Due to popular demand, the BVMA have once again teamed up with varnish expert Pierre Flavetta to offer members the incredible opportunity to improve their varnishing skills with this exciting course.

Cost £900 - £1100 which includes all food and accommodation. £100 deposit to secure your place with the balance payable by 30/09/2025.

You’ll learn about varnish theory, the history of varnishes and recent discoveries plus all about colourants and any other aspect of the history of varnishes you can imagine!

Keep an eye on your e-mails from the BVMA for more information about booking your place. 

Sold Out

Please take a look at our General Workshop running at the same time.

12 th – 24 th October 2025. Halsway Manor, Somerset.

Do you already have good violin making skills? Would you like to improve your

knowledge of grounds, varnishing skills and technique? Come and learn a very

successful method of varnishing and antiquing from Antoine Nédléc and Jeff

Phillips from the Chicago School of Violin Making.

There are 10 places available for this popular course which will run at the same time

as the General Making Course.

Cost for the workshop is £1900 - £2250 with a £100 deposit and balance payable by

30/06/25.

We look forward to seeing you at Halsway!

BVMA General Workshop

12th - 24th October 2025, Halsway Manor, Somerset

Would you like to improve your violin, bow making or restoration skills?

On this general making course there will be no teachers but guidance available from Mark Robinson on instrument making and Lee Guthrie and Dave Forbes on bows.

This is a perfect opportunity to learn from very talented experts and also your course colleagues in a creative, supportive environment.

There are 23 places available for this very popular course.  Cost for the workshop is £950- £1300 with a £100 deposit and balance payable by 30/06/25.

Bursaries are NOT available for this course.

Booking instructions will be sent via e-mail from the BVMA so keep an eye on your inbox.

The third edition of our set-up course is for violin makers at the beginning of their careers. We will concentrate on the set-up of a violin, particularly the soundpost and bridge. Andrew Fairfax and Kathrin Hügel will talk you through every step before applying the theory in practice. At the end of the week, participants will leave with a step-by-step plan on how to make a bridge and sound post.

The BVMA is delighted to offer members the opportunity to book this course with the world-renowned Iris Carr. Iris is a violin restorer specialising in major restorations of violins, violas and cellos and her Retouching Course covers all aspects of restoration, from completed woodwork to finishing the varnish, including the treatment and staining of wood, filling cracks and joints, creating texture, retouching and patina.

Bring your own restorations however big and daunting!

There are 7 places available for this transformative course. Cost £1100 to

£1150 with a £100 deposit payable by 31/12/24 this includes all meals and accommodation.

We are looking forward to seeing you at Westhope College

https://www.westhope.org.uk/index.html.

BVMA members will receive e-mails with the link for booking September 19th at 8pm BST

16th - 21st March 2025, Westhope College, Shropshire

This general violin/bow making course with Mark Robinson, Kai Thomas-Roth, Derek Wilson and Tim Baker is for anyone looking to work with others on joint instruments and your own projects.

There are 16 places available for this exciting course. Cost for the workshop is

£650 - £750 with a £100 deposit and the rest payable by 31/12/24.

Pack up your tools and projects and find a bench waiting for you at Westhope College https://www.westhope.org.uk/index.html to collaborate with and learn from other talented makers.

Booking instructions will be sent via e-mail to members on September 30th 2025. We anticipate this course will be quite popular so don’t worry if you aren’t successful this time, there will be a similar course at Halsway in October 2025.

The BVMA is running this extremely popular bow course again in January 2025 with Jutta Walcher and Tim Baker.

Cost £750 - £800.

£100 deposit to secure your place with the balance payable by 31/10/24.

Pack up your tools, bring as many bows as you can for re-hairing plus some bows you would like to repair and be part of this incredible week of immersion in all things bow related.

Limited number of places available so book soon to avoid disappointment

Due to popular demand, the BVMA have teamed up with varnish expert Pierre Flavetta to offer members the incredible opportunity to further their varnishing skills with this exciting course.

You’ll learn about varnish theory, the history of varnishes and recent discoveries plus all about colourants and any other aspect of the history of varnishes you can imagine!

Limited number of places available, the course will be open up July 18th at 7pm BST. Book soon to avoid disappointment.

Do you have a restoration project that has been hanging around your workshop for a while and you still haven’t got round to it? Are you restoring an instrument or bow but feel that you would benefit from guidance? Then this is the course for you!

With world class tutors, this is our highest level of professional development course. We have booked the whole Manor for 12 days, which will be our longest course ever, but if you can’t escape for this long then there is an option to come for just half of the time.

The third edition of our set-up course at Halsway Manor in Somerset, for violin makers at the beginning of their career.

During the week at Halsway we will concentrate on the set-up of a violin, particularly the sound-post and bridge.

Tutors Andrew Fairfax and Kathrin Hügel will talk through every single step before applying the theory in practice with practical demonstrations.

