I took bridge classes a number of years ago and realized it was like learning another language and pretty much hated it. I've taking knitting classes but that was not all that fascinating.

I have taken a number of photography classes which I really did enjoy. I wish I was artistic but I'm just not.

I took an upholstery class and my friend continues to take art classes. So if you are interested, DO IT!

I really enjoy classes! The most recent one I did was a few years ago and was oil painting. Loved it! Did not keep up the habit of oil painting however. I would love to take more visual art classes.

I signed up for an oil painting class but had to drop it due to a family emergency. I wanted to take a pottery class-- and last December I went to a Sip and Spin party that was basically an intro class (we made 2 pieces) with wine. There were 5 of us and it was a blast! BTW,, if you have nails, cut them down! I kept taking the tops off my pieces with my thumbnail.

It might be too far for you, Shee.. but we went to Mud Queen Pottery in Linglestown.

An upholstery class would be fun!

I teach classes of this sort and imo, the most important thing before signing up, is get references from other students. Did they like the class? Did it meet their requirements? Did they have fun, etc.

From my perspective, I want a teacher to be highly skilled in their field and know how to communicate this to the students. The highly skilled part is not something a beginner ( or most!) can recognize though.

I've been playing around on my own with wood burning and have kind of maxed out what I can teach myself with the equipment (basic) I have so I'm taking a class later this month. The teacher will loan a high end unit as well as teach techniques that will work with various ranges of equipment. Years ago I took knitting classes (an ongoing weekly thing) which were very helpful but the best part was the social aspect. I have taken and taught any number of decorative painting classes. I would love to take a pottery class and glass blowing sounds fun, too.

I've never tried glass blowing, but I'd love to! Wow... I knew that Corning had a few things you could make there, but they've really expanded. I might go try that: Corning Make your own glass

Re creative classes, I've taught more than I've taken, but I have taken a few and the instructor makes a huge difference!

I have taken lots of quilting classes, both in person and online. Some were better than others, but I think I learned something new in every one (even if it was that I didn't like a particular style or technique).

I am starting a conversational Spanish class next week that my company is offering.

We went to a glass blowing studio in Cabo San Lucas a few weeks ago, and it was amazing how quickly they can turn a blob of molten glass into a beautiful work of art.

Donna

I took a cooking class yesterday. It was so much fun, I learned a lot.

I took a stained glass course many years ago, and still have the pieces I made during the course, and after. So fun! I've also taken Spanish in the community college continuing ed program, Business French with L'Alliance Francaise. I'd love to take some courses with our local nature preserves, they have some good 6-week courses.

I tried loom weaving. Too difficult for me. The only other ones have been language. I loved those.

Years ago when I was the president of a statewide women’s group, I organized an Italian cooking class for a large group of them during our yearly conference. It was a huge success. Afterwards though, the most enthusiastic raves I received were for the “gorgeous, sexy, charismatic chef” I’d hired to teach the class. Yes, he was, but that’s not why I’d chosen him. I have to admit, though, he did make the class very enjoyable (LOL)!

Stained glass course - now that would be fun.

I took creative writing (Larry McMurtry) for my first degree, and for my ID degree, I took several art classes (Life Drawing, 2-D Design, 3-D Design, etc) plus some architecture classes including a graduate course in history of architecture. In San Francisco I took a silk screening class at Fort Mason that I really liked. I taught myself how to sew and have taught sewing to others. I have also taken many language classes. My last roommate in SF made stained glass windows, and we also did upholstery together.

Sabbath reminded me of a cooking class I took with my son when he was in college - I'd do that again in a heartbeat.

My vote is to take a month-long cooking course in Tuscany. Ahhhh!

I am properly jealous you took a class with Larry McMurtry, Lars. Wow.

I love taking classes. I am happiest when I am learning something new. I have taken everything from a course on War and Peace to watercolor and game theory. I want to take up bridge. I loathe playing cards as a rule, but I have read bridge is the one of the best activities for aging. You have to use your noodle and it's social, so I will push myself to learn. Plus my husband loves to play bridge (he used to play at work.)

I've taken a few. One was a basket making workshop. I didn't think the instructor was very good since it was mostly "take A and insert B" kind of direction. So while I came away with a very nice finished product I couldn't do it again on my own to save my life. (that was one pricey basket) Another I remember was a dowsing course that was great. I can actually do that now. My sister who lives in the next town takes all kinds of courses. Belly dancing, fencing - I don't know how she finds these things but likely it's because she's willing to travel further than I am. I've been on the lookout for things like this since I've retired but haven't found anything fun lately.

I have taken pottery classes. The problem is I prefer to practice when the mood strikes me, not necessarily at the time when the class is taught. I love to paint and have painted all my life. I have only taken one painting class when I was in middle school. For creative classes, I prefer for Youtube to be my teacher because there are tons of videos and I can watch them whenever I want.

