Tryon Arts and Crafts School will host its first flintknapping weekend workshop with instructor Bill Mosseller. The two-day workshop will be held on Saturday, May 14 and Sunday, May 15 at the craft school located on Harmon Field Road. Students will learn about the properties of this craft as they create arrowheads from a variety of stone. Mosseller has been knapping for over 10 years and is proficient in making spear and arrowheads.

Knapping is the art of shaping flint, chert, obsidian or other stone through a reduction process to produce items such as arrow or spear heads, stone tools and strikers for flintlock firearms. Flintknapping, or knapping, is done in a variety of ways depending on the purpose of the final product. Early knappers would have used simple hammers made of wood or antler to shape stone tools. Knappers, both ancient and modern, generally begin knapping a piece of stone with direct percussion. Direct percussion is accomplished by directly striking the stone which is to be made into a projectile point, etc., with a tool, such as a hammerstone or antler billet to remove large flakes. Stone tools can then be further refined using wood, bone and antler tools to perform pressure flaking.

Bill Mosseller is an avid Indian artifact collector, which certainly influenced his interest in knapping. He lives in Lynn, where he knaps arrowheads for personal use and satisfaction as well as gifts. He lectures on arrowheads and artifacts and his collection has been viewed throughout the region. His work often finds its way into his masonry and construction projects.

Advance registration for all workshops is required. For more information about the instructor or workshop, contact Tryon Arts & Crafts School at 828-859-8323 or by email at tryonartsandcrafts@windstream.net. More details and examples of projects are available on the Tryon Arts and Crafts School website, www.TryonArtsandCrafts.org. There are a limited number of spaces available for this class.

Tryon Arts and Crafts School is a non-profit crafts organization located at 373 Harmon Field Road in Tryon and exists to provide creative opportunities for everyone.