Texas Carving Event

[Capt. Bandaid]

I planned my vacation to coincide with a Carving Event sponsored by the Texas Woodcarving Guild in Fredericksburg, TX. That is near San Antonio and we live in Houston, 4 hours away. So I finally had time to check out the website and started to get giddy at all the names that would there teaching classes. But there was a catch: you had to belong to the TWG before you could take a class. Now, they only charge $12 per year to be a member but they meet in the Dallas area, a 4 hour drive from Houston. So how many times am I going to attend a meeting through the year? The classes are $25-$40 per day so they are not cheap either. Now, I can easily afford the $12 to join but dad gum it, I refuse to do so. That is just plain extortion and I won't be a part of it. TWG, keep your chips!

[gene-messer]

Hi Capt. Sorry about the feelings .. I also live in Texas and am a memeber of the Texas Guild .. I even have a friend that teaches there every year Dee Gipson ..

Yes the membership is $12.00 a year and the classes are held at the fairgrounds at Fredericksburg .. The fairgrounds building must be rented by the club ..
The $12.00 is the price of membership for the club .. But the classes are strickly priced by the instructors for their teaching .. not the club .. There is a lot of expense to the teachers in teaching at these classes and their just trying to charge what they can to pay for their expense in providing the teaching .. the material and the expense on them in appearing .. which can be quite expensive at times .. The Guild does not make money off the instructors .. they only sponsor them through the guild for the members ..

The club charges 12.00 a year which is quite cheap to cover the cost of the monthly phamplet they put out and the articles they send you letting you know of future events ...

I know it all sounds expensive .. but there is really little money made by the club and they do sponsor some great instructors for the yearly events ..

Iam not trying to defend the club .. but the information on the Texas carvers they send you is informative to know ..

Just wanted to share that with you ..

God Bless

Gene

[Capt. Bandaid]

Gene, thank you for taking time to explain that. While it seems a strange way to get money to pay for the venues, if that is what the Guild chooses to do, I am OK with that. I did actually go by the Gillespie County Fairgrounds last week and they did get a nice turnout. I did not partake of the classes but did visit the vendor areas several times.