I took a glass blowing class a few years ago, when I thought I might like to make glass beads for my jewelry making. It was interesting and hard. I quickly realized I didn't have the time or the money to invest in the equipment needed to do it right. But I was glad I took the class.

I took a basic jewelry making class that inspired me to make jewelry for a couple of years.

I took a series of acrylic painting classes, hoping to gain some insights and techniques. But mostly it was more experienced (and naturally talented) people and me feeling like a first grader with a box of fat crayons. I wasn't looking for artist vision, just some help getting started with the media. Also, it was in a room with NO WINDOWS. Talk about an inspiration killer.

I took a bird box making class once and felt fulfilled. I wish I had taken wood shop in high school, but back then, it was unthinkable. I'd still like to take a basic carpentry class, learn how to use power saws safely.

I’ve taken upholstery classes and furniture refinishing. I loved having a set schedule and a place to work on my projects.

Linelle, I’ve always wanted to take a carpentry class as well.

ETA- I just remembered, I also took a tarot card reading class.

Linelle, is there a WoodCraft store in your area? We have one fairly close and they teach a variety of woodworking classes.

Donna

Interesting question. If we talk only about taking classes when being adult..

I took some Jewish Studies at some point. Small group. The teacher was incredibly smart..very controversial well-known personality in Israel. I think my communications might be permanently bugged since then:) He was.. too controversial. But a very gifted teacher. Great discussions.

Took Art. Painting. Small group as well.

Took French. Private tutoring, on and off. (mostly off lol, as tutors moved, I moved myself, in short very haphazard. But overall it was cool) Actually one of my dreams was going to France for language classes -they arrange for language immersion experiences. In chateaus and stuff))

Speaking of dreams I stopped dreaming-this might be one of them.

As for sport I took aerobics couple times. ETA: sorry, not really creative

Friday, my local pottery place has classes and open lab sessions. After you take a pottery class or two, you can run solo. They have people there to advise and help but mostly it's you having time on their wheels.

msmeow, thanks for the tip about WoodCraft. Unfortunately the nearest stores are about 100 miles away.

Funkyart - I did enjoy the pottery class and I still have, and use, the items I made. It is something I could really get in to. But, I want to be able to do it at home at 3am if I want and pottery requires space, major equipment, and is a huge mess to clean up. What I am completely obsessed with at the moment is epoxy countertops. I would love to try and do that but for some reason, my dh is not nearly as excited about me experimenting with our beautiful (yuck!) 20 year old laminate as I am. My only hesitation, besides dh not wanting it, is after spending hours scouring the www I have only come across one before and after of a diy epoxy countertop. Then I thought that maybe I will start with epoxy art. I have seen lots of that, and I think the process is the same. I think that might be a bit easier to handle as a first epoxy job.

I'm retired and taking classes in everything that has nothing to do with my college major (engineering, science, math, French): art, music, history, political science, Arabic.

I find this all so interesting. I wish I had the access to such a variety of classes in my area.

oh I remembered. I really wanted to take hand painting porcelain class, at some point. I googled-and the closest class was in a different state..

ah. and I tried to take interior design course, online. Just for myself, you know. You submit homework via email. Nothing spectacular. Then as I got to the middle of the course, I got awfully sick. Spent couple months in bed. When I recovered it became clear I won't meet the deadline..

I got very upset about it all, even though it was just 40 dollars Groupon..))to me it was like I failed. It took me abnormal amount of time to analyze my friends' spaces and suggest mood boards (I had to do one; but three friends responded, so I got myself into hours upon hours of work. Obviously lots of personal correspondence with friends, even though they knew it was for the sake of my exercise. They did me a favor -the least I could do was to give them all time and effort. And while two friends were happy, the third friend was obviously not, Lol.) To draw plans-I'm awful with drawing plans..fine motor skills are not great too, especially lately..elevations, all that jazz..

It was several years ago so enough time passed for me to mention that. I was too upset to even talk about it to anybody.

In short payed 40 bucks for my own enjoyment-but it felt like I payed 40 K to post somebody's bail. And he still stayed imprisoned lol.

Lynn - sign me up!

Photography, learned bunches

watercolor painting, was worst in my class

beginning sewing, kinda boring but useful

I took one and a half art classes years ago. I would love to take a sculpting class but the few that come up are a long ways.

I took a painting class (acrylics), and actually am looking at a collage I did for the class right now (perched on my desk at work), even though it must have been 15 years ago or more. I took beginning silversmithing at a local industrial arts studio (where my daughter has been doing summer camps for the last few years, including jewelry, leatherworking, and glass fusing). I took belly dancing classes for 10 years until injury took me out of it. I took a class in Mandarin in advance of a trip to China.

I think all of those, except for the belly dancing, were before I had a child.

Fascinating reading what everyone has tried and I got a few new ideas. The longest class I've taken was Tai Chi - 7 years. It was a great experience & we have thought of going back.

