"in my opinion, it's much harder to convey the value (or joy, or whatnot) of a skill rather than that of a physical object that one made themselves. i've participated in a ceramics course with the same organizers for almost 20 years by now. the organizers and some of the participants became friends over time and since we do the course in the mountains, i get to experiment with firings i couldn't pull off in the city. for me, the courses are mostly skill-building and a social thing. but it still makes me very happy to bring home a nice piece that turned out really well. my experience over the years, mostly with one-time-participants, has been that people go there mostly for the objects they can take home. people that are looking for skill-building usually already have some deeper experience with at least some sort of craft. but generally, it's about the social aspect and the possibility to make some unique presents for friends. my opinion is that a course shouldn't be about "how to get something useful done as quickly and cheaply as possible", but some physical object needs to be at the end of the process. unless you're making really specialized courses... and a sidenote about the shaving horse: do you use beech dowels on the order of 10mm to 1/4" as hinges for the lever? do they work well? the background is, i made a horse with an M14 threaded steel rod for the hinge and some 2 3/4" sticks for the levers. i mostly use it for making bows, but even with heavier cuts on spoons i was pretty happy with the beefier dimensions that i chose."