Yurt Workshops
For workshop dates, go to the individual websites or check the yurtinfo.org calendar.Traditional Yurts
Yurt Courses in Nova Scotia, Canada:
Join Little Foot Yurts, makers of traditional style yurts in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, and learn the practical skills to start building your own yurt.
In this two and a half day workshop you’ll learn the basics of yurt construction, including:
- coppice as a timber crop,
- Acadian forest species,
- making a greenwood working station,
- using a drawknife, froe and other hand tools,
- planning and designing your walls, roof, and wheel, and
- erecting a yurt.
Cost: $225 plus tax: Includes workshop fee, yurt camping, gourmet vegetarian meals & snacks, and a yurt zine. 15% discount rate for shared income couples.
Dates & info: Look for listings on the yurtinfo.org calendar, and check the Little Foot website for the Workshop Brochure and Yurt Building Workshop outline.
Contact: Selene and Alex Cole, Little Foot Yurts
Tel. 902 670-4556
www.lfy.ca / info@lfy.ca
Little Foot Yurts can also lead a yurt building workshop for your youth group or community centre.
Workshops in the UK
Turkic-style Yurts in WalesSteve Place, of Handmade Hardwood Yurts, offers classes on constructing the Turkic traditional yurt and its lesser-known derivative, the Alachigh.
Over five days you will learn all the details necessary for the construction of the yurt frame and Alachigh. The course is held in mid Wales and will be fully catered with delicious vegetarian food. Accommodation is in heated yurts.
Cost: £300.00 for the five days and a small charge for wood if you wish to make your own wheel.Contact: Steve Place, Handmade Hardwood Yurts
Tel.01691-780639
steveplace@yurts.fsnet.co.uk / www.yurts.fsnet.co.uk
Steve is the author of the CAT Factsheet “How to Build a Yurt”.
Courses in Snowdonia and Devon
Participate in a complete Yurt build, including steam bending your own roof crown. This one week course is designed to provide all necessary skills and information to build a yurt suited to our damp western climate.
Four workshops will be offered in 2008. Rich can also travel to your location to lead a workshop for your group.
Contact: Rich Goodrick
Tel. 07770 670 096
tales4rmthethicket@yahoo.co.uk
Coed Hills Rural Artspace
Your group is invited to book a workshop with Coed Hills Rural Artspace to learn the techniques of yurt building from start to finish. General courses must be booked in advance with an adequate number of participants.
Individuals who want to make their own complete yurts at Coed Hills must go through a proposal process, since building your own yurt takes a considerable amount of time and entails becoming part of the community during that time.
The best dates to book a workshop are during pole cutting season, from October to March. That is when the trees are sleeping and it damages them the least.
It is also possible to make covers at Coed Hills, and canvas stocks are on sale at £3 a metre. Cover-making workshops can be booked, or you may employ the onsite seamstress for covers up to 18ft in diameter.
Contact: Coed Hills Rural Artspace
Tel. 0044 (0)1446 774084
www.coedhills.co.uk / info@coedhills.co.uk
Traditional Yurts in West Devon
Tobias Fairlove & Sons in West Dorset, UK, offers weekend courses to build your own yurt.
Contact: Tel. 44 (0)1364 73726 or mail@tfairloveyurts.co.uk.
Yurtworks Course in Cornwall
A six day course with Tim Hutton of Yurtworks, one of the longest running yurt making businesses in the UK. The course is spread over three weekends and covers three months. This provides time between sessions to work on your 12 ft or 16 ft yurt at home.
The course will cover:
- yurt history, styles and design
- woodland walk & selection of wood & other materials
- use of hand tools and shaping components
- wood steaming and wheel making
- finishing and final assembly of components
- cover design
Contact: The first course of 2008 is full. If interested in possible future courses, email info@yurtworks.co.uk or phone 01208850670.
Future Roots Yurt making course
A 4 day course led by Matt Boysons of Yurtshop yurts and Yurtopia yurt rentals. The course is structured to cover all the components of yurt construction and includes practice with tools used to produce a Yurt frame, as well as information on timber selection.
Cost: £400 including materials.
Contact: Matt Boysons
Tel. 07799630027
Mattboysons@yahoo.co.uk
Yurt Making in Kyrgyzstan
Workshops with CASAYou can schedule a yurt workshop for your group in Kyrgyzstan by contacting CASCA (the Central Asian Crafts Support Association).
Yurt Workshop tours
For the past few years, Rob Matthews of the Yurt Workshop in Spain has taken a group to Kyrgystan, where they worked alongside master yurt makers learning traditional yurt making using centuries-old techniques.
For more information go to www.yurtworkshop.com or contact Rob at: Info@Yurtworkshop.com.
Tapered Wall Yurts
Bill Coperthwaite WorkshopsBill Coperthwaite of The Yurt Foundation leads yurt building workshops in which 8-15 people construct a simple yurt in 5-10 days.
To contact Bill with a potential project or find out about upcoming workshops, write to:
The Yurt FoundationDickinsons Reach
Machiasport, ME 04655
Bill does not have a telephone or email.
For more information on the Bill Coperthwaite and tapered wall yurts, see Chapter 3 of YURTS: Living in the Round.
Tapered Wall workshop in north Idaho
A seven day yurt building workshop with Bill Coperthwaite at Medicine Circle, a nature awareness center nestled in the mountains of north Idaho. The workshop will build a tapered wall yurt to be used as a gathering space for future workshops.
Dates: Originally scheduled for June, currently being rescheduled due to late snow conditions. For more information go to www.themedicinecircle.org/workshops.htmlCost: $450 includes lodging in tents, yurts and tipis & delicious vegetarian meals; Couples $700 and additional family members, $70 for the week.
Contact: David Kirchhof
medicinecircle@gmail.com
Tel. 208.448.1305
