Resin Bowl

The current issue (March 2012, #237) of Woodturning Magazine has an article by Gabor Lacko on the use of resin for creating decoration on a double-skinned bowl. He turned a bowl and glued slices of yew branches to the outside of the bowl. He then filled all of the gaps between the yew slices with casting resin and once that cured he finished turning. I think the end result is quite stunning. There are not pictures yet on the Woodturning website so you will have to pick up a copy of the printed version if you want to see this.

Based on what I learned from our January demonstrator, Stephen Hatcher, I think that West System 105 epoxy would be great for this type of application. Gabor applies the resin to the bowl while it is still chucked so I presume that some type of filler would be necessary to keep the resin from running. All in all, this looks like an interesting project, albeit a stinky one.

Have you tried this type of project? If so, what type of materials/construction did you use and what did you learn in the process?

techniques

What’s New on the SPSW Website

dsc0506-xlWe have added photos from the Stephen Hatcher demonstration in January as well as the handouts he provided. Photos are under Galleries/Demonstrators, handouts under the Learning Center.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPhotos have also been added of show and tell from our 2011 membership meetings. You can find these under Galeries/Show and Tell/2011.

In case you missed it, the February Newsletter has been added here.

For members, the December 2011 and January 2012 board of directors meeting minutes have been added.

There have also been several updates and additions to the chapter calendar.

demonstrator / members / woodturner profile

February Demonstrator – Carol Zandell

“This month we have another member teaching us. It is always so much fun to have Carol Zandell as our demonstrator. Her whimsy and turning skills combine for an always enlightening and informative experience.”
– SPSW President Dan Stromstad

I like to turn small, fun, tricky or just plain weird things on the lathe. As most of you know, my philosophy for turning and most everything in life is, “If it isn’t fun, I don’t want to do it.

In February, it will be my pleasure to turn for you one of my tricky things. I will also have a display of a variety of turned old time toys and puzzles.

It is my hope that this demo will spark an interest for the beginner as well as add a quick, easy, fun project for all you accomplished turners. Remember the most fun part of turning these things is that when you are done you get to play with them.

demonstrator / Membership Meeting

AAW Board Message

Note – The following is a message from AAW Treasurer Warren Carpenter

Pay it Forward! Or Backward!

Warren CarpenterI found woodturning in 1999, attended the Charlotte Symposium in 2000, and joined Carolina Mountain Woodturners (CMW) at that symposium. Shortly afterward, I began attending CMW meetings on the third Saturday of each month. About a year or two later, my father, who had never turned wood, asked me if he could ride along with me one Saturday. I was happy to have someone to talk with on the two-hour ride to Asheville. The discussion on the trip home was all about buying a lathe, tools, and how his shop was going to be converted. Within two weeks, I was in his shop giving him his first bowl-turning lessons. For the next six to seven years, I kept him supplied with wood, knowledge, and companionship as he turned thousands of bowls, small cowboy hats, pins, ornaments, and boxes. We got to know each other in ways that most fathers and sons never find. Thank you, woodturning!

Let me tell you a little about my dad. Most of his life prior to moving to South Carolina to catch up with his children, he was in agricultural finance. When he and mom landed in my backyard in 1979, I taught him cabinet building and he made a living from that until 1986, when I put him to work on the homes I was building. In the mid 1990s, health issues began to catch up with him and by the late 1990s, he was no longer able to work on the job sites. He had numerous problems with Parkinson’s disease, degenerated spine, and major problems with depression as a result of his physical ailments and being caregiver for Mom, who had Alzheimer’s.

For several years he managed to survive by spending lots of time being a master gardener and volunteering thousands of hours at the SC Botanical Garden in Clemson. The winters were long, cold, and depressing, and navigating the terrain of his yard became very difficult for him. This is where woodturning entered and extended his life. The shop had heat and a flat floor and was a place he could go to get away from Mom’s health problems. Woodturning kept his hands and mind busy. His finished turnings were not masterpieces, but he was being productive. Most people who knew Dad, and there were a lot of them, understood that each turned bowl or vase represented another day that he contributed to this world. For years, his doctor would question why he wasn’t confined to a wheel chair and he always answered, “Gardening and woodturning!” Two years ago when he was no longer able to do either, he left us.