SOLD OUT

Jutta Walcher will be joining Tim Baker for this January course at Halsway Manor. This course is aimed at those who already have good hand skills and would like to be able to do more work on bows.

With many bow rehairers now retiring, there is a serious shortage of people able to work on bows, creating a great opportunity.

SOLD OUT

This course is aimed at those who already have good violin making skills and would like to be able learn or improve upon their varnishing skills. A very successful method of varnishing and also antiquing will be taught by Antoine Nédléc, Executive Director of the Chicago School of Violin Making, and Jeff Phillips, Associate Director of the same school. Uncounted competition winners, including of course both of them, have used the varnish method they teach and they have taught it at Oberlin for years too.

BVMA Instrument and Bow making workshop October 8th-20th 2023 Halsway Manor.

Click HERE to sign up now!

If you are a violin or bow maker looking to work with others and complete your own project, the BVMA are excited to offer you the opportunity to attend this workshop.

Cost for 12 day workshop between £700 - £950 which includes all food and accommodation.

Pack up your tools and project(s) and find a bench waiting for you at Halsway Manor www.halswaymanor.org.uk/your-visit/location/ for an incredible twelve days of immersion in all things violin related.

Limited number of places available so book soon to avoid disappointment. Too much fun to miss!

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sold Out!

BVMA Course: Set up 25th – 30th June 2023, Halsway Manor

The second edition of our set-up course in Halsway, for violin makers at the beginning of their

career. During the week in Halsway we will concentrate on the set-up of a violin, especially the

sound-post and bridge, as these are the most crucial elements. Andrew Fairfax and Kathrin Hügel

will talk you through every single step before applying the theory in practice.

This course is primarily aimed at those with some experience and who enjoy learning through watching and chatting in a workshop situation. There will be a maximum of 9 places.

There will be no teachers as such, but rather a small group who will be working on their own work and helping participants as well.

This course is designated for our more experienced members and will be taught by Damien Sainmont and Catherine Janssens. Participants will bring their own set-up instruments, which will then be assessed. Instruments will be looked at from different aspects, such as architecture of each individual instrument, resonances and their impact on the instrument’s parts, as well as comfort of playing.

For 2022 the BVMAs main course will be very similar to our previous courses at West Dean, with the

same tutors as 3 years ago.

The course starts on Sunday at 4pm with the practical element finishing before lunch on Saturday.

This is followed by a 1 1/2 day BVMA conference on wood and sound, a concert and party.

A set-up course in Halsway, aimed at violin makers at the beginning of their careers. During our week in Halsway we will focus on the set-up of a violin, especially the sound-post and bridge, which are the most important aspects. Andrew Fairfax and Kathrin Hügel will talk you through every single step before putting the theory into practice.

Iris Carr is a violin restorer specialising in major restorations of violins, violas and cellos.

Her Retouching course covers all aspects from completed woodwork to finishing the varnish, including the treatment and staining of wood, filling cracks and joints, creating texture, retouching and patina.

With Jutta Walcher, Derek Wilson and Tim Baker

Jutta is an award-winning bow maker, with 25 years’ experience repairing and rehairing bows. In her rehairing demonstrations, she will be highlighting the importance of this part of bow making by bringing to the fore not only the practical stages of the job, but also the essential preparatory work that should always be carried out.

We recognise many of you will be desperate to work with other people in a safe environment. Westhope College in Shropshire will remain closed this Autumn but Halsway Manor in Somerset will reopen in late September. We have agreed with Halsway that instead of taught courses, we will run two 5-day workshops for a maximum of 10 people each week.

Halsway Manor is the National Centre for Folk Arts and runs a number of residential arts and crafts courses.(halswaymanor.org.uk). It is a great venue with a workshop big enough for 10–12 people. This initial course will run for just 5 days, but the workshops will be open for extended hours. We want to offer the opportunity for people already skilled to the level of graduating from violin making college to feel confident to also work on bows.

Over seven days (56 hours), François will cover the theory and practice of preparation and varnishing wood for violin making. Participants will investigate methods using classical materials (particularly focussing on the recreation of historical practice) as well as techniques using modern materials. The course includes the study of the use and effect of light on each stage of the life of an instrument, including evaluation of historical instruments. Seventy percent of the course time is spent on practical work.

The BVMA has organised professional development courses at West Dean for violin and bow restorers since 2006. They haveproved popular with independent professionals and those who work in violin and bow shops. The course aims to extend your knowledge of new techniques and introduce you to a network of other people in workshops around the world with similar interests and problems. With the workshops available until 10pm, there is the opportunity to complete enough work to recover a significant part of the course fees.

This year we welcome Warren Bailey, Gudrun Kremeier and Almuth MacWilliams for violin restoration; and on the bow side,Derek Wilson for bow restoration and Evan Orman and Tim Baker for bow making.