Post #224387 by MsSwanky on Sat, Apr 1, 2006 8:20 AM

Well the event officially kicks off today! So far this has been an amazing experience! Wednesday night Benzart gave Swanky and I some private instruction. I think I'm hooked on carving now, and so very proud to own half a Benzart! Thursday I got to do lunch with Benzart & Crazy Al while giving them a brief tour of Knoxville and then we hit some antique stores. Thursday night more of the crew came in to town and we all went to dinner... Crazy Al & Basement Kahuna did Karaoke, that was great! By Friday about half the bunch was here so we spent the day at Nawger Nob(the woodcarver's shop) and everybody walked away with some new goodies. We also got to check out a local guy carving driftwood and we spent some time with Captain Dave checking out his collection of wood and his carvings. BK & Tiki Diablo picked up a large, about 6 foot, wood piece - in about 4 hours time they had the thing nearly finished and it looks great! Just amazing! It has been quite a thrill to have the honor of hosting all of these people and to watch them in action! The classs began this morning at 9am - sadly I have to work and can't get back 'till after all the teaching is over, but I have already learned so much just by working with Ben and observing BK & Diablo at work! Everyone is learning already, Benzart has even been giving the pros some tips on tool sharpening. I fully expect to see some really fantastic work come out of this event. We are all taking lots of photos and I'll try to get some posted asap.