Hi-Line Living: Cabin Fever

Brian Bauer taught his class on making copper-wire wrapped jewelry at Cabin Fever.

He said he has been making this type of jewelry for about three years and got into the craft in an unpleasant way.

"I was wood carving with a chainsaw and injured both my shoulders," Bauer said.

After this incident, he was unable to pursue his previous craft of wood carving.

"Someone said I should try making jewelry," Bauer said, adding that he has not stopped since.

He now makes rings, pendants, neck collars and other pieces using copper wiring and sells them "all over the place."

Cabin Fever runs through Tuesday. Sponsored by Montana State University Extension Office, Cabin Fever classes offer a wide range of lessons in various crafts, topics, farming and ranching techniques and more. The program is aimed at getting people out of their houses in the middle of winter.

Bauer says he was asked to teach a class in the Cabin Fever series by a fluke. Someone saw one of his pieces he sold at Saturday Market in Havre and asked who made it. From there, they contacted him to teach the class.

Bauer is retired, but drives buses for Chinook on the side.

He said he does not make a substantial amount of money from selling his jewelry, but he is fine with that.

"It's just a hobby right now," Bauer said.

Angie Pratt, the owner of Angie's Wildflowers, was another teacher. At her shop on 3rd Avenue, she taught a class in flower arranging Jan. 4.

Those signed up for her class learned tips and tricks to make vases of flowers look aesthetically and artistically attractive.

"It's a design - an art piece," Pratt told her class.

She spoke of ways to keep flowers alive as long as possible, different ways to embellish flower arrangements using ribbons and wires, and what to look for to be sure the arrangements look pleasing to the eye.

Pratt said she has been arranging flowers for almost two years.

She also came into her current craft out of happenstance. She is a baker and, while looking for a place to open her bakery in Havre, she discovered that a local flower shop called Petal Pusher was closing.

She said she was sad to see it go and asked the owner what one needed to open a flower shop.

"She said all I had to do to start a flower shop is buy a cooler and some flowers," Pratt said. She did just that.

"I would like to start having classes," she said.

She talked of the success she had last Mother's Day when she had children come in to make gifts for their mothers. She said she has also had a few boyfriends come into her shop to look for gifts for their girlfriends and she helped them make their own flower arrangements to make their gifts more meaningful.

Among other classes, the Cabin Fever series offered lectures from the renowned Temple Grandin, Ph.D. Grandin, who is autistic, spoke Jan. 3 about autism and on Jan. 4 about low-stress livestock handling.

The classes left in the series are two estate-planning classes on Tuesday. "Estate Planning and So Much More" will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday at Van Orsdel United Methodist Church on 5th Avenue with Montana State University Family Economics Specialist Marsha Goetting teaching participants how to save thousands of dollars in income taxes, federal estate or gift taxes, and other estate settlement costs, according the Cabin Fever schedule. Fees for this class are $20 for a single ticket and $25 for couples.

The second class is titled, "Estate Planning for the Young," and Goetting will talk of estate planning specifically for young families. She will speak of guardianship, conservatorship, durable power of attorney, wills and trusts. The fee for this class is $5 and will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. at the United Methodist Church.