Scottish Highlands Cup Making - Tom Banks (@woodentom)

Date: 18-19 July 2026

Price: £220

Maximum number of places: 8

Booking: To book, please use this link, or contact Tom by email for more information: tom@woodentom.com

Course Details

In this two day, in depth, wooden cup making workshop you will learn how to make an end-grain cup based on a 2000 year old artefact found in a bog, near Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.

You will be guided through all the processes to avoid your cup from splitting once used with hot or cold drinks; Shaping your form with axe and drawknife, hollowing with Twca-cams and getting a professional finish with the sloyd knife.

Catering:

For all courses, a hearty, healthy lunch is provided (please let your tutor know of any dietary requirements when booking), along with tea, coffee and water. Breakfast and evening meal is self-catered, with firewood and charcoal-based cooking available.

We also provide firewood, brew-kit, washing up and cooking facilities, crockery and cutlery. 

Guests should bring; barbecue food or pans for cooking on a fire for breakfast and evening meals.

Facilities:

Facilities include covered workshop spaces, an undercover outdoor cooking set-up, communal dining area, comfortable compost toilet, plenty of loo roll, and handwashing.  A good stone track leads to the parking area within the wood, this is suitable for cars, please keep speed under 10mph.

Tutor Bio

Tom has been making and perfecting cups since moving to the Scottish Highlands in 2010, to work for the Forestry Commission. 

One of the defining features of the landscape he lives in is the clean white stems of the Birch trees, and it is with these trees he has developed his closest connection with carving.  He is now well known for his beautiful cups that celebrate the environment and natural beauty from which they originate.