Student Feature: Meet Hadas
Meet one of our amazing alumni! Hadas is a professor of engineering who started taking Hammerstone classes in 2018 to feel more capable caring for her house. Earlier this year she sponsored our Stair Construction class with the project of building an accessible staircase at her mother-in-law’s barn - a huge safety improvement! She has completed a wide range of her own projects including a gorgeous Quarto set, a rolling workbench, and a cat door.
Introduce yourself and share a little about your background.
My name is Hadas, and I'm one of those people who came to Ithaca for school and never left. I teach in the engineering college at Cornell and over the years I have dabbled in various crafts for fun (crochet, carving, batik eggs...).
I often approach these things with more enthusiasm than skill, but I like a physical creative outlet to exercise that part of my brain.
What drew you to Hammerstone in the first place?
When my wife and I bought our house I wanted to feel more capable caring for it.
I didn't come from a DIY family, and outside of limited machine shop classes as an undergrad I didn't have any experience with power tools or building things.
I like that Hammerstone centers women and creating a learning environment where it's okay to make mistakes and students don't have to project confidence if they aren't feeling it.
The way Hammerstone instructors model recovering from and correcting errors builds resilience in the students and cultivates willingness to stretch just beyond our current skills to grow. I took the Basic Carpentry Skills 101 class in 2018, and since then have taken several more courses, all in woodworking.
Earlier this year you sponsored the Stair Construction class, in which students built a staircase for your mother-in-law’s home. What led you to this?
My family recently started thinking seriously about safety improvements to my mother-in-law's home and outbuildings. I already felt competent enough to help tackle smaller railings and gates, but the loft stairs in the barn were too far beyond my comfort level. I've never done a structural project before. I remembered Hammerstone had done a stairs class in the past, and asked Maria whether it would run again. She mentioned they were planning one but didn't have a project yet, and here we are!
How would you describe the atmosphere of the workshop?
I've taken half a dozen Hammerstone courses, and while they've all been great experiences, this one really stands out. Maybe because all of the other courses had students working on their own individual projects (saw horses, bookcases, Adirondack chairs, etc.) but here we were all working on the same project together. It felt like a community coming together to create this staircase and build our skills along the way. It was really supportive and collaborative.
What are some projects you've taken on after Hammerstone classes? Are there other techniques or projects you’re now interested in exploring?
I've done a lot of simple projects around the house. A few memorable ones include: a modified cat door to the basement, drawer dividers for dressers and kitchen cabinets, a shelf in my shed. I built a very simple table/desk for myself out of plywood and 2x4s. I made a rolling workbench and several shop jigs/sleds/etc. On the more woodworking side, I made a small box, some picture frames, and a small game set (Quarto). I started making a minimalist chess set to go with my board from the parquetry class.
Upcoming projects include finishing the railings and small loft-to-loft stairs for the barn, making utility shelves for my garage (I used my Sketchup skills from the Hammerstone course to plan these out), and using up the leftover plywood from my desk to make a bookcase for the living room.
What would you say to someone considering taking a Hammerstone class?
I would (and do!) enthusiastically recommend Hammerstone classes to anyone thinking about them. As a teacher myself, I always like being a student so I can remember what it's like to be a novice and notice what helps me learn. Every Hammerstone class I've taken has been a great exemplar. The instructors and TAs are all extremely competent and knowledgable, but also make it easy for everyone to ask questions, no matter how basic. And having built my comfort and skill level with the tools and materials through several Hammerstone classes, I get a huge amount of satisfaction from completing projects both creative and utilitarian at home.
Any advice for someone coming in for the first time?
Come expecting to learn a lot and have a great time. Every class I've been in has had students with a wide range of experience levels, and people are always helping each other out.
At the beginning of class when students introduce ourselves including our fears about the class, I sometimes say I'm afraid of looking like an idiot in front of everyone. But that's never happened. No one is there to feel or act superior, we're all just there to learn together.
Thank you, Hadas, for sharing your woodworking journey with us! Looking forward to the next time we build with you in the shop!