[Jewelry making - Article 00587] - Re: [Orchid] Lapidary Schools on the east coast?

[Noel]

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Hi, Mary,

    This is not exactly what you asked for, but you can give yourself a
    great jump-start on lapidary skills for embarassingly little money by
    attending a class or two at either Wild Acres or William Holland
    School of Lapidary. The first is in North Carolina, the second in
    Georgia. You can attend and take class for a week for as little as
    $260, including room and board. That's not a typo. Really. I took
    beginning faceting at Wild Acres a couple of months ago, and had a
    great time. I will paste an article I wrote about it for my local
    guild newsletter (the Chicago Metal Arts Guild) below. Good luck! 

    --Noel 

    WILD ACRES RETREAT By Noel Yovovich 

    This past month, I had the opportunity to spend a week at Wild Acres
    Retreat, in North Carolina, and I think it was an experience others
    might want to be aware of. 

    The retreat is run by a foundation, and an assortment of groups are
    granted periods of time to hold programs for their members. You can
    learn all about it at www.wildacres.org. The point, for my purposes,
    is that several weeks a year are booked by various member groups of
    the American Mineralogical Foundation (AMF). The classes during these
    times (as opposed to, say, the week that is taken by the Revere
    Academy) are subsidized by the foundation, and a class plus food and
    lodging can cost as little as $260. Really! 

    I went to take beginning faceting with Tom Wilke. Tom is patient,
    unrufflable, and extremely knowledgeable. I am now very excited about
    this discipline, though I don=92t currently have access to the
    necessary equipment. I came home with two finished stones, but this is
    a little misleading, as I cut each of them more than once. Faceting
    requires care and attention to minute details, patience, and the
    right machinery. At first blush, it would seem that there is little
    room for creativity, and no real opportunity for profit. The latter
    may well be true, but I have a bunch of ideas for unconventional cuts
    I=92d like to try out. 

    I love going out of town to take intensive workshops, and have been
    to the Revere Academy and the New Approach school. But this was a
    very different experience. I had heard it described as =93summer camp
    for grown-ups=94. Never having gone to summer camp, I figured it was
    about time. I joined one of the member groups of the Southeastern
    Federation of Mineralogical Societies (SFMS), chosen pretty much at
    random, at a cost of $15 for the year-- the classes are only open to
    AMF members. I chose a class, and sent off my application the day
    they began accepting them. As it turned out, there was room in most
    of the classes offered, maybe because I went to the less popular fall
    session. 

    Most attendees drive their own cars to Wild Acres, as it is pretty
    far from any real airport. Charlotte and Knoxville are the closest if
    you want a non-stop flight on a jet. I flew (which was cheap) and
    rented a car (which was not). Still, considering the low cost of the
    time there, it still came out quite economical. 

    Now, here=92s where things depart from anything I had ever experienced
    before. The motel-style rooms are double occupancy, so I was assigned
    a roommate. A large, central bell is rung at 7:30 to get you out of
    bed. Breakfast is at 8:00 (bell again). Meals, which were fresh,
    wholesome (mostly=97not counting the hot dogs and Tater Tots one night=
)
    and well-prepared, served family-style plus a salad bad.
    Unfortunately, the desserts were excellent. Any table I sat at was as
    welcoming as if I had known the people there all my life. Everyone
    was amazingly open and friendly. They are mostly retirees, so I was
    among the younger people there, but no notice seemed to be taken of
    that, or my Northern accent (remember, this was the Southeastern
    Federation, and most attendees were from the Carolinas, Tennessee and
    Florida), or the unusual fact that I am a professional jeweler. I was
    taken by surprise when each meal was proceeded by a blessing, but
    there was no direct mention of God, let alone any particular
    religion, and the blessings were well written and universal. 

    Mornings were intense work in the classroom, then a bell again for
    lunch, repeat until dinner. There were optional activities in the
    evenings. I would have preferred more work time, but there were
    auctions of donated items, and an activity called =93tailgating=94 in
    which anyone could open their car trunk and offer goods for sale. On
    our one free afternoon, a local member of my class took me rock
    hunting, which was a highlight of the week. The area is full of
    (mostly now defunct) gem mines, and we climbed around in a pile of
    =93tailings=94 (leftover rocks thrown out in the mining process) crack=
ing
    rocks open in search of garnet and apatite. The countryside is
    gorgeous and wild, with houses scattered and isolated in the
    mountains. 

    I had the misfortune to be there during hurricane Ivan, so wind,
    rain, fog, and a 14-hour power outage inconvenienced us. But my class
    was well-taught and great fun. If I go back, I would try to get a
    room to myself, if that is possible, as I find 24-hour-a-day company a
    bit wearing. But I enjoyed it very much, and it was definitely a
    change of scenery! 

    I=92m told that William Holland School of Lapidary Arts, in Georgia,
    has much the same arrangement, except that the accommodations are
    more rustic, and classes more focussed. I=92d like to try that next
    year!

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