"Gesellenbrief"???

[Astrid]

hi
I am from germany and will finish my woodturning education this summer after 3 years of studdying wich is the regular time to learn a profesion in germany
after graduation i will be a "geselle"
since i am married to an american i will be moving to the states with him next year
now i wonder what my german education equals in the states?
does it count at all
thanks Astrid

 

[Bill Grumbine]

Guten Daag fun Pensylfanich Deitschland Astrid!

(that would be "Good day from Pennsylvania Dutch land" to the rest of you)

Geselle translates as journeyman, or perhaps in your case journeywoman. We do not have an apprentice system here as in the old days, so I guess the question is, what plans do you have? Do you want to strike out on your own, do you want to work for someone else? Many larger companies use automated machinery to produce pieces in the thousands, while some of us find a niche in producing smaller numbers of pieces or custom pieces that cannot be found anywhere else.

Or perhaps you want to get into the art end of things! You might want to read the thread on plagiarism if you are thinking along those lines.

Will you be bringing your Drehbank with you, or are you going to look for something once you arrive?

Bill

 

[TEK]

Germany O.T.

Sorry, but I don't have an answer to your question. I don't think that we have anything similar to the German formal system of training for woodtuning. Your post reminded me of my Grandfather (Opa). He came to the US in the 1920’s from Hamburg. He was a master bricklayer. At that time the trade guilds in Germany gave masters in the trade a guild earring. Only Masters of the trade were allowed to wear them.. When he came to the U.S. he quickly found out that men did not wear earrings here. I believe he kept the earring in a box. The skills he learned in the German trade guild helped him find work in the U.S. I think your learned skills will help you more here than your title.
Tom

 

[Bowen Turner]

Astrid, I imagine that must have been a fabulous 3 years! Congratulations. As the others have said, it really depends upon what you want to do. I am thinking you may wish to contact one of the bigger teaching avenues, such as Woodcraft in Utah, and look at starting to teach. I suspect that with formal training from Germany there are many aspects of woodturning that you could impart here - technique, perhaps different use of tools, etc. Once you get 'established' that might lead into doing the circuit of teaching and demonstrations across the country.

I'm hoping you move to Sothern California!

Ruth

 

[Rick Prevett]

Astrid, first off, congratulations on becoming a 'geselle'. I'd love to know a little about what type of apprenticeship you had, and really anything about your 3 years of training.

 

[Astrid]

well teaching others would be great but i also strongly feel that there is so much out there that i still need to (want to) learn about woodturning myself my "meister" (master that are ppl who train you in a profession) allways said he's in his 35th year of studdying
I will definatly not go to the states without my baby (my vicmarc vl300 that is)
the german education system is totally diffrent from the american one
to learn a profession you can as in the states go to university but only for "mind" professions for everything 'hands on" you you do a "lehre" (studdy)there are 2 ways of doing this either you find a worplace that has a master and that is educating in that profession and then you apply for the spot as a "Lehring" student or you find a school that is theaching your profession (that's what i did cos finding a woodturning schop that offers a place for a student is allmost impossible)
either way it allways goes 3 years you have 1 1/2 days of theory a week as a woddturner i had subjects like technologie, tech math, design, drawing, art history and so on
the rest of the time you are in the workplace you start out learning the basic shapes in lengthwood (i have no idea how you call those in english) as well as using the diffrent tools then you move on to bowls and balls. sometimes you have orders coming in and our master would give them to us according to in wich year we where othertimes -especially in your third year you try a lot of things out
at the end of your studdies you have your final exams wich inculde a theory exam (written and oral) a "handworking test" (where you have 5 houers to turn a certain object) and then your final project wich you have 40h for you desingned yourself, made a technical drawing (wich needs to get approved) it has to have at least one conection and you should turn long as well as (and now i'm missing the word again) frontwood?
I hope that explains it a bit if not just keep on asking

 

[Bowen Turner]

Sounds like a really good grounding Astrid. And again, well done for getting through it. Here in So. California I work for a large school district. We have 43,000 students and 42 schools. The 'shop' or vocational classess have been disbanded with one exception. I think it's a shame that we spend so much focus on grades and almost none on the life skills and trades.

You will be fine whatever you choose to do as you have the skills.

 

[Sascha]

hallo astrid, ich bin auch von deutschland, leider kann ich dir keine antwort geben, da ich nicht weiss ob sie die in den USA anerkennen, allerdings gibt es hier so eine richtige ausbildung nicht, du kannst dich jederzeit bei einer schreinerei bewerben. wenn du hier noch mehr lernen moechtest, kannst du ein "apprenticeship" machen, ist so ziemlich das gleiche wie einer lehrlings ausbildung, auch fuer vortgeschrittene.
viel glueck und viel spass in den USA.
ich bin in los angeles und bin friseur, habe meinen deutschen meisterbrief, allerdings ist der hier nichts wert.

sascha

 

[Astrid]

well i allreaddy have my cabinetmaking jurneyman since that is what i learned prior to woodturning