Instructors Brian Post and Seth Harris. Open to everyone. $200.
Friday June 23, 2017
The Stone Trust is excited to announce a new set of workshops in Springfield, VT. With our Dummerston, VT facility at capacity, and more demand than we can handle, this is a fantastic new site to learn dry stone walling. Learn the art and craft of Dry Stone Walling on Historic Vermont Field Walls.
The Site and Stone:
Set on a 200 acre property of field and forest, this is a fantastic location to learn the craft of dry stone walling. The property includes active farm fields, actively managed forestland, trails, a beaver pond and wetland, and even a waterfall. There are fantastic views in nearly every direction. A truly beautiful Vermont landscape. Actively farmed for over 200 years this property is near the heart of the historic village of Eureka (now gone), which was the first village within the town of Springfield. The site features 1000’s of feet of historic dry stone wall that will begin to be repaired in workshops.
The stone used for the walls is what was gathered right out of the fields. It is a mixture of the local metamorphic ledge along other types brought in by the glaciers long ago. There is a nice mix of shapes from round to irregular with occasional flat ones as well. It is very typical of the stone found throughout much of New England. This workshop will be based in the real world. How to work with the stone you have in the best way possible is a primary focus.
Workshop Format:
This is a site preparation workshop that is intended to be paired with the dry stone wall building workshop happening on the following two days. This workshop can also be taken independently of the weekend wall building workshop.
The workshop will run from 8:30 – 4:30, with a break for lunch at noon. The instructors will use a variety of visual teaching aids, discussion, and hands-on demonstrations.
In this workshop participants will learn the needed site preparation for building a wall. Participants will be lead through discussions of sourcing and selection stone to use, and preparing the foundation. For the better part of the day, participants will be learn from and working along side the instructors setting up batter frames and sorting stone for building.
Knowing how to efficiently build sturdy batter frames and understanding how to use string lines are two of the trickiest aspects for many dry stone wallers. This will be discussed in detail. There will likely be some very large stones to deal with and methods of moving them and braking them down will be shown and used. Some other shaping will also likely be demonstrated and taught to facilitate making the best use of the material.
Workshop Levels:
This is a Level 1 workshop. It is suitable for everyone and no experience is required. There are no prerequisites for this workshop. Those who have previous experience will be challenged with harder tasks. Even experienced wallers can learn a tremendous amount from this workshop.
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Check out the corresponding Saturday-Sunday Dry Stone Walling workshop. June 24 & 25.
Sign up for both to get 3 days of amazing dry stone wall education!
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Licensed Landscape Architects can receive 7.5 LA CES credit hours for attending the site prep workshop day and and 15 credit hours for the two day walling workshop. Take both for 22.5 credit hours, almost 2 years worth in 3 days! These workshops make a great break from the office and you will come away with an incredible knowledge base about dry stone walls that can be applied directly to your projects!
Learning objectives for this workshop:
- How to assess an old field wall for rebuilding methods
- How to set up a site for efficient dry stone walling
- How to build and set up batter frames and string lines
- How to prepare a sturdy foundation for dry stone walls
- How to efficiently sort and lay out stone to speed up the building process
- How to do some basic shaping of stones
About The Instructors:
BRIAN POST owns and operates https://thestonetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/may-14-test-group-photo-1.jpg Landscape Architecture, a design build firm specializing in dry stone construction, in Springfield VT. Brian is the only certified waller who is also a Licensed Landscape Architect. Having knowledge from both the design world and the walling world gives Brian unique insights when teaching. Brian is one of six DSWA-GB certified Master Craftsmen (Level IV) in the USA, and is also a Certified instructor. Brian is also the Executive Director of The Stone Trust.
SETH HARRIS Holds DSWA-GB Intermediate (Level II) and Instructor Certification. He is the proprietor of Foxchair Mountain Craftsmen in Springfield VT. Seth specalizes in many types of historic crafts including stonework, fine woodworking, and blacksmithing. He is a skilled waller and instructor, with a love of good tools and their use.
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