Contemporary Craft schedules woodturning candle-holder workshop with Hanna Dausch in Pittsburgh

Contemporary Craft is lining up a low-barrier entry point for new turners with a woodturning candle-holder workshop led by Hanna Dausch at Timmons Studios in Pittsburgh. The three-hour class is set for Saturday, June 13, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and each student is promised a turned taper candleholder with a brass insert and a candle ready to burn.

That project choice matters. A candle holder gives a beginner a clear finish line: shape the blank, refine the form, sand it clean and leave with something usable, not just shavings and theory. Contemporary Craft said Turners Anonymous is providing the lathes for the session, which keeps the focus on technique and the basics of working safely and cleanly at the machine.

Dausch is a natural fit for that kind of class. The Pittsburgh-based woodworker grew up around woodworking, originally planned to study ceramics and moved into wood after discovering the lathe. Her own description of turning, comparing it to a pottery wheel turned horizontal, tracks with the appeal of a first project class: immediate feedback, visible mistakes and a design process that forces clear decisions. Her work extends beyond small objects into vases, mirrors, small furniture and hand-carved surfaces, and she also runs Han Studio, her Pittsburgh-based furniture and object design studio.

Contemporary Craft has built the sort of studio environment where that kind of class can work. The organization says its studios offer workshops in metals and jewelry making, blacksmithing, wood, weaving, fibers, and paper and book arts, and it says private lessons are available in wood. Full and partial tuition scholarships are also available for all workshops, which makes the wood program more accessible than the typical pay-to-play shop class.

The broader campus has been expanding around that mission. Contemporary Craft was founded in 1971 by Elizabeth R. Raphael as The Store for Arts and Crafts and People-Made Things in Verona, Pennsylvania. In 2025, it bought the former Hunter Saw Building and renamed it Timmons Studios, a move local reporting said added about 13,000 square feet and doubled the organization’s footprint. WESA reported the group’s 2025 capital campaign was $4.5 million, and Contemporary Craft said its weaving program grew from two looms in 2021 to 32 looms in 2025.

For anyone thinking about woodturning as a first class, this is the kind of setup that makes sense: one finished object, an experienced instructor, a shop with real equipment and a program built to meet beginners where they are. Contemporary Craft also invites people interested in private or group workshops with Dausch to contact John Henley at apprentice@contemporarycraft.org.