I was recently approached by a local home school group to see if I would consider doing a class/workshop on whittling for the group. Now I have never done anything like this before, but, I did like the idea of introducing this wonderful hobby to others.
After some discussion with one of the groups parents, we came up with a plan for what this workshop would be (I feel workshop is the best description as this was definitely a hands-on thing). We settled on a workshop length (2 hours) and a subject (a great little Santa caricature inspired by an article in Woodcarving Illustrated by Bob Kozakiewicz, that I have done a number of over the last few years). As this was a learning experience all around, I only asked that the group cover the costs of the materials used. I wrote up a description of the proposed workshop and it was distributed to the group. I was expecting about 9 students and was very surprised to have 17 students (between the ages of 11 and 17) sign up. Wanting to insure the best possible experience and allow reasonable amount of individual attention to all, we divided the group into 3 sessions with a maximum of 6 students each and set the times and location (a finished space in a local barn that the group uses when in-person class time is needed).
As previously stated, this was a learning experience for us all and I soon learned that 2 hours was not enough for the group to complete the carving. Over the next 2 sessions we streamlined the project (I pre-drew the lay out lines) and increased the session length to 3 hours. The last group was able to complete the carving within the new time limits.
All in all I feel we had some fun (I know I did) and 17 great kids got some hands-on experience with a hobby I love. We met once more as a group (10 of the original 17 were able to attend) to paint/finish their carvings (a few chose to keep a natural look and finished using a beeswax paste). As you can see from the photo above, this was a pretty successful workshop!
I would certainly do it again if the opportunity ever presents itself!