Advanced Window Craft Field Lab
November 9–13, 2026 | Uvalde Grand Opera House | Outpost 001
This is where the foundational field labs come together.
Over five intensive days, participants will unite the sash-making, carpentry, glazing, finishing, and problem-solving skills that turn separate movements into a complete Window Craft practice. Working on a real historic building, we will restore four monumental window openings—approximately eight feet tall—and construct eight new wooden sashes to replace the aluminum replacement windows currently installed.
We will begin by reading the building. Participants will investigate the surviving frames, examine physical evidence, document dimensions and profiles, and determine how the original windows were intended to look and operate. From that evidence, we will build and test a prototype sash before moving into production.
Participants will take part in the complete project sequence:
Investigating and documenting existing conditions
Reconstructing the original window design from physical evidence
Laying out and making traditional mortise-and-tenon sash
Removing aluminum replacement units
Fitting new sash to existing openings
Repairing frames, jambs, and sills
Restoring ropes, pulleys, and sash weights
Glazing, priming, painting, and protecting the work
Reassembling and tuning the completed windows
The lab also addresses the professional side of Window Craft: assessing unknown conditions, establishing scope, sequencing work, organizing a crew, staging materials, communicating with building owners, and making responsible decisions as a project unfolds.
This is a live field project, so discovered conditions may change the sequence of work. Our goal is to complete four openings and eight sashes while ensuring that every opening is left safe, protected, and weather-tight. That uncertainty is part of the advanced lesson: learning enough movements and sequences that you can adapt confidently without losing control of the work.
Participants should not expect to master this level of execution in a single week. Instead, the lab demonstrates what becomes possible as the foundational skills are absorbed and practiced. It shows where the journey leads—and why the details learned in Intro to Sash Making and Intro to Window Craft matter.
Admission is by instructor approval. Participants will ordinarily have completed Intro to Sash Making or Intro to Window Craft, or have equivalent experience approved in advance.
