It has been a while since we've had a Show and Tell, and this was worth the wait. In addition to our members usual creativity, we were treated to work from HOW experiences, classes at Bucks, a class by Cynthia Gibson, and some really great pieces from Joe Seltzer's collection.
Speaking of creativity, Andy DiPietro started us off with the latest in his explorations in wood sculpture.
Andy cleverly made use of this slab of cedar- he removed the pith and accentuated the lobes with carving, and wire brushed the bark to create a really wonderful piece. It looks easy, but preventing cracks took some experimentation and patience. The pieces look great both on a pedestal and on their own.
Next up, Phil Hauser showed off what we imagine almost anyone would like - wooden jewelry!
With this really skillful and creative application of color wood, Phil make both pendants and earrings that were a big hit with his family...and us!
Nate Favors didn't fail us; he brought in a beautifully turned Red Gum burl from Australia.
Using some of what he learned from Dale Larson's demonstration and teachings on drying blanks, Bob Crowe was able to solve a shattering problem of cracking bowl blanks. The result is this good looking Walnut bowl with matching salad forks.
Nancy Rourke told us about how much she enjoyed her burning and turning class with Cynthia Gibson at the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. Nancy reminded us that Cynthia likes to use low heat and sharp tips when wood burning. That, along with a lot of practice, might get you to the results that Nancy achieved on on her platter. Also shown here is the sample board that Nancy worked on during her class.
Gary Hoffman has been busy! He presented a natural edge goblet, thanks to a HOW class from George Balock, that featured a sand and epoxy fix that shows off the piece brilliantly. Gary also made a bowl with an outstanding pyrographic rendering of a tree with blowing leaves. If you were at the meeting you could have seen his natural edge bowl and a bowl with a rim made in the fashion of Palmer Sharpless- undercut just a bit so that it is very easy to hold.
Tom Hauber took Mike Kehs' bowl turning HOW and showed his poplar result. He mentioned that the class was very helpful in finding out how to virtually eliminate tear out. Tom also showed a magnificent pepper mill made with spalted maple.
Steve Hillerman has taken an interest in winged bowls. That interest is shown quite nicely in his successful rendering shown here. Steve also warned us that Ginkgo is one wood to be wary of- it stinks! Even drying, which took several attempts, only partially mitigates its odoriferous qualities. That didn't deter Steve- he persevered and made a good looking bowl.
Our resident expert in pepper mills, Matt Overton, was inspired by Kim Winkle's Milk Paint demonstration to make two of these three mills. The third is another great example of the beauty of Colorwood. It was a busy summer for Matt. His son was getting married and he had been intrigued for some time with Litton Frank's signature turned Wedding Vessel, there was no better time to make one. Matt described some of the details and challenges. Well, it came out great! Matt also made a minimal surface sculpture for Mark Sfirri's class- the assignment was to make a "feely". Great piece, nice details, and nicely carved, Matt.
Mike Conner started off with a little quiz of "name that wood" as he showed his first piece, a well turned goblet. Can't guess? It's Burning Bush. Mike says it turns just like Boxwood. It has a very tight grain and is very hard, so it makes an ideal turning stock. Mike also showed a Cherry burl bowl that he was able to save from a dangerous crack that developed. After making a jig to hold the bowl, he was able to saw off the crack and continue turning. It turned out great. He also brought in his HOW piece from Ward Stevens' Tangential Segmented Turning HOW. His Mahogany and Maple piece adeptly showed off the unique curves you can achieve with this technique.
Joe Seltzer and Ward Stevens also brought in tangential turning developed in the HOW class. Joe's two pieces show again the very unique effects you can get with this lay-up method since the boards are skewed with respect to the turning axis. Ward's piece was made from a board that was band sawn into radial wedges and reassembled with aluminum sheets slipped in between. A small pyrograph embellishes the center.
Joe was also kind enough to bring in some new pieces he has added to his collection. He brought in a Rose Engine turning by Joshua Salesin that was stunning. The complexity of this turning is equaled by the simplicity of design by Eric Lofstrom piece. According to Joe, Eric applied 8 layers of color to the center, just to get the right effect. The final piece Joe brought in was a collaborative effort of Joe, Graeme Priddle, Melissa Engler, Steve Newberry, and Julie Johnson at this year's Frogwood Collaborative. Almost destined for the firewood pile, this piece found a new life in Joe's collection as a result of his and his collaborators' efforts.
Keith Nelson was our second turner to experiment with smelly wood. Keith told of turning this camphor wood bowl and creating what smelled like a Vick's Vapor Rub factory in his house. Only by letting the wood sit on his porch for about 3 years did the smell reduce enough for him to try turning it again- this time when his family was away for the day!
John Manura also brought in Segmented Turnings, although these are radial, and are quite a bit more difficult to make. John told us about an innovation he has been working on that allowed him to band saw thin sheets of wood very precisely and cleanly down to 50 thousands of an inch. The turnings shown here took about 15 hours to assemble the pieces and only about 2 hours to turn. They are quire exquisite. If all goes as John plans with a patent application, he hopes to show us his jig at the next meeting!
Lastly, while she was unable to attend, Joyce McCullough's piece, Serengeti, was shown. This pierced and painted vessel was made for the Lancaster Symposium's Silent Auction. Lots of details and so well done!
