Elise's work feels both celestial and terrestrial. Her work transitions well from large canvases to…read morepost cards to even delightful, decorative scarves. Elise is an exceptional teacher who selflessly inspires the artists who attend her various workshops, be it in her creative Portland, OR studio, or abroad. I personally come from modest Appalachian roots, where I've only possessed prints of artists whom I admire. I can honestly say that it is my desire to own a Wagner encaustic painting or three one day whenever my stars should align.

From the owner: Encaustic and printmaking workshops. Encaustic paintings and prints for sale. Studio events and…read moreprivate studio tours available to purchase art or attend workshops. Offering specialized instruction in Encaustic Painting and Collagraph Printmaking throughout the year in my studio. Sessions are designed for all learning levels and tailored to your creative goals and needs. I have been painting with the encaustic medium since 1993 and bring over two decades of experience as an exhibiting artist, innovator, paint maker and educator to my studio classes. Studio events and private studio tours available to purchase smallworks and prints. I have been painting with the encaustic medium since 1993 and bring over two decades of experience as an exhibiting artist, innovator, paint maker and educator to my studio classes.

Just finished their slabtown backpack online workshop. It was a great experience and we were…read moresuccessful in completing our backpack. Ellie was there all along the way supporting us and guiding us. Her kits are amazing, everything is precut, all the hardware and tools are there. That allows us to focus on the fun of being creative sewers/bag makers. Ellie is a great teacher, she gives all the tools and resources to be successful. I would highly recommend this experience for anybody.

I connected with Klum House through Design Week Portland. I've never used a sewing machine, so "no…read moreexperience required" appealed to me. I made the dopp kit over about 2 hours. For that class, the machine is set up and no troubleshooting is required. The fabric is already cut to the pattern. This project is ideal for beginners; all my substandard seams were hidden! The owner-instructor has whole series of short project classes to make useful everyday things - bags and backpacks. You don't have to go deep into patterns or fabric, zippers, snaps, rivets, leather and other hardware, all that is included, in a range of a few colors you select. The projects include some specialty fabrics, like sustainable waxed canvas that are hard to source. Some of their other classes cover more challenging material to sew, like leather, and even a Pendleton panel. The most important part of my experience and this review is that the owner-instructor is patient and a great teacher. The owner-instructor perceives individual learning styles and adapts to each student. Her business model is brilliant. The classes are on the boss Singer 4423, which is an affordable machine to set up at home, continuing your adventures. For your own sewing adventure, Klum House has supply kits of useful sewing gadgets you used in class to purchase and take home. Best of all, after a Klum House project, "I made that" is a beautiful thing to say to individuals asking questions about your project, close around you, friends, and admirers on the street!

I made my first paper with Jenn and Gary at WildCraft Studio School in White Salmon, WA. I had lots…read moreof fun, learned a lot and made lots of paper. Recycled, abaca, denim and hemp, plant fiber that we prepared. Sign up for one of their workshops or look for their mobile studio, soon to be on the road.

From the owner: Pulp & Deckle is a studio located in Portland, OR that is dedicated to sharing the art, science,…read morehistory and craft of handmade paper with others. We teach workshops, make custom paper goods for retail and wholesale, and operate a papermaking artist residency program.

Highly recommend SmithPDX. I just attended a metals workshop there and am so excited that Portland…read morehas this new space. It's a gallery, a working metals/ jewlery studio, workshop and maker's space. I just attended Master Kashima's Nunome workshop there and we all agreed that SmithPDX is a really special place.

From the owner: We host a community metalsmithing workspace where we facilitate education and access to tools &…read moreequipment in a safe and fun environment. We also provide services and specialize in custom fabrication & repair of precious metal objects. We work on home hardware & fixtures, jewelry, antique tools, and much more! *We are temporarily not able to accept repairs.* Thank you for your patience while we devote extra time to setting up more tools and getting our first series workshops up and running. Please join our email list if you would like to be notified when we resume repairs, or if you want to be the first to know about our upcoming workshops and classes!

Wow! Love this place! Took a ten week class with Lela and loved it. As an artist who has done…read morepottery on and off for over thirty years it was great to come back to it here with great instructors who taught me some different techniques for wedging clay and throwing than I've learned in the past. Definitely coming back for a membership!

I love this creative space. Everyone is made to feel welcomed. They have the most amazing…read morehandmade items for sale, offer classes that don't make you feel intimidated to not know what you are doing and the owner is a great human! They believe in community and offer options to buy scholarships to support students who might not be able to pay for classes. It's just a great all around place!

