Hello Jen,

nice to hear of your enthusiasm! I'm still 'looking' for people, passively I suppose, however after trying to get the study group off the ground the year before last things pretty much ground to a halt after 12 months. It seemed difficult to get to the point of critical mass, though at one point there were 15 or 16 people indicating their interest. Then they basically dropped out of sight and in the end I was left with just a couple of folks who had the time for it and were still keen to get involved. That wasn't enough to get going with unfortunately. Further, I set a couple of small projects which were intended to get all participants on the same relative starting point, and after one year's wait, only 3 people had managed to complete that first project, and just one had done the second.

Japanese carpentry requires a lot of commitment to study, plain and simple.

How have you come to your interest in the topic Jen?

On my blog I have recently made available the first couple of volumes on the Art of Japanese Carpentry Drawing, which are for sale through Ebay (the link is on my blog's main page), and I am also looking to get involved in a couple of programs at Heartwood School, so there is some discussion in that regard. I may also be doing a presentation for the Japan Society of Boston in March of this year, which would be in your neck of the woods.

The material covered in volume II of my book forms the requirement for the first project. This is a project that can be completed in an afternoon.

I'm ready to jump out of the gate and off to the races with the study group at any time, but it needs at least 5~6 people ready to jump with me, and so far that hasn't happened. I remain hopeful, but haven't been actively pursuing this for the past few months. I can lead the horse to water (perhaps!) but, well, you know the rest.

That, in a nutshell, is where things stand at the moment.

~Chris