The semester may be two weeks in but not all classes have started quite yet- many of the classes offered at the Workspace in the basement of the Memorial Union are still available for registration.

Even better, the classes are cheaper than some textbooks and most will send you home with something more tangible than a vague feeling you should know what “stoichiometry” is.

There are around 60 different classes available in subjects such as bead making, woodworking and belly dancing. They’re available as one day or weekend workshops or as once-a-week classes ranging from two to eight weeks. If you’re interested, however, you should hurry to register.

“Some of them fill up really fast,” said Letitia Kenemer, program coordinator at the Memorial Union. She said some classes fill quickly because of small size – some photography courses only take four students. Others are just popular. The recently introduced sewing and knitting classes have been a hit, despite the fact that sewing classes ask students to bring their own machine.

Other than the sewing machines and the occasional odds and ends, the materials are included in the cost.

“I really try to make them affordable,” Kenemer said. She made an example of oil painting classes, in which students share paint instead of buying their own paints and maybe finding out they don’t like painting.

Ferzana Hashmi, who teaches a weekend workshop on glass beads, compared the price to a shop in Des Moines – the Workspace’s two-day bead class is $50 for students, but in Des Moines a bead class is twice the cost and only a one-day class. Also, she said, you can use the Workspace for free while you’re in the class and for one week afterward.

The Workspace studio is only accessible by the elevator on the east side of the Memorial Union, past Onion’s and the MU Cafe.

It’s larger than it looks, with an array of pottery wheels, an acid bath for metals, a glass-fusing kiln and all manner of interesting art-makers. The Workspace is the only studio in the area in which a person can use the studio without being in a class.

“That’s one of the benefits of the Workspace,” said Keitha Anderson, who teaches classes in screenprinting and sterling silver jewelry creations. “We’re a little more accessible sometimes.”

Perhaps the most appealing part is that the molten clay blob or pile of glass shards you create will not show up on your transcript.

“It’s supposed to be a low-stress, fun atmosphere,” said Kenemer.

“You’re not doing it for a grade.”