Art can express a variety of human feelings, from joy at the birth of a child to confusion at the birth of a man-child. Eloquently articulate your emotions with today's Groupon: for $110, you get a two-day weekend blacksmithing class at Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd (up to a $220 value). Current class listings begin in May, though classes can be scheduled on demand as early as March. This Groupon includes material fees.
The skilled instructors at Jacksonville Center for the Arts lead intimate craft crews of 5–10 students in metalworking ventures throughout the year. Students learn to harness the powers of hefty hammers, hot fires, and gentle lullabies to coax formless lumps of metal into a variety of decorative and functional objects. Multiple levels of classes ensure an ideal match for those at every level of iron intimacy. Amateur metal smelters will follow expert Bobby Floyd, president of the Old Dominion Blacksmith Association, in an introduction to blacksmithing course on May 28 and 29. Students go home with armfuls of iron hooks and fireplace pokers, and a newborn set of skills that may one day produce an armor-plated suit for formal battle occasions. Beginning to intermediate pupils can dabble in more delicate work with an October primitive jewelry course: choose from twisted copper- wire bracelets, bronze leaf earrings, and silver soldered pieces for self-made souvenirs. The intermediate spoon-forging odyssey, also in October, welcomes those possessing more advanced iron skills to craft a brigade of flatware ready to fling peas at dinner parties or jettison mashed potatoes into toddler cargo holds.
Classes last from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, and students can request lunch delivery, bring their own nibbles, or feast on table scraps leftover from ironworking chefs courses. Register at least two weeks in advance to ensure a spot.
This Groupon is not valid for The Blacksmith's Craft class.
Reviews
The Floyd Press featured The Jacksonville Center for the Arts, and the center has more than 730 Facebook fans:
- The Jacksonville Center for the Arts is a recognizable name in Southwest Virginia and beyond. After fifteen years of promoting the arts, offering classes and workshops, and hosting exhibits and events in its renovated dairy barn since 2004, the center is well established as a leader in the rural arts scene. – Colleen Redman, Floyd Press
Groupon Says
The Groupon Guide to: Spooky Stories
Whether you are attending a campout, a sleepover, or a fear-building retreat, having at least one good spooky story in your repertoire is essential. Here is a story that is guaranteed to raise hairs:
Ellindrea was gasping, breathless, at the top of the stairs. The door to the attic was locked. There was no escaping the skeleton crawling slowly toward her. It inched closer, the gnarled bones grotesquely scraping the dusty wooden steps of the abandoned antique mansion. This is it, she thought. All the decisions I made have led me here, to this. The third-grade horse accident. Yelling at Swarthington College. Leaving Brett because of his face problem. Spending my weekends provoking skeletons. Now I'm going to die.
"That's riiiiiiiiiiiight," said the skeleton, "I can reeeead your thoooughts…Ellindrea van Stamblepuff, you have wasted your liiiiiife."
His bony visage was now inches from her face, shrieking, "The reeeeal monster is complacency. Today, yesterday, and three weeeeeeeks ago, all days you'll never get baaaaaaack. There are beautiful hidden beaches. Tiny Spanish towns where the postman sings to the villagers. A secret, better Eiffel Tower in Iiiiiiiiiiindia. And you while away your days, content in your job answering phones at the junkyaaaaard. Ellindrea! This is a wake-up call! You have wasted your liiiiife!"
"I'm sorry!" yelled Ellindrea. "I'll do better! I'll seize the day. Live to the fullest and never take a day for granted!"
"So be it," howled the skeleton. "Sayonaaaaaaaaaara."
Just then, Ellindrea woke up, safe in her bed. It had all been a dream! Or had it? She noticed how beautiful the sunrise was and decided it didn’t matter. A new life was waiting. And then, just as she was about to jump out of bed and grab life by the horns, her house turned into a wolfman with ghosts for hands and killed her and then everyone else, even all the presidents and kings.
The end?
–James Joyce
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