Furniture making courses and workshops in Mount Egerton, Victoria.

Moonlite Studios offers small-group, hands-on learning for people across Melbourne, Ballarat, and regional Victoria.

We offer safe and inclusive classes and mentoring covering all aspects of furniture making and woodworking, with an emphasis on developing fine hand skills and the careful, appropriate use of machinery.

Furniture Making Courses Near Melbourne

Moonlite Studios offers furniture making courses and workshops within easy reach of Melbourne.

Located in Mount Egerton between Ballarat and Melbourne, the studio provides a focused, small-group environment for learning and making.

Workshops and Courses

Foundations

Box Making 2 days · $330pp A two-day introduction to woodworking through one of its oldest and most satisfying forms. Butt joints, rebates, mitres and bandsaw boxes. Complete beginners very welcome. View workshop and register your interest, Book now for 25-26 July

Sharpening 1 day · $250pp A one-day workshop in techniques to get and stay sharp. Chisels and plane irons, judgement over systems, approaches that work across a range of budgets and tools. View workshop and register your interest, Book now for 18 July

Hand Tools Fundamentals 5 days · $1,400pp A deep dive into the fundamentals of fine furniture making, using a simple table as the vehicle. The skills to make furniture for the rest of your life, with a minimal palette of hand tools. View workshop and register your interest

Safe Machine Practice 2 days · $550pp A two-day workshop in safe and confident use of woodworking machines. Bandsaw, tablesaw, mitre saw, drill press, thicknesser and jointer. Open to all levels. View workshop and register your interest

Machine Tools Fundamentals 5 days · $1,500pp A five-day introduction to machine tool woodworking. Safe and accurate use of workshop machinery, angled mortise and tenon joinery, and a workshop stool to take home. View workshop and register your interest

Joinery 2 days · $750pp A two-day deep dive into the fundamentals of timber joinery. Mortise and tenon, dovetail, housing and their variants with hand and machine techniques. Joinery nerdism. We make no apology for going deep. View workshop and register your interest

Wood Bending

Hot Pipe Bending 1 day · $150pp A one-day introduction to hot pipe bending. Transform solid timber into bent form using heat and intention. No prior experience required. Open to all levels including complete beginners. View workshop and register your interest, Book now for 19 July

Introduction to Wood Bending 2 days · $660pp A comparative, hands-on introduction to steam bending, kerf bending, bent lamination and coopering. No prior bending experience required. View workshop and register your interest

Contemporary Coopered Form 2 days · $660pp A focused workshop in coopering as a contemporary making practice. Hollow forms, tubes, shells and bowl forms at any scale. One of the oldest and least-taught traditions in woodworking. View workshop and register your interest

Bent Form: Design and Studio Practice 2 days · $750pp A design-focused studio workshop using bent form as a tool for creative practice. Begins with hot pipe bending as a physical modelling tool. For designers, makers, artists and creative workers. No woodworking experience required. View workshop and register your interest

The Bent Stick and the Sculptural Form 5 days · $1,800pp A masterclass in bending wood and expanding practice. Steam, hot pipe, microwave, lamination, coopering and kerf bending as tools for sculptural expression and material dialogue. Open to all levels. View masterclass and register your interest

Chairmaking

Make a Chair 5 days · $1,600pp Build a contemporary dining chair with compound mortise and tenon joinery. All participants work to a standardised plan with individual variations through slat spacing and crest rail shaping. Intermediate to advanced. View workshop and register your interest

Chair Design 5 days · $2,200pp A guided process of designing and prototyping a chair of your own. Ergonomics, proportion, joinery, bending, jigs and simple upholstery. Ross works with each participant on their individual design. Intermediate to advanced. View workshop and register your interest

Design

Design Process for Makers 3 days · $990pp A three-day workshop in how to get ideas and how to develop them, and maybe, just maybe find your own voice. For woodworkers, furniture makers and anyone working in any material who wants better tools for developing ideas. View workshop and register your interest

Material Understanding

Seeing the Wood and the Trees: Timber Tech for Makers 2 days · $400pp A two-day introduction to wood science, timber selection and material intelligence. How trees grow, timber conversion, moisture content, movement, species selection, provenance and ecological thinking. For woodworkers and furniture makers at any level. View workshop and register your interest

Have a question?

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Mentoring

One-to-one mentoring in furniture making, wood bending and creative practice with Ross Annels. Online and in person from Moonlite Studios, or at your studio. Find out more about mentoring

The Studio

All courses are delivered from Moonlite Studios in Mount Egerton, Victoria, between Melbourne and Ballarat. The studio is a working place — equipped with quality hand tools and industrial machinery, but oriented toward sensitivity to material, process and the development of judgement over time. All tools and machinery are supplied.

The Teaching

Courses are led by Ross Annels, a furniture maker, designer and educator with more than 25 years of professional practice. Ross has taught at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine, the JamFactory in Adelaide, Sturt School for Wood, and the Queensland College of Art. He previously offered a range of courses through the Cooroora Institute and Lomandra Place Studios.

Courses and Pathways

Moonlite Studios offers a range of hands-on furniture making courses, workshops, and mentoring programs. Courses are currently offered on a scheduled basis, with upcoming workshops announced throughout the year. These include short courses, intensive workshops, and longer-term learning pathways for people seeking to develop practical skills and deeper engagement with making. Many courses are open to complete beginners -- no prior woodworking experience is required. Some training pathways are delivered with SkillBuild RTO 70059, including accredited Certificate II programs. Other workshops and mentoring programs are studio-based and are not part of the SkillBuild qualification framework.

Enquiries and Bookings

Register your interest for any workshop using the links above, or contact Ross directly to discuss which program is the right fit. Dates for the 2026 program are announced to the EOI list first.

View our workshop archive

Past workshops from our previous location.

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