Wales trip
How it gets in
Hi,
I am back from teaching my first pack making class in the UK. The class was hosted by Snowdonia Gear Repair in Wales, just north of Eryri National Park.I had 8 students, and Rosanna, the owner of Snowdonia Gear Repair. This was my largest group class yet. Rosanna was a kind and gracious host, even when her new computerized Juki 2810 was mucked up by accident. One of my most enjoyable and relaxed classes to date. I look forward to doing it again.
We all built the same model of pack, the Karrimor Hot Ice. To keep the stress level low Sarah May & I spent 40 hours prepping for the class by precutting the packs and I sewed all of the shoulder straps ahead of time. I still showed how to build shoulder straps and my technique for stuffing foam in 60 seconds.
During the 3 days of class I needed to remind myself I was working. My students made the class easy with their motivation and talent. Many had a good amount of sewing experience. Tosh is a maker in Sheffield, owner of Made by Scavenger. Ollie came from Finland with a number of incredibly well made pieces of gear, from a fully seam sealed rain shell to luggage. Ryan, brought his excellent fanny pack/camera bag he made. Even more impressive to me was his work with Doctors Without Borders, he left for Syria the morning after class finished. Rich, a kiwi transplant who I met in Llanberis 2019, brought the coffee every morning and owns the best coffee shop in North Wales. Rich brought his cohort Nick, who moved to Llanberis years ago for the climbing but spends most of his time creating art. All of the students, Shara, Merion and Adris all added to the class. It made me rethink that group classes may be better than teaching privates, or private group classes if i have help.
I spent a few extra days hiking around the mountains of North Wales, never seeing a drop of rain or a clouded view. unreal. I did get a full tour of the DMM factory, who I used to work for. I am back at work full time, and getting the last bit of Denali promised gear out the door. The electricians finally came, yesterday and ran power to my new shop, it will be live next week after the power company comes. I may see if they can wire it to save time and i can start finishing it.
JC