My friend and I had a wonderful experience making candles here on a Friday night! There is street…read moreparking but also 2 parking garages nearby within walking distance (and first 2 hours free!) This workshop is small but full of bright colors and farm house vibe with lots of fun projects to do. We were greeted warmly by the friendly staff and this workshop started promptly with detailed instructions to explore 20 different scents and discussion of their categories. Both Zoe and Elizabeth were super helpful in guiding us to choose adjacent or complimentary scents for our candles, and the hardest part was choosing only 2 scents to make your candle! You reserved this experience online but you can also upgrade to a different containers (a tea cup or pumpkin - so cute!) and add extra candles onsite. The candle will need at least an hour to 2 hours to set so we were free to walk around Orenco station and got to snack and catch up while our candles were drying. My friend was able to pick her up that night but mine was not set yet so I had to come back during the weekend. They have so many cool projects to choose from and a good selection of beverages for purchase. I will definitely be back with other friends to try out other projects in the future. Check out their website to see if any of their projects will pique your interest!

What a great place to spend an afternoon, Alexis is awesome! She's an excellent instructor and the…read morefact that she helped me actually finish a craft is priceless! I have tons of half done projects and it was so fun to have a girly afternoon chatting away and making a pretty throw blanket. I'll be back soon and often.

Olivia was terrific! My wife and I (and two friends) took the small-group one-session class with…read moreher. Olivia is a kind teacher, a great explainer, and an all-around nice person who made me and my friends feel very welcomed and supported--especially important when you're trying something you've never done before. Having taken several of these sorts of intro classes elsewhere, I'm always a bit disappointed: most classes have you make an object that feels pretty unimpressive or uninteresting. Not so here: the really cute stained-glass star ornament is now a permanent fixture on my window. Amazingly, after one session I also genuinely think that I could make some rudimentary pieces on my own (again, very rare for this sort of class), and that's a testament to how good an explainer Olivia is. I would strongly recommend the one-session class as a fun date-night or small-group activity.

My afternoon working with Olivia on a painting was fantastic. She taught me about color mixing and…read moreprovided wonderful support and feedback on my painting project. The studio is clean, organized and accessible - wonderful experience! I can't recommend her studio enough! Dana Buttler

Glass artist extraordinaire. Go feast your eyes on beautiful glass. Buy yourself a gift that will…read morespend a lifetime making you happy.

I started with glass fusing at one of those places where you come in, you pick a pre-defined…read moreproject and then hand it over to the facilitator - you come back later to pick up the final piece. I enjoyed that and did it a couple of times. I wanted to do more however I didn't have all of the equipment you need to finish a piece of glass (kiln, grinder, sandblaster, diamond saw). The equipment is both massive and expensive. Some of it is very dusty (sandblaster) and other pieces require water supply (grinder, saw). Some requires special ventilation (kiln, sandblaster) and a lot of knowledge to use these pieces safely. My next step was to take a couple of classes with Bullseye, again, somewhat pre-defined projects with limited opportunity to go in your own direction. The good news is that they offer "studio time" which allows you to use their equipment, for a fee. Finally I met Nathan. While he didn't invent the vitrigraph kiln, he did a lot of original innovation in what can be done with it and has taught classes far and wide to others who want to learn his process. He is also very experienced and talented with kiln glass - creating your design in a piece of glass, perhaps dropping it through a mold to create a vase or a bowl and then all of the "cold work" that I alluded to above. Nathan is a great teacher and after taking a couple of on-line classes from him, I've taken a class from him in his studio. I've made a couple of projects there and I am continuing to go back to work on other projects, expanding on the knowledge I've accumulated. When I started my most recent class I was not very successful with cutting circles of glass. Nathan identified part of the problem was that I had a similar but not the right tool. The other part was to get out of my head and just do it until I was comfortable. Now I'm feeling very comfortable cutting circles, loading terracotta pots with glass, pulling cane (rods of glass) out of the bottom of the vitrigraph kiln and chopping those up into murrini and moving them on through other processes. Nathan is available to answer questions as I am assembling my work, his studio has all of the equipment I need to create my own projects and it's more affordable than Bullseye. I am eager to see what he still has to teach me as I keep moving forward in my own learning. He is also an artist that creates a variety of pieces that you can purchase for your home or a gift. Additionally, he makes very high quality molds that will likely outlast you unless you drop them. Finally, if the finished piece of glass or the molds he has on offer aren't exactly what you are looking for, he might consider taking on a commission to make exactly what you want. I highly recommend Nathan to people who want to get into kiln glass. He knows his stuff, has a well equipped studio that will take you as far as you like and his rates are very reasonable.