The STABLES at Orcas Ranch offers a unique enhancement to your next vacation to the San Juan Islands.

Private, high-quality woodworking instruction is available for individuals or two companions seeking a comprehensive and rewarding immersion in the design and making process.

The instructor is Resident Artist, Laura Yeats, and offerings include 1 to 3 day workshops to create utilitarian or sculptural bowls or vessels. These workshops are ideal for artists, designers, woodworkers and anyone else wanting to explore the creation of 3-dimensional forms utilizing a unique resource of salvaged trees.

Orcas Island is part of the San Juan Island archipelago of Puget Sound that includes 172 islands and over 300 miles of shoreline. The islands are located about 90 miles northwest of Seattle, Washington and about 60 miles southwest of Vancouver, BC.

Orcas Island is one of four islands served by the Washington State Ferries that depart from Anacortes, Washington. The island is also accessible private boat or small aircraft.

The landscape of each island varies, but Orcas is quite hilly with some flat areas and fertile valleys in between. The tallest peak of all the islands is Mount Constitution, In Moran State Park on Orcas at almost a half-mile elevation. The shorelines are a mix of sandy and rocky beaches, shallow and deep harbors, placid and reef-studded bays. Beautiful gnarled madrona trees grace much of the shorelines while evergreen fir and pine forests cover large inland areas.

Orcas Ranch is 25 acres of truly special land offering a bit of every thing that makes Orcas Island so beautiful – native forest of fir, cedar, alder and madrona; grasslands, orchards and expansive pastoral and marine views.

The natural setting of Orcas Ranch exemplifies both prospect and refuge – a remote and forested hilltop location opening to sunny, southwestern exposure and views to Westsound, Deer Harbor and beyond to San Juan Island.

Laura transforms dead, diseased and unwanted trees into fine furniture, bowls and sculptural vessels. She attended the University of Washington and has bachelors and masters degrees in architecture, urban planning and urban design. As a Seattle-native, she first studied furniture design and craftsmanship locally at Pratt Fine Art Center and then traveled for intensive study at the College of the Redwoods, Penland School of Crafts, Haystack Mountain School and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She established her Seattle Studio in 2000 and her Orcas Island Studio in 2010. She has taught her signature workshop The Wood Bowl: From a Tree to Your Table since 2009.

Her work is available at Urban Hardwoods (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles)  and at Artisan Goods (Orcas Island).

Website: www.laurayeats.com

The Wood Studio is equipped for woodturning, furniture-making and wood carving. Most workshops emphasize the use hand tools including hand saws and planes, drawknives, spokeshaves, braces and a variety of chisels and carving tools.

The studio also has essential machines such as wood lathes, bandsaws, drill presses and pedestal grinders. And there are several hand-held, portable power tools such as drills, sanders, grinders, power planers and circular saws.

ARTISAN GOODS features the works of the Resident and Guest Artists and many other talented Northwest artists and craftspeople. All works are handmade objects of timeless design and exceptional craftsmanship. All works available for purchase are in the Artisan Goods virtual store.

The STABLES and each of its Resident and Guest Instructors are members of ART-CRAFT-FARM for the San Juan Islands.

ART-CRAFT-FARM EDUCATION is a resource listing for 'Travel and Learn' experiences in the San Juan Islands. The website lists instructors, studios, shops and farms that offer educational workshops in the arts, crafts and farming practices.