Working with Bone - an overlooked Gift w/ Josh Barnwell - Asheville, NC

Since time immemorial, bone has filled a material niche for humanity. Harder and sharper than wood, less brittle than stone, this often over-looked gift from our four-legged kin brings both beauty and function and has been used by all of our ancestors to shape our world.

With expert guidance from beloved Firefly Gathering instructor Josh Barnwell, participants will pick a project suited to your interests and needs: an awl or needle, a crochet hook, hair pin or even a whistle! In this hands-on workshop, you will transform these material gifts into beautiful functional crafts that invite the natural world into your daily life. Through cleaning, shaping, polishing, and finishing bone by hand, we’ll explore both the practical skills of the craft and the deeper understanding that comes from working directly with animal bodies.

Participants will learn:

• Proper sourcing, handling and storage of bone
• Basic deer anatomy and how it relates to human anatomy
• How to select the right bone for different projects
• Understanding and experience of which tools to use while working with bone and how to safely use them
• Best practices for cleaning, shaping, polishing, and finishing bone
• The basics of scrimshaw and other decorative techniques
• Examples of additional bone projects to inspire future exploration

This class is open to all skill levels, from absolute beginners to experienced makers curious to explore a new material. By crafting with bone, participants are invited into a deeper relationship with the more-than-human world—one that can quietly shift how we understand kinship, care, and our human place within the larger living web of life.

This class will be held outdoors on Saturday, August 15th, 2026, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm in Asheville, NC.

All Firefly Gathering workshops are hosted in the greater Asheville area, sometimes at private venues. For that reason, the actual venue address will be included in your Welcome email, approximately one week before the workshop. Please note that classes are not actually held at Westgate Parkway.

Moderate hand strength is recommended. Some familiarity with basic hand tools is helpful but not required. Participants must be at least 12 years old; minors must attend with an accompanying adult.

Josh Barnwell has been a lifelong student of traditional and endangered skills, starting with learning the plants and wildlife from the woods around his home and growing from there. With over 20 years of experience under his belt, he leads classes with enthusiasm and the philosophy that by learning these skills to directly meet our needs from the natural world and attaining a connection to and appreciation of that world, we connect and align ourselves to what it truly is to be a human living on this planet.

Josh teaches for various gatherings, camps, and nature programs around the southeast and beyond. When he is not leading a workshop or teaching for a gathering he is participating in the highly seasonal, cyclical crafts that make up the wheel of his year.

✨ “My favorite part of teaching is seeing the joy and enthusiasm of my students as they connect with the natural world in a tangible way. My goal is to share skills that people can carry into their daily lives, deepening their relationship with nature.”

You can find out more about Josh through his website bewelloutdoors.com

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