Weaving is an ancient craft where loose threads are transformed into beautiful, unique textile creations. Imagine turning a simple collection of yarn into a colorful pattern, a warm scarf, or another artistic piece with your hands and a loom.
But weaving is much more than just a technical skill. It is a meditative and creative experience that allows you to experiment with color, pattern, and material.
In this workshop, you’ll dive into honeycomb weaving. You’ll see and feel how your ideas come to life, thread by thread. A table loom, pre-threaded and ready for use, will be at your disposal. Throughout the workshop, you’ll experiment with the honeycomb structure, using various materials and thicknesses to alter the texture and effect. This is a hands-on workshop where you’ll create your own piece and take it home at the end of the day.
Ambachtshuis Brabant is a leading educational organization specializing in practical training through the master-apprentice model, with craftsmen as our mentors. We strongly believe in this model, where learning by doing is central. Our doors are open to all adults who want to work with their heads, hearts, and hands, regardless of their education, background, or skills. Here, everyone has the opportunity to discover and develop their passion for crafts. Craftspeople are increasingly valued and in the spotlight! The demand for honest products and products with a story is growing, and our training programs contribute to this movement.
At Vakschool Schoonhoven you will discover the power of your craft. Making beautiful things and creating moments that enrich your life. This requires craftsmanship and creativity. That is why we encourage you to develop your own talent and to capitalize on opportunities.
Discover how you bring the craft into practice in your own way: Working on your own creations as a Gold or Silversmith. As a Jeweler creating the special feeling for others. As a Clockmaker, tinkering with technology very precisely. You discover it in an inspiring environment where you can be yourself.
At the booth of Vakschool Schoonhoven you can attend various workshops:
1. Make your own (sustainable) silver nugget bracelet
Buy silver granules from us (at 2.50 euros per gram) or recycled silver (at 1.50 euros per gram). Always wanted to make a bracelet from a fork, then you can purchase recycled silver.
Melt it into a ‘nugget’ and punch in your initials with letter punches. Drill holes in it (if needed with the assistance of a Watch Technology teacher or student), tie your strap to it and voilà your own silver nugget bracelet is ready. By making this bracelet you have become acquainted with all four of our disciplines at school: Gold & Silversmiths, Jeweler and Clockwork Technology. Oh and of course you can ask all your questions to the teacher or students.
2. The diamond challenge
Do you find the diamond between these ten stones? Then you have a chance to win the one and only Zadkine Vakschool Schoonhoven watch!
This watch is for sale in our Jewelers shop at school. It was made by students of the Clockwork Technology course at Vakschool Schoonhoven: from design to fine mechanical processing, engraving and display. It is not only part of the regular teaching material, but also part of the exam.
This watch is a very high quality product with the following features:
– 316L steel case
– 5ATM waterproof
– Saer glass
– Leather strap
– Swiss movement
– Date display
– Black dial with Zadkine logo and student made indication
The watch costs € 285 (including 21% VAT and shipping). Good to know: the retail value of a watch with the same Swiss movement is € 700 on average!
3. Replace battery
Now that you have been able to read a little more about our Zadkine Vakschool Schoonhoven watch, do you want to know what it feels like to work on it? Then see if you can replace a battery and maybe you can perform some other activities.
At the goldsmith stand, you can have your jewellery cleaned for free so that it sparkles like never before. Also have a look at the discovery laboratory where you can use a microscope to search for the inscription/engraving and impurities in a cut diamond. Using a Mohs hardness scale including rough diamonds, you will learn more about the raw material diamond from the diamond expert and dive into the world of diamond polishing.
The Amsterdam City of Diamonds Foundation will also be present during the Ambacht in Beeld Education Days. They have been offering in-house diamond polishing training for several years. As an apprentice diamond polisher, you go straight to work under the guidance of one of the master diamond polishers, according to the principle of ‘learning on the job’. Within a few years, you can master the trade of diamond polisher.
Please note: Participation at your own risk. Avoid wearing flammable clothing.
Witness the fascinating transformation of solid metal into an elegant seahorse, guided by heat and skilled craftsmanship.
After a brief introduction by our blacksmith, you’ll have the opportunity to shape a provided metal strip into your very own seahorse. Using a hammer and anvil, and under the guidance of our experienced blacksmith, you’ll learn the techniques involved while creating your unique piece.
