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© 2004 Bonita Productions Inc.
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Arts And Crafts At Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN
By Bonnie & Bill Neely
Now you may have the mistaken idea, as we did, that Dollywood is only an amusement theme park mainly for kids. But how wrong you would be! We spent a delightful day there studying and purchasing mountain crafts from some of the most talented craftsmen and women we have ever found. And to our delight, they are demonstrating and teaching crafts which are otherwise becoming "lost arts."Dollywood Craft Preservation School is in the center of the theme park and was started with the idea that visitors could make a craft to take home. It has grown to be one of the foremost places of preserving and teaching heritage crafts, "using simple raw materials to create timeless treasures."
We watched the making of lye soap, which we learned releives poison ivy, fleas, chiggers, dandruff and athlete's foot. This ancient soap is from lard, lye and water. The insturctor, Annie Coppock, still makes it over an open fire, just as our grand-parents did. This lost art is becoming popular in even some of the designer soaps which are expensive gifts in elite shops today.
Sand-casting and foundry work was one of our favorites to watch. We learned from instructor John Fuller, whom we watched with one of his pupils, that anyone can sign up to spend a week-end and learn these skills in all-day classes...two days for only $150. You select a pattern and learn to make the sand mold to cast the aluminum and create your own decorative item to take home. The skills learned here could start your own business! 
Along side the sandcasting is the blacksmith shop, with his open furnace. Instructors Mike Rose and Richard Williams teach you how to work with heated steel to create art or functional pieces of wrought iron. There are classes for beginners and intermediates.Winter would be a good time to learn this because the open fire feels good on a cold day. But even in the summer there is plenty of cool shade and the area for working is covered.
Instructor Glenn Donley teaches his pupils the art and craft of making one of our most ancient and useful tools: the knife. Pigeon Forge, where the mountain heart of the skill of the firey forge was located, is the best place to learn this skill which incorporates heating steel in a fire, hammering, pounding, and smoothing to create a blade to be proud of.
Lee Warren is the master woodcarver on location. He is renowned for his wonderful carvings, which capture big prices from collectors. He is a skilled artist himself but says he can teach anyone to carve spirit faces with the carve-by-numbers method he has developed. He showed us his special creations of a carved and brilliantly painted cigar store Indian and a beautifully designed mantle which is intricate with hummingbirds and leaves, which is his current project by special order. If you are unable to return to take his week-end classes, you can purchase his video and learn at home with an assortment of carving tools he introduces you to. Call 865-428-9445.
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© 2004 Bonita Productions Inc
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