Our workshops officially go from Friday through Sunday but we've found that most of our attendees fly in Thursday and are desparate to at least peek into the workshop andif possible get a jump on the learning. I know how they feel for when I pay my hard earned money for a workshop I like to get as much learning time in as possible. I've occasionally been frustrated to tavel across the country for only a few hours of actual instruction. We are determined to absolutely cram in three FULL days of learning and instruction giving as much value to the workshop as humanly possible.

Rather than just have people mill around and waste time we decided to begin our workshops unofficially late Thursday afternoon, have a no-host supper together and then go back to the shop to get to know everyone and the layout of the shop. If we get an especially eager group we talk of the learning adjenda and even get to sketching ideas for the projects.

Sometimes even that isn't enough. (This weekend's group is a good example.) These guys wanted to kick things into gear. Once they had their ideas sketched they pressed for more so we broke out the tools and started in on the projects. By 10:00 pm they had all made good progress with all of the dino heads cut and mounted. They also had all of the diamond lath stapled to their sample boards. Some were pressing for more but I reminded them that tome had been up since 4:00 am EASTERN TIME and travelled all day. It was probably best of we put away the tools until tomorrow. The day was so busy that I didn't get a chance to grab a picture until most had already left ot get a few hours of sleep.

I love it when we get such a group for they provide me with the opportunity to share a whole lot of information and some wonderfully creative work is always the result. This is going to be fun! Stay tuned for tomorrows report on the progress...

-dan