Cees Pronk, a former professional in the metal industry, discovered a gap in blacksmithing training courses in the Netherlands back in 1999/2000. Unable to find a suitable program, he decided to develop his own. With approval from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, he established the Opleiding Smeden in Andelst and Mondra Opleidingen. Alongside the Opleiding Smeden, workshops and masterclasses are offered for people of all ages and backgrounds, including artists and primary school students. These sessions take place at Forge Cornelis Pronk, a hub for learning about forging techniques.
The ROC Midden Nederland offers a unique training course to become a natural stone worker.
During the course, you will learn all about different materials that have often been around for a long time and require different techniques to work them. You will learn how to work and process natural stones and how best to set up the workplace.
On behalf of the Brancheplatform Natuursteen, a sculptor will be present to give demonstrations. Would you like to get a taste of the craft and pick up a chisel yourself? You can!
The minimum age is 12 years.
Turn a square lath into an almost round stick that you can hammer into a piece of wood to lock a joint. You learn to plane with a hand plane and stab with a chisel. You will also learn about working posture while planning and how to adjust the planning chisel. We work with pine or larch. After the workshop, you will have your own toenail. The advanced woodworker can also pierce a worvel with a chisel. Of course, we will be happy to tell you more about the Technician Wood and Restoration course.
Technician Wood and Restoration is the only full-fledged MBO level 3 course to become a restoration carpenter. It is taught at 3 locations in the Netherlands: Hengelo, Arnhem and Zaandam. You will learn carpentry by hand, with machines and even with CNC-controlled machines during the 3-year course. So you can ‘get by’ in the machine shop and on-site. Restoring panelling and buildings is the core of the course. And you are also making new objects, with modern techniques.
During this workshop, you will make your own wooden picture frame. It starts with choosing from three different types of wood. Then we will make a frame in the traditional way, using different machines and tools. You will learn to work with the mitre punch, band saw and dovetail milling machine. Then we will make a polaroid picture that can be placed in your frame! At home, of course, you can exchange it for a photo of your own choice.
Students from the Hout- en Meubileringscollege will enthusiastically guide you through this workshop. Most of them are studying woodworking.
The HMC (Hout- en Meubileringscollege) has been an independent intermediate vocational school since 1929. We are a relatively small school and this ensures a personal and safe atmosphere. We offer training for interior, furniture, technical and design professions. Among others, we offer courses for furniture maker, interior designer, creative craftsman, home salesman, carpenter, furniture upholsterer and piano technician. We also offer courses and training for adults.
Children’s Workshop. Minimum age 11 years old. Parents/guardians are responsible at all times. Participation at your own risk, do not wear highly flammable clothing.
A bar of iron is heated in a fire with the blacksmith, and this glowing hot iron is forged into a keychain. This is done using a hammer to work the hot material on an anvil. You will go home with a unique keychain.
There can be two children forging per 20 minutes, the time slot goes by the hour, so you may have to wait your turn.
Once started as an independent worker in the metal industry, Cees Pronk already did research in 1999/2000 about training in the field of forging in the Netherlands. It turned out, however, that an excellent vocational training program no longer existed, which was why he developed his own training in blacksmithing. The final attainment targets he wrote, approved by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, were the starting point for compiling and writing teaching materials for the Opleiding Smeden in Andelst and the establishment of Mondra Opleidingen. Besides the Opleiding Smeden, various workshops and master classes are given for young and old artists and elementary school pupils. All this takes place in the Forge Cornelis Pronk, the place to gain knowledge about forging techniques.
Step into the world of a student at the Hout en Meubileringscollege (HMC). During the Creative Craftsman course, students learn to combine the latest techniques with craftsmanship.
The leather pattern parts for the make-up bag are cut out on the laser machine. You choose which leather and which thread color you want to use. During the workshop you will be introduced to hand stitching and learn different decorative stitches. After the workshop you will go home with a hand-stitched make-up bag.
Festival address:
NDSM Loods
NDSM-Plein 85
1033 WC Amsterdam
Postal address:
Stichting Ambacht in Beeld
Kalf 158
1509AH Zaandam
The Netherlands