Other classes: Knitting (I knit adult sweaters for children...I knit too tight); Pottery many years ago (my best pieces died in a kiln shelf break); Creative Journaling; Quilting; Piano (3 yrs...I learned how to read music, but couldn't stop fixing my mistakes. We have a piano & I can play with my right hand for fun); ASL; Calligraphy (I loved that & did well).

I have been trying to take French classes at Adult Ed, but their schedule and mine have not jived. I took many years of French in school, but never had any way to practice. Now that you can get slow news in languages, I think it would be an interesting.

I take all kinds of classes, all work related. On top of that I have to take classes for professional licensure. Some of that will end in June and will be replaced with fun classes like ballroom dancing, yoga and gardening. I also plan on taking our dog to classes so she can become a therapy dog and we can visit the local nursing home and the assisted living facility where my late dad lived.

This summer DH and I are joining a wine group at a vineyard near our vacation house. That involves a food club, pairing the wines with food. We want to meet more people with similar interests to expand our social circle there.

ETA: I was at the a major medical/dental center in Boston with my students today and I met a therapy dog and got all the contact information from the owner. I will make an appointment soon. Tufts Vet school does the training and is always looking for volunteers at the Medical Center. I can't wait!

I take printmaking classes on and off, usually etching or relief, but I've taken lithography and silkscreen as well. I've also taken oil painting (copying master paintings), illustration and bookmaking classes in the past.

I'm also currently trying to work my way through some piano. (Early repertoire) I get an occasional lesson with my kids' piano teacher.

I feel like this thread would be more fun if people showed off some of their class projects!

I'm sorry I haven't had time to properly come back to read these and respond. Looking forward to it hopefully soon.

Oh gosh, I would love upholstery or furniture refinishing, but the reality is I don't have a lot of downtime to do this.

Where I used to live, the YMCA had a great network of continuing ed classes. Since it was a college town, there were a lot of things to do. I did wine tasting with wines from various regions, cooking, and bellydance. :)

Last fall I completed a certificate series as a pilot participant on local food systems through my state cooperative extension and land grant university. It was super interesting, and I actually got the certificate framed on my wall. I learned the most about distribution and food hubs. One local university is doing beermaking certificate series, but the cost is something like $1500.

Master gardening would be fun, too.

We met people in Italy who had taken cooking classes in Tuscany, but from what they described, I already knew how to make everything that was being taught. I still want to go back to Tuscany (and Rome), however. They may not have gone to the best school, and they may have only been taking beginner classes.

I could probably benefit from taking French lessons in France, since I really need to work on my pronunciation, but France is not our list at the moment - and neither is England, although I might add it because flights to London on Norwegian Air are so cheap. I would like to take a Portuguese class, but those are hard to find. I've downloaded a bunch of videos, but I have to discipline myself to watch them. We might go back to Brazil in 2020.

Another class I would like to take is sculpting. Already I sculpt Styrofoam at work for furniture parts (as well as clay), but I really want to carve stone - especially alabaster, as it is fairly soft. I think Santa Monica College has classes, but it's a bit of a drive, now that we no longer live in Venice.

ETA: I did find this stone carving class in my neighborhood, and so I might look into that. That is only about a ten minute drive from my house, and there would never be much traffic. This class is about 15-20 minutes away, but is one day only and is $95.

I did a weeklong cooking school in Amalfi with my mother in 2001. Best adventure ever. Highly recommend. I’ve been in a writing workshop on and off for nearly a decade, Best class I think I’ve taken is yoga. Not only for the personal satisfaction you get from this gentle form of exercise, but I find myself using the breathing techniques to just quiet my mind sometimes. Not all out meditation, just a quiet moment.

When I was a teenager, I went to an arts camp in Connecticut for many summers. They had glassblowing and I tried it several times. Somewhere floating around in my parents apartment is a glass paperweight or two. It was fun, and some people take to it naturally. I’m not one of them.

My local library offers creative classes galore! Cooking, basket weaving, art, poetry, fiction writing, photography etc. They also host book clubs, movie nights and various workshops. And best of all, they are all free!

I've taken Spanish, and grasped enough to manage very basic communication. I then tried Italian, but when I tried to speak it, only Spanish would come out! I am going to work on becoming more fluent in Spanish now.

I took a painting class but had to drop it because I couldn't get the day off consistently (class was at 7pm and my shifts run until 7:30). I've taken yoga also.

Upholstery might prove a very useful skill. I did recover a loveseat once using a stapler and a glue gun, but it was didn't look quite as good as new!

I've enjoyed reading through these.

This upholstery book was recommended by Oceanna on here years back. I purchased it but haven't worked on anything large mainly because I haven't had a need to. I'd like to tackle a wing chair eventually.

Furniture Upholstery Sunset Book

Funky - Oh, I don't mind driving at all. I'm going to look into that place, thanks!

I do think I'm going to ask for references for classes from now on. I always dislike actually asking that kind of thing but it's helpful.

I'd like to get into painting eventually and really into flower gardening but I don't see either of those happening for another decade or so.

With most things artistic, I find I need to be in the mood to create and it needs to be what I want to do.