Hello lovelies,

I almost forgot to write about the Klosterarbeiten class I had back in March and now I'm way behind again. 

It all began when I stumbled upon the site of klosterarbeiten.at and was delighted to find out that there were classes I could go to. The next ones were in February and March 2023 and because they were always in Upper Austria, I decided to go to the one, where I could stay overnight as it would not make sense to drive 2 1/2 hours by train to the class and back again every day. And thus I decided to go to Schloss Puchberg. 

I booked the class, which was 144€, and was told that I could also arrive on Sunday and already stay  one night before attending the first class on Monday! Perfect! 

My SO drove me out to Wels, with a short stop-over at Burger King. We arrived around 12pm at this beautiful palace with a lush green castle ground. I was so excited and wanted to go and see my room immediately. 

It was then that I realized that the wonderful palace was only a facade. You enter at the palace but from the inside, nothing I saw resembled a palace or a castle anymore. I was so disheartened. 

I got my keys and was sent to the back of the palace - there in the back was a connecting corridor to a modern glassbuilding which was the epitome of ugly. And in this glass building was not only my bedroom but also the class. Why they call it "Art in a castle" is beyond me because they should name it "Art in the ugly glass building next to the castle".

The rooms looked and felt old, I could hear every little step that was made in the corridor infront of my room and every flush from the toilet. The bed was uncomfortable and laid in, and the sheets had a bit of a weird feeling to them. All in all, a really sad state of a room. But the worst part in all of that was the food. It was just not good, most of the time. You see, the food was divided into breakfast, lunch and dinner. I refused to eat breakfast because I never do and only ate lunch and dinner. You had the option between soup, salad, dessert or soup, salad, and a warm plate and dessert. Latter for almost 16€. If you opted out on the soup and salad and only wanted a warm meal, you still had to pay the whole 16€ And the warm food was often too salty or burnt. 

 

There were no complimentary drinks for that amount, you had to pay for coffee, tea, juices, etc yourself. Only tap water was free. I had my own teabags with me but was not able to get hot water as it was not free either. Peachy.

When we complained about the food not being good or just wanting warm food but no soup or salad, the receptionist rudely shut us down. She didn't know why we were making a fuss and that 16€ was ok for food as we got a whole set. Yes, but some of us didn't want a whole set but still had to pay the price. And don't bull**** me with the, all the ingredients are local and fresh because I am a 100% sure, I had frozen vegetables in one of my lunches. What was complimentary was a small basket of fresh fruits like Bananas and Grapes, but those weren't local eather.

I didn't bring any drinks with me and had to walk to the nearest supermarket (about 10-15mins) to get water. There was nothing but fields surrounding the castle.

As a group we got two jugs of water per day but we were about twenty and the jugs barely led a litre each. For lunch you also had to pay for your drinks and it was only on the second or third day that I watched people getting tap water from a kind of hiden sink in the second dining room. The first didn't have a sink at all and we alternated between them. I was appalled by it, my whole stay felt so unwelcoming. As it was a catholic managed house, I think it was managed by the archdiocese, it was actually pretty amusing to me. Christian hospitality is dead. 

As for the Klosterarbeiten itsel, that was amazing. I learned a lot of new techniques and found some new inspiration. In class we could choose between a blue virgin Mary flag and a green Joseph with baby Jesus one and I went for a blue one. 

 

As you can see, the flag is slowly coming to life. It was very fiddly-work because you sewed the golden parts onto the paper and then remove it with tweezers. And that paper didn't like to come off easily. I spent hours poking it and trying to remove it.

But when everything was assembled, it was truly breathtaking - and surprisingly heavy, as we onyl worked with real gold.

And here is the front and the back of the easter flag:

I finished the flag in about three, three and a half days. It's not my best work but I enjoyed putting it all together and see it coming to life before my eyes.

My teacher, Birgit, her assistant Poldi, and her mother, were also very kind. Birgit and I had long chats as she thought me the basics of doing Klosterwork. I always thought that it involved gold embroidery but I was so wrong. Every little piece of gold ornament was just wrapped around a sturdy but thin, gold coloured cardboard. That was completly unexpected!

After the three days and because we had a four day lesson, I asked to do some kind of jewelry for my next project and with all the new techniques Birgit showed me, we made a large headpiece in gold and silver. 

Here is the almost finished version, isn't it dandy?

 

On the last day I checked out - and almost got a heart attack. My stay from Sunday to Thursday incl. all of the disgusting food was 354,30€. And all of the crafting material, which was made out of real gold and silver, was another 116€. So all in all, including the fee for the class I paid 614,43 for five days. And Sunday was only half a day as I got there and only had one cold dinner plate and no class. I paid it with a bleeding heart and decided to never return to Schloss Puchberg. 

Luckily, I don't need to go there anymore. There are Klosterarbeiten classes in other locations too, and maybe I'll go to Linz next time. Allegedly, it takes place in a convent and the food is delicious. I'm looking forward to it.

Bonus content: 

Look at the bag Birgit made. It's called a Bursa and they were made to transport relics from place to place. But I thought it also looked like a Gucchi bag. 

Every stone and their placement has a meaning and I distinctly remember that seven of these stones represent the seven gates of Jerusalem?

She didn't know what the back looked like and therefore, this is her own design. All in all it is nothing but amazing and stunning work. I don't want too know how many hours she spent crafting it and how expensive the material was.

I plan to make a video but once again, I'm behind. But be on the lookout in maybe...two or three months.

All the best,

Auris Lothol