Like many woodturners, I was exposed to a lathe briefly in high school. It was fun to use the different tools and start to understand how they worked. I moved on in life and didn’t start seriously turning until about 8 years ago.
My first lathe was a ShopSmith. I set it up and used a very awkward chuck to make a lighthouse. It was so fun to see the thing shape and develop as the lathe spun around. I was hooked. On a trip to Sumner Woodworking, I learned about our club. After the first meeting, I knew that I was at a place where my skills could be developed and enhanced. The Sawdust Sessions are fantastic!
Over the years I have made lighthouses, hollow forms, bottle stoppers, etc. Two lathes later and I don’t know how much money I have spent; I have settled on making mainly bowls. Each piece of wood presents its own challenges and opportunities as I create a variety of sized and styled pieces.
Resins entered my shop a few years ago. I started filling gaps and cracks and now play with other ways to add color and features to my works.
My demonstration will talk about types of resins, adding in color and solids, as well as how I bring the bowl rim to life. It will basically be a show and tell session with time for many questions.
Let’s learn together.
We are so excited to tell you about our January President’s Challenge recipient, Ethan Green. As we have had the pleasure to see some beautiful pieces of art he has brought to our show-and-tell last year, the most memorable to date, the rose root ball vase. In January, the President’s Challenge was a square rimmed bowl. All of the submissions were stunning but there was one bowl that stood out above the rest, a beautifully mastered work of art made from Big Leaf Maple with extraordinary fiddleback with spalting and a gentle curve leading into a bowl. Stunning for the eye, inspired by the works of Richard Raffan, The Art of Turned Bowls and his information about curves; using a catenary curve for his bowl you can see it looks like a bowl in a bowl as the edges gently curve upwards with a bowl in the center with a walnut oil finish.
Once a new turner has developed the ability to turn a basic bowl, they are often looking for new ways to do something a little different to enhance the basic bowl form whether through the shape of the turning, adding decoration, or surface texture. This month’s demonstration will focus on a form commonly referred to as a “winged bowl.” 