We Have Big News...Hammerstone has a new website!
Hammerstone Newsletter 2/5/2024
What do Hammerstoners do in the winter? In addition to wrapping up construction projects and tidying up the shop, we usually spend a lot of time catching up in the office. Our fun project this winter was redesigning our website with our friend, Nana Potenza. We're happy to announce it's live!
Check it out to see our full 2024 course schedule. Sign-up is open for your faves, including Create Decorative Kumiko, Build an Adirondack Chair, and Rough Framing - Build a Tiny House!
Other Big News...
Our 2024 Tiny House course series is live
Have you ever wondered why Tiny Houses are such an integral part of the Hammerstone curriculum....?
It all started with a Tiny House
An Origin Story
In December of 2012, I (Maria) was picking up my winter CSA share when an acquaintance approached me about building a tiny house. The answer to her first question, "Do you think I can do it?", was an easy yes. "Where should I go to learn" wasn't any harder to answer. "Don't go anywhere," I said! "We'll organize carpentry classes for women around your project." I had been thinking about teaching carpentry skills to other women for several years at that point; by the time Liz reached out, I was ready to start.
With a small amount of local promotion, the classes filled in just a couple weeks, and by June we were erecting walls and installing windows. The rest is herstory. We learned a ton in those first classes (building sawhorses to learn basic skills was gonna take more than 4 hours!), but we got a lot right: most importantly, that women really want to learn carpentry skills in a supportive environment like the one at Hammerstone.
Every tiny house project starts with an empty trailer. In the case of our first tiny house, Liz demoed the superstructure of an old Shasta camper, leaving just the trailer. We no longer use this technique since you never know what condition that trailer will be in!
We've missed a few seasons, but over the past 10 years, we have built a total of 6 tiny homes through our course sponsorship program.
Our 2023 Tiny House project was the most involved ever
Venus, the house we built during the 2023 Tiny House Course Series, is leaving Hammerstone and heading home to North Carolina! She’s a beauty, complete with cedar lap siding, custom cabinetry, and two lofts. She’s also extremely functional, with a full kitchen, self-contained composting toilet, and high performing building envelope and mini split heating system.
With every door closing, a new one opens
Design for our 2024 tiny house is underway
While we're sad to see Venus go, we're excited to start work on our next project. We have a sponsor lined up so we can offer a full schedule of courses covering all aspects of construction.
Each year Hammerstone teaches a Tiny House course series that starts with a naked trailer and works through each major stage of homebuilding. We are continuously expanding our tiny house series to teach a wider range of home construction topics. This year we have 9 courses that take us from foundation to finish:
Whether you're specifically interested in tiny houses, or house construction in general, these courses are for you. We use tiny houses because they're small and portable, but all the techniques we teach translate to normal construction projects.
You can take one or all of the courses! In 2023 we had a lovely cohort of folks who attended every course, with other students jumping in for one or two. Pick and choose the courses that are most relevant to you now. There will be another project next year.
No More Prereqs!
We have gotten rid of all prerequisites for our tiny house courses, however we still highly recommend that you attend a 2-Day Basic Skills course prior to your tiny house course. Luckily we offer these courses once a month - you can join as early as this weekend, Feb. 9-10. It won't be as sunny as the photo below, but it'll still be fun!
upcoming classes
Need a mid winter pick-me-up? Join us for a few days of warmth, connection, and craft!
Our full list of summer and fall classes is up on the new website, so take a look! It's never too early to start planning out an excellent summer in the Finger Lakes.
Take care and remember that spring is but 43 days away!
Hammer On!