7/9/24 - I've recently returned from five fabulous days teaching at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Western Pennsylvania. They have an extensive campus; besides my mokume gane box making class, there was a blacksmithing class, ceramics, and textiles. There is even a glass-blowing studio! Students and teachers alike stayed in either dorm rooms or cabins, and we all ate at a central dining hall. It felt like a proper retreat, well for the students anyway! It was a lot of fun for me too, but I left wanting to go back as a student. There is nothing like that feeling of being able to just work in the studio all day, no driving, no cooking, no cleaning, no TV, no emails.