September Sampler 2026
September Sampler offers a sample of all the Alabama Folk School has to offer. Experienced crafters and true beginners alike can find something to love. We’re excited to introduce an expanded schedule for these workshops in 2026! As usual, students will sign up for one of several workshops on Saturday and will enjoy lunch with live music. You now also have the option to spend the night and add a Sunday morning workshop session in the same discipline or something new! Lodging and meals are available from Friday dinner through Sunday lunch. Join us and create the schedule that works for you!
COST
Saturday Day Pass (Class & Lunch): $125-$175
Saturday + Overnight Pass for 1(Class, 4 Meals, Lodge Room): $315-$365
Saturday + Overnight Pass for 2(Class, 4 Meals, Lodge Room): $360-$410
Additional Mini Class on Sunday: $50-$75
SATURDAY WORKSHOPS
Natural Dyes with Aaron Sanders Head
Join Aaron for a day spent coaxing color from beautiful Indigo,, Marigolds and other Alabama plants like Black walnut and sumac. We’ll spend the first half of the day exploring beautiful Alabama plants, like sumac, black walnut, and Camp-grown marigolds, while discussing how to best harvest and how to best prepare the plant for dyeing, as well as bundle dyeing techniques. We'll also learn to identify some of the common dye plants growing around camp.
While the plants stew, we’ll spend the second half of the day exploring the process of creating beautiful shades of blue on natural fibers with Indigo. Aaron will also cover a series of resist techniques, with a focus on folded, tied and clamped resist, to create beautiful manual resist patterns on fabric. Using previously dyed fabrics, we’ll create a range of colors, and use resist techniques to create interesting layers of natural color.
Participants will leave with naturally dyed fabric, indigo dyed fabric, fabric dyed with combinations of natural materials, bundle dyed fabric, and the knowledge to forage for future dyes.
Provided by Aaron
Fabric for dyeing
All indigo and shibori materials
Provided by Students
High-sleeved rubber gloves, like dishwashing gloves
Additional fabric for dyeing with indigo. Natural materials only, with cellulose fibers working best. Pre-wash in hot water before workshop. Bring lots! (plan for most of your fabric to be blue, with just a few items dyed in the other colors)
Aaron Sanders Head is a Southern, Alabama-based textile artist. Aaron was raised in rural Grady, AL and Hope Hull, AL, as the youngest of three children from an artist mother and an agricultural worker father. His grandparents were both rural mail carriers, and the times Aaron spent accompanying them on those trips cemented early on a fondness for rural areas and the importance of connection however it can be found. That learned sense of observation combined with inherited family traditions of textile and agriculture inform the unique visual language Aaron works in today, that exists in the worlds of quiltmaking, handwork and natural dyes. Aaron creates quilts and hand-stitched, naturally dyed textiles that explore the lived experiences of rural Alabamians.
Baking Pies with Sarah Ward
If you’re intimidated by flaky doughs, come learn with me! We will cover the fundamental technique of cutting butter into flour to make two southern staples- pie dough and biscuits. Both recipes build off of the same foundation. By the end of class you will confidently know how to make crisp, flaky pie crusts and sky-high buttermilk biscuits with dozens of flaky layers. Saturday will focus on pie crusts and Sunday morning we'll move to biscuits. Be sure to register for both sessions for the full experience!
Sarah Ward is an accomplished baker and recipe developer based in Birmingham, Alabama. In recent years, she worked as a freelancer developer and food stylist, Food Editor for Southern Cast Iron magazine, and Editor of Taste of The South magazine. Sarah is currently the Executive Editor for Preppy Kitchen. You can find her personal recipes and cooking wisdom on ofthedirt.com.
Hand Building Ceramic Berry Baskets with Rachel Letcher
Intro to Hand Building: Learn the basics of working with clay in this hands‑on beginner workshop. No prior experience required. You’ll get an overview of how clay behaves, practice pinch, coil, and slab techniques, and complete one or two small functional or sculptural pieces. Perfect for curious makers or anyone who wants a relaxed, creative introduction to ceramics.
Rachel Letcher is a ceramic artist based in Asheville, NC, and a resident artist at Cold Mountain Art Collective, where she teaches beginner wheel classes. With over a decade of experience working in clay, she creates work inspired by the natural world, especially flora, fauna, and the textures of the landscape. She enjoys blending styles and techniques to make pieces that feel both familiar and unexpected. Her teaching emphasizes hands‑on instruction, curiosity, and cultivating a steady, playful relationship with clay.
Blacksmithing: Intro to Scrollwork with Quinn McKay
Quinn McKay’s creative energies are rooted in a love of Architecture from an early age, blended with a deep connection to nature. Elements of his designs are inspired by the natural forms around and apart of us, as well as the clean lines which we surround ourselves with. To Quinn, art is about connection with material and process, and the people and land we are in relation with. This philosophy follows through into his teaching. The goal of each workshop is to connect people with their innate abilities through connections with the material and each other. Quinn graduated from the American College of the Building Arts in 2023 with a great appreciation for traditional forging. Currently, he is putting that appreciation to work at Iron Horse Metalworks in Birmingham, AL.
Goat's Milk Soap Making with Laura Spencer
In this fun and educational class, you’ll begin by making “melt-and-pour” goat milk soap. You’ll then move on to the more involved method of creating cold process goat milk soap. You'll leave with lots of soap and the skills to continue soap making at home!
Laura owns and operates a family farm and homestead in Marion Junction, Alabama. Simply Making It offers goat's milk soap, skincare products, beeswax candles, and more. Laura crafted her first batch of soap in 2010. What started as a simple next step in her family's effort to become more sustainable, slowly grew beyond family and beyond soap, into a small business that continues today. Every product is handmade using natural ingredients, including milk from Laura's goats, herbs from her garden, and pure essential oils.
SUNDAY WORKSHOPS
Charcoal Making with Aaron Sanders Head
Spend the morning making drawing charcoal with Aaron Sanders Head! We’ll explore camp, foraging for vines and sticks to make our charcoal, before learning how to transform the humble materials into a utilitarian artmaking medium. We’ll also learn to make black ink using our charcoal, and learn some basic shadow-drawing and gesture drawing techniques. Participants will leave with a tin of drawing charcoal to use in future projects.
Baking Biscuits with Sarah Ward
If you’re intimidated by flaky doughs, come learn with me! We will cover the fundamental technique of cutting butter into flour to make biscuits. By the end of class you will confidently know how to make sky-high buttermilk biscuits with dozens of flaky layers.
Blacksmithing Demo with Quinn McKay
Description coming soon!
Felted Soap with Laura Spencer
In this beginner level class you will learn the basics of making goat milk lotion and wet felted soap. Be sure to sign up for Saturday's workshop as well if you want to learn soap making processes!