“Pay it forward” has become a catch phrase for things that many of us are already doing. For me, I had a chance to “Pay it backward” to my father. It paid huge rewards for both Dad and me. I urge each of you to share your joy of woodturning with someone around you…look forward, sideways, and backward. You and the world will be paid hundreds of times over!

AAW / Message

Message From the AAW

Note – The following is the January AAW Newsletter

It’s only February, but we are already excited about our symposium June 8-10 in San Jose, CA. Please take a few moments to watch the video below. You won’t want to miss this year’s line-up of demonstrators!

Online registration is now available for AAW members. Click here to log onto the members area, where you will be able to register for the symposium. If you are not a current AAW member, join here, and then register for the symposium through the members’ area.
2012 Symposium in San Jose, CA Preview Video

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om1gD3H24Y8

2012 Annual Juried Exhibition

a walk in the woodsA Walk in the Woods is the title and theme for our 2012 juried exhibition. The exhibit will premier at AAW’s 26th Annual International Symposium in San Jose, CA, before traveling to the Gallery of Wood Art in Saint Paul, MN.

Open to any current AAW member, this year’s theme honors the many parks and forests in the state of California. From Coast Redwoods to giant Sequoia, to bur oak, manzanita, and chinquapin, forest covers about 30% of California’s one million acres. Our host city alone boasts over a million trees!

We anticipate that this exhibition will showcase the depth, creativity, and skill of our membership.

Applications are open online until February 12, 2012.
Submit Your Work Today!

2011 EOG Put to Great Use

image 238The Mid Minnesota Association of Woodturners was in need of funds to help move ahead with part of their mission statement: to promote woodturning through education in the local community. Because the MMAW was a new club, funds were limited and they needed a way to finance a very necessary purchase – lathes!

In April 2011, MMAW received an EOG grant from the AAW. With some existing funds and the grant, the club was able to purchase three Delta 46-460 lathes and immediately started planning how to promote woodturning in the community with the help of this new equipment. MMAW was able to find a permanent meeting and storage place at the Paramount Theater and Visual Arts Center (VAC) in downtown St. Cloud, MN. The center agreed to supply the space, and in return, MMAW agreed to offer woodturning classes to teens and adults during the weekly Open Studio/Teen Night. Each week, about 6-9 students spend 50 minutes learning to turn on a lathe. Many students are returning turners and moving from introductory turning of square stock round, beads and coves, to weed pots, miniature baseball bats, and basic bowl turning. The MMAW “guides on the side” who are involved with the Open Studio/Teen Night are excited and encouraged to see so many of the new turners return each week. Seeing their enthusiasm for woodturning grow is especially gratifying.

The next step for MMAW will be to offer woodturning classes through the VACʼs community education program. This will allow MMAW to offer individual classes for 3 or 4 consecutive weeks in 3-hour blocks. The EOG grant has allowed this new club to successfully realize part of their mission statement.

For more information about this program, visit: midmnwoodturners.org

International Woodturning Exhibition at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum

From Tree to Treasure: An International Invitational Exhibition of Turned or Sculpted Wood
On view through April 26, 2012

This exhibition features the work of more than 30 artists from across the country and around the world. The exhibition will showcase a wide variety of style and presentation, from pedestal and tabletop pieces to wall hangings.

For details and information, please visit Myrtle Beach Art Museum

AAW / Message

Woodturner Profile – Joel Hunnicutt

itemprop="discussionURL"1

joel hunnicuttJoel Hunnicutt is professional woodturner from Siler City, N.C and a member of the Piedmont Triad Woodturners Association chapter of the AAW.

Joel is a self-taught woodturner who creates segmented vessels and focuses on their shape and color. Earlier pieces tended to use multiple species to obtain the desired colors but his more recent works appear to be created from dyed maple. These make me think of the work of Donald Derry with the bright, deep colors and highly polished finish.

tequila sunrise turning by Joel HunnicuttJoel states that his goal is to “generate the flowing feeling of glass in the organic medium of wood”, and I think that he has accomplished that.

Joel has pieces in several galleries around the U.S. including Earthenworks Gallery in Port Townsend and La Conner, WA, and he has works that are installed as Corporate Art.

double gourd by joel hunnicuttJoel is a woodturning instructor at Central Carolina Community College and has been a guest demonstrator at Duke University, as well as a demonstrator at several woodturning clubs.

To see more of Joel’s work, visit his website at http://www.joelhunnicutt.com

AAW / woodturner profile