Dear Stonemasonry workshop participants,

Thank you for joining us at Augusta 2008. You will be learning about stonemasonry from the ground up.

We will be using modern safety equipment as we work with traditional tools and material. Safety glasses are a requirement to be worn while on the job site. Steel-toed shoes, gloves, knee pads, hat, long work pants and long sleeved shirts (summer weight!) are my work clothes. While packing for work out of town, I lay out each day’s work clothes and roll them up together. My duffle works from the top down, with dirty clothes bag ready to receive each day’s dirties. We usually get dirty and sweaty – it feels good to do that work.

About tools: bring what you have. We will mostly be using hammers for shaping rock. For the mortared work, a trowel and tuck pointer are needed. Please mark your tools with your name or color. It’s always a surprise how many tools look alike at the end of the day. There will be some tools available if you have none of your own.

We will meet Sunday night at the Orientation to determine Monday morning’s schedule for a good beginning. Please have an idea of where you want your week at Augusta to take you with stone work.

If you wish to videotape the class, please consider having someone not in the class video you doing the work. Hands-on experience is the best method for getting the feel of stonework.

Remember, at Augusta there is so much more going on. This week will be Irish Week, so there will be lots of lively music and dancing, as well as evening mini-classes, concerts, and jamming; I encourage each of you to participate as much as possible in all of Augusta.

Sincerely,
Frank Jenkins