March 13, 2004

The workshop opened at 8:45 a.m. on the 13th of March after more than fifty paperhangers registered.

The keynote speaker was Derrick Englehart from Ahlstrom Fiber Composites. Derrick did a slide presentation on the manufacturing of non-wovens. He talked about different kinds of non-woven ‘papers’, the various ways to hang the materials, and the various adhesives used in installing them. Needless to say, there were lots of excellent question. The presentation was topnotch.

The next speaker was Ron Soeder of 4walls.com who spoke on the economy and surviving in today’s market. Ron is an excellent speaker and was well received.

Chuck Berkman then gave a very thorough demonstration of making a herringbone design using grasscloth. Chuck is obviously an excellent craftsman who knows his stuff. His demo held everyone’s attention.

Just before lunch, Ken Lambert showed several homemade tools ranging from a collapsible trash bag holder made from PVC pipe to a carry bag made from sailcloth. Ken donated several items to be raffled off. Ken pointed out that many paperhangers are inventors by necessity.

The kitchen staff at Baldwin Wallace college put on a luncheon buffet that far exceeded that of the various hotels where we have held workshops in the past.

Vendor participation was tremendous – as demonstrated by the afternoon tradeshow. The exhibitors included: Ahlstrom, Blonder’s Paint & Wallcovering, Blue Mountain Wallcovering, Designovations (BLADEater), 4walls.com, PDCA, Patton Wallcoverings, Robus Leather Corporation, Roos International, Sherwin Williams, Sure Match, Wooster Brush, and The Zinsser Company.

Following the tradeshow, we went into the hands-on portion of the workshop. Larry Hall showed how to quickly repair surface damaged drywall using thinned drywall mud and a knockdown squeegee. Gary Lucas demonstrated trimming untrimmed papers using a wheel trimmer. Steve Terranova showed his technique of covering various kinds of trim using a high-strength spray adhesive. Participants were encouraged to ‘get their hands on’ to get the feel of how to do the techniques. All had a great time.

Carl Bergman then spent some quality time talking about paste machines. Carl demonstrated his knowledge of the various kinds of paste machines and the advantages of each.

The last presentation was using laser levels by Jennifer & Phil Curtis. They showed the two main paperhanger friendly brands of laser levels that are on the market today. Their demo was both dramatic and effective.

Jack Heinrich, the Lower Great Lakes regional director, and the staff at our national office are to be commended on putting together one fantastic workshop. One cannot imagine the effort it takes to organize this type of endeavor. Thank you Jack and staff – great job! The workshop was an all day affair but very few people left before the end – no one got bored.

It appears that we will soon have a Cleveland chapter of NGPP!
Click on the thumbnail below for larger view.

	a.				b.
c.					d.	e.
f.						g.
	h.		i.	j.		k.
			l.			m.

a. Jack Heinrich & Carl Bergman
b. Jack Heinrich, Steve Terranova, Bob Isenberger, & Donna Massie
c. Ellen Comeau, Steve Terranova
d. Derrick Englehart from Ahlstrom
e. Ron Soeder from 4walls.com
f. Chuck Berkman
g. Ken Lambert
h. Jack Ford from Zinsser
i. Patricia Grehl
j. Donna Massie, Ellen Comeau
k. David Buchholz, Larry Hall
l. Phil Curtis
m. Gary Lucas