Virtual Demonstrations Poll #2

We have held virtual demonstrations for our last two membership meetings – Lyle Jamieson in April and Emiliano Achaval in May. Both of these went well and we have received very good feedback from our members that were able to attend. However, we have been limited to demonstrators that are providing virtual demos that live West of the Central time zone. There are several great demonstrators doing virtual demos that live East of the Central time zone but joining our 7:00 p.m. meeting is not viable for them in their time zone. Demonstrators such as Rudy Lopez from Florida, Glenn Lucas from Ireland or Paul Hannaby from the UK. We would be able to schedule these demonstrators on a Saturday which would enable us to get world class turners to demonstrate with the added benefit to the club of not incurring travel costs.

Would you attend a demonstration on Saturday rather than Thursday for an East Coast or overseas demonstrator?

  • Yes (100%, 15 Votes)
  • No (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 15

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demonstrator / Membership Meeting / virtual / woodturning events

May Demonstrator

Maui Koa Crotch Calabash
Emiliano Acheval
Our May meeting will be another Zoom-based remote demonstration; this time featuring Emiliano Achaval from Maui. Emiliano has demonstrated at the AAW Symposium and is a contributing writer for Woodturning Magazine. During this virtual meeting he will demonstrate how to turn a historically accurate “Hawaiian Calabash”, which is a round bottomed bowl with a pleasing curved form
that is slightly narrower at the top. When Captain Cook first sailed to Hawaii he found the people there already making these magnificent bowls at a level that was probably beyond what was being done in Europe at the time. In addition to turning the calabash, Emiliano will demonstrate how to make repairs and stabilize cracks in the side of a bowl using a butterfly-shaped inlay. This will be useful to many of us since the woods that we use here in the Pacific Northwest can often crack. The ability to use what Emiliano calls a “pewa” patch to repair such a crack can turn a disaster into a design opportunity that enhances the beauty of the bowl.

demonstrator / Membership Meeting / techniques / woodturner profile / woodturning events

Virtual Demonstrations Poll

We held our first Virtual woodturning demonstration with featuring Lyle Jamieson on April 16th. We held this with an online conferencing tool called Zoom. Out of our 125 members there were 32 logged into the demo. One thought is that many of our members may not be comfortable with this technology yet. The Olympic Peninsula Chapter has been conducting “practice” Zoom sessions for members to become more familiar with the tool. Our chapter’s Board of Directors will consider this option at our next meeting. If practice Zoom sessions were available for members would you be interested in them and would it make you more likely to join our next virtual demonstration?

Would you be interested in practice Zoom sessions?

  • Yes (88%, 7 Votes)
  • No (13%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 8

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If yes, would you be more likely to join our next virtual demonstration?

  • Yes (100%, 9 Votes)
  • No (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 9

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demonstrator / Membership / poll / woodturning events

April Meeting Demonstrator

Two weeks ago I listened in on the AAW’s webinar discussion addressing the advantages of doing “remote demonstrations” at chapter meetings. For the past 2 years several AAW Chapters have been using internet technology that allows a person in their own shop to beam 2-way audio/visual feed to a regular chapter meeting. All the chapters that have used this method report great success! Members like it, world class demonstrators are available, and the club avoids the high cost of travel expenses. Importantly, this technology also allows people to view the demonstration from their home! This additional benefit makes this seem like a viable solution in this time of mandatory social distancing.

Our April 16th Meeting: We held a board meeting using the Zoom program just to test the ease of using this program. It worked very well! The board voted to try presenting a remote demonstration at our next meeting. So I called Lyle Jamieson, who is well known for his hollowing system, and invited him to present on hollowing at the upcoming April 16th SPSW Meeting. Lyle has accepted and will be our speaker at this month’s meeting. Lyle will be demonstrating from his own shop in Michigan and each of us can see it from our own homes!

We will be sending directions by e-mail to all current members, for whom we have email addresses, on how to log into the meeting from your house. This e-mail will answer a lot of the questions I know you will have about how to download the app and participate in the meeting. All you need is a computer, tablet, or smartphone. You can fully participate with any of them. It helps if the device you use to view the demo has both video and audio capability. This is exciting!

demonstrator / Membership Meeting / techniques / tools / woodturner profile / woodturning events

SPSW’s response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Today, Thursday March 12th I got word that the Fife Community Center is closing, and will not be available for our meeting this month. Although we have been monitoring the coronavirus situation closely, and were planning to make our own decision about whether or not to run our monthly meetings, the Community Center’s decision makes this decision for this month for us. Therefore, we will not be having our mini-symposium this month. Further, even though it is a much smaller meeting, we also need to cancel the Sawdust Session on the 21st.

The SPSW’s Board of Directors is closely monitoring updates and recommendations concerning the coronavirus pandemic. Things seem especially difficult for our friends in King and Snohomish Counties, and our thoughts and good wishes go out to them!

We encourage all of our members to continue to check themselves, and follow recommendations from reliable sources to avoid this disease.

I will be discussing this subject with the full Board of Directors later this month. If the worst comes to pass, and we need to cancel more of our monthly membership meetings, we may be able to tape the entire meeting and make the demonstration available on the SPSW website.

I will do my best to keep everyone informed as we go forward.

John Howard
SPSW President

chapter profile / Message

Ray Key Bursary Award

The Association of Woodturners of Great Britain (AWGB) have undertaken a new initiative in memory of Ray Key, the founding Chairman of the AWGB in. He was awarded life membership in the AWGB in 1997 and appointed President in 1998. Ray was also made a Life Member of The American Association of Woodturners also in 2001, the first non-American so honored.

The Ray Key Bursary Award is open to all ages and its intended purpose is to provide an extended package of training and support for turners who have been identified as budding prodigies, standing out from the crowd in some way or showing great promise. The support could take the form of training, mentoring or other support tailored to the individual. Each award is up to £750 (~$950) but this could be extended if the reviewing panel decided it was justified. Any successful applicant will need to agree to a plan to carry out the objectives of the award and to report back at agreed intervals.

The aim is to give a boost to those identified as worthy on their journey to excellence as a turner. Any member of the AWGB can apply with the form found here.

scholarships