Our meeting on Thursday 31st October was the last of our Showtime meetings for this year, it was handled by Keith Brown, once a number was given to each person for each item being shown, Keith then picked out a number at random for who was up first and to follow. Most had single entries but there were a few that had more than one entry and we do like to encourage the members to enter more than one item.
The uptake was very good as it usually is, but what was very encouraging there were a few new members who put in items to be shown, some of these were very new to woodturning, only being a matter of a few weeks since they first picked up a turning tool, some of them entered pieces so that they could get some information on what was causing some of their problems, this again is most encouraging, we like to see any of your work where you need help in addition to the more experienced turner who may be experimenting with different aspects of woodturning.
Here are a few pictures from the meeting in order of presentation.
Top Left, is Keith Brown who was handling the meeting, here he is giving his introductory talk before selecting the first number. Up first was Bob Bull top right, a recent new member, Bob made a small plate and was looking for some advice on some of his turning techniques. Bottom Left next was Geoff Potter, he had made a Natural Edged bowl that he went through the bottom of, his repair was dubious to say the least, even he didn’t like it and asked for some advice on what he could do with it. Bottom Right, was myself (Alec Mutch), I put on show a vase with wooden flowers that took 1st place at an earlier competition this year.
Top Left, was Tom Todd, another new member, currently going through our training programme. Tom made a wooden mallet as part of his spindle turning practice. Top Right, was John Ruickbie, a long time member and very experienced, he made a small bowl from some pieces of wood he won in a raffle at a previous meeting. Bottom Left, was Geoff Potter with his 2nd entry, another Natural Edged bowl, but this time he had painted the rim blue, another item that he felt might benefit from changing the blue for something else, like scorching that was advised. Bottom Right, Another entry from Geoff Potter, he just asked the meeting what he could do with this. Some of the suggestions are not printable.
Top Left, was Dave Hume, a very recent member, he only joined the club 2 weeks ago, here he is showing a small plate he had made, again he was looking for some more advice on what he brought in, which he got, he was also looking to get help with sharpening. Top Right, myself again, the 2nd of my entries, a laminated bowl made from Alder and Beech, I wanted to get across to the members the importance of accurate jointing and gluing, the bowl was made up from 8 pieces of wood. Bottom Left, was Nick Simpson showing a turning he had done some time ago that looked like it was made from pieces of trench art, when in fact all the pieces were made from wood and coloured to look like the real thing. Bottom Right, was Barry Cumming, he made a small decorative item from a piece of firewood he salvaged, after turning and working the piece he coloured it to look like it was on fire, and very effective it was too.
Top Left, was Barry Cumming again with his 2nd entry, this time he made a small lidded box that looked like it came from a Pumpkin at Halloween, but no it was made from a piece of wood and then coloured. Top Right, was Kathleen Line showing some of her Weed Pots that she had made, I took her through her first few lessons on turning and Weed Pots were part of her course. Bottom Left, was Chris Lycett, who also recently joined our club, he took some initial training from the club to deal with a specific problem but was in effect an accomplished woodturner. Here he is showing a piece of Rhododendron that he turned. Bottom Right, was Alan Smith, showing a long thin stemmed goblet made from Beech, he went on to explain how he used a centre steady to work this piece. He had the stem down to around 8mm in thickness.
Top Left, was Matilda Rattray, another of our new members, Matilda is currently going through our training programme and making good headway, her she is showing some drawer knobs that she made at collage for a project she is working on. Top Right, was Alan Smith, this was Alan’s 2nd entry a Natural Edged Burr Elm bowl that had been started by the late Cliff Sim and Alan took it home and finished it, explaining just exactly how he managed that with some of the problems he encountered. Bottom Left, was Nick Simpson, this time he is promoting the use of some woodturning books he felt were the most beneficial to the novice turner. Bottom Right, was Keith Brown, he was making Christmas related items but went on to explain that through the lack of some equipment he had experienced some problems with the sequence of events.
Here are a few extra pictures I took, Top Left was John Ruickbie showing the sequence of events by a photo he took making the bowl. Top Right & Bottom Left a close up of Nick’s trench art feature. Bottom Right, Matilda’s drawer knobs.
That concludes the Showtime meeting, it was again very successful with a good number of entries and a very diverse presentation, we will be having more Showtime meetings in the future and we would encourage everyone to take part. In the meantime a huge thank you to Keith and to all those who took the time to make their items and for entering the Showtime meeting.
Our next meeting is on the 14th November and it will be the art of Pyrography as presented by Susan Drew, there will be 4 others also trying to create something with this medium under Susan’s guidance.