Alan is extremely knowledgeable about shoemaking, to say the least. Alan is the mastermind of the workshop, having started it back in 1981, while Jayne came onboard later after taking his class (and later becoming his wife and business partner). You can't talk about ShoeSchool without talking about the only two people who are behind it all, Alan and Jayne. If you're somebody who's interested in ghosts and spirits, though, you'll be pleased to know that Manresa Castle is considered one of the most haunted places in the US!) It's an antique building with somewhat thin walls that might lead to some difficult nights of sleep, depending on your neighbors. (Regarding the quality of Manresa Castle itself: you get what you pay for. The price tag did not, unfortunately, cover the cost of lodging, but we were offered group discount rates for staying at Manresa Castle in Port Townsend. The costs covered: all of our learning materials, hand tools for taking home, all of the materials used for building our shoes, and all meals. The overall cost of the five-day hands-on workshop was $2300: a $500 deposit was due upon admittance to the class, and the additional amount was due at least 30 days before the start date of the class. Combining that with the fact that the school is only a couple of hours from where I live, I decided to throw the dice and applied for a spot in their classes. To say that their website looks dated is a massive understatement-it gave me the feeling that this school might not actually be in business anymore! However, I did manage to find a couple mentions of ShoeSchool elsewhere, and people said that it was great for teaching you the fundamentals of shoemaking. To be frank, I'm not sure what compelled me to choose ShoeSchool over other options. I came across the school after lots of furious googling-there are a frustratingly small number of legit places to learn shoemaking. Here are some pictures of my time at the workshop. I was motivated to take the course by a desire to learn, and I walked away from the experience-in my new pair of shoes-feeling very fulfilled and eager to do more. I had never made a pair of shoes before, and I had very little experience with leathercrafting overall. A week ago I finished a five-day workshop at ShoeSchool in Port Townsend, WA.
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