Taste of Brookfield: Craft Sampler Day

Most people never try blacksmithing because signing up for a whole weekend of it is a big first step. This is the small one.

For one Sunday, Brookfield Craft Center opens five of its studios for two-hour taster sessions, morning and afternoon. Each is genuinely hands-on — you are the one at the anvil, the torch or the lathe, not watching someone else — and each is priced at $80, which makes it the cheapest possible way to find out whether a craft is going to take over your weekends.

Mornings, 10am to noon. Blacksmithing at the Forge, Lampwork making small glass pumpkins, Acrylic Paint Pouring, and Woodturning at the lathe.

Afternoons, 1pm to 3pm. Blacksmithing again, Lampwork again, Woodturning again, plus Cyanotype botanical sun printing.

Good to know. Brookfield sells these as eight separate classes, so you register for each session individually and can pair a morning with a different craft in the afternoon. $80 each, and prices and openings change, so check the registration pages before you plan around it.

Make a day of it. The studios sit across three buildings on Whisconier Road, so there is a walk between sessions and time for lunch in between.