A Beautiful Crafting Night in the Neighborhood

July is  busy month! But we took some time out Wednesday Night to do some knitting!

Ethel was busy making right-angle weave beaded bracelets.

Ethel’s beaded bracelets

Meanwhile, she went to work on a hat that she’s had on her agenda for a while.

Ethel & hat

It’s a bit difficult to be thinking of fall and winter accessories for the relatives “up Nawth” when it’s been at least 90 degrees here in the swamp day after day.  But that’s our lifestyle! Now I am almost finished with the Silk Garden socks  (the alternate project for March, on ravelry‘s Sock It To Me 2013 forum). What a slacker I am! There must be an entry in the DSM 5 describing my personality as it pertains to knitting…

Noro Silk Garden socks

However, I guess I’m not the only one who is a bit behind on the sock-making arena: here it is already July 10th and no one on Sock-It-To-Me has put up a sock pattern for July yet. In fact, no one has heard from the forum moderators for a month, one post says.

Some of the forum posts indicate that the knitters, left to their own devices, it seems, are planning to use the time to catch up. I believe I’ll need more than a month to catch up. Plus, I got stung on the right elbow by a wasp night before last. It doesn’t stop me from knitting, but it’s another excuse that looks serious.

DH did not use my Knitting Time as an excuse to slack off, he was out in the shop with a bud, doing some woodturning and pondering work on a new Craftsman-style dining room trestle table. Here is buddy Adam with his turned project–pretty good for a beginner! After DH attended the AAW Symposium and saw the convention center dominated by gray- and bald-heads, and watched the youth participants take to the lathes like ducks to water, he is committed to sharing this craft with younger generations.

another friendly neighborhood woodturner

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Spectacular Galleries at AAW in Tampa

Last day of the 2013 AAW Symposium.

DH and I went together to another David Marks workshop: Unique Patinas. We were fascinated by some of the samples he passed around and the processes he showed the group.  In this photo, he draped cheesecloth over the wood to get a textured look from the liquid chemicals.

David Marks silver leaf, gold leaf, cheesecloth resist

David Marks finished vessel

For applying patina to a curved surface, he has a PVC pipe stand.  He says once metals are applied to a surface, they are very delicate even after they dry. If he is using a water-based formula, he finishes with shellac and never sands. He says a light coat of Krylon acrylic spray gives the least amount of color change to a finish.

pic showing various patina finishes by David Marks

patina effects by David Marks

David Marks demo’d the effects of these fish in class

David Marks is very open about his techniques, willing to share every detail and answer any questions.

He demonstrated the effects of various chemicals on the metal leaf applied to the 2 fish motifs shown here, in class.  It’s always fascinating to see the processes demonstrated by the master craftsman and watch the effects develop before your eyes!

DH bought several of Marks’ DVDs for future entertainment and enlightenment. I noticed that quite a few other notable woodturners drifted into the back of the class as it was drawing to a close, and were mesmerized by the ongoing work on the demonstration. That may have been due to a committee meeting scheduled in that room for the next time period…but no denying that David Marks’ work-in-progress is very, very interesting!

For the next rotation DH went to the Youth Shop to volunteer his helpful expertise, and I chose to go to a class called Design, Inspiration, Insight, and Happy Accidents by Nick Agar.

Nick Agar, right, in red shirt, showing slides of his work

spalted wood bowl by Nick Agar

Nick Agar art (9-ft tall board)

He showed slides of his studio, located on a riverbank in Devon, England. He said that the changing of the seasons and the tidal behavior of the river influence his work.

We had invited son and daughter-in-law, who appreciate art, to come over and enjoy the exhibits at the gallery, which was open to the public til noon. As soon as they arrived, we toured the People’s Choice galleries (with grandkids! The guard at the door looked like he was going to have a heart attack when he saw us coming!)

Just kidding, we had the grandkids well in hand at the galleries!

Don’t worry, the grandkids’ hands were never un-handed by an adult while in the People’s Choice Gallery. Although even we oldsters had to admit, the fascinating art objects look incredibly touchable! You can take a look at this art work by Joey Richardson, who created it to draw attention to illegal rhino hunting, at the online exhibit of AAW wood art here.  In all, a spectacular weekend!

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Great Moments from the 2013 AAW Symposium

More 2013 Symposium highlights from Saturday:

Michael Mode – Bowls from Planks–Easy Way

Mark Sfirri – Rolling Pin with a Twist

Bob Rosand – Christmas Ornaments

Mike Mahoney – Green-turned Calabash Bowl

Karen Marsh – Hammered Copper Earrings

Mark Sfirri demonstrating his multi-axis turning techniques

Bob Rosand turning Christmas tree ornaments

Me, modeling hammered copper earrings I made in class

Karen Marsh, the same wonderful instructor I had for the copper bracelet class, gave us the sweet opportunity to make a pair of copper earrings. I found that I really love banging on metal with the round side of a ball peen hammer. It is very stress-relieving! Now where can I find a metal block like the ones she had? She furnished copper disks in 3 sizes. We hammered uniform dents into the copper, then punched holes for the earring-wires to fit into. Then we formed them, either concave or convex, our choice, by pounding on a dapper tool while the disk rested in a wooden doming block. Easy, stress-relieving, and great results!

Check out these links for more pics of the instructors’ specialties:

Google Image Result for http://www.cumberlandvalleywoodturners.com/Members.pics/sfirri04.jpg.

This is an image I pressed of Mark Sfirri’s multi-axis baseball bats.

Robert Rosand – Gallery Ornaments and Lidded Boxes.

A Bob Rosand Christmas tree ornament. His wife hand paints his ornaments, one of which was chosen to hang on the White House tree.

Google Image Result for http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3b6scsLnVY/TaCZcNEhkuI/AAAAAAAAAK8/X_TR2KkhQRE/s1600/calabash.jpg.

Mike Mahoney calabash bowl. So what is a calabash bowl? DH says it refers to the shape; it’s a bowl that won’t tip over. DH especially likes Mike Mahoney because of his affiliation with Dale Nish, a woodworker who was something of a legend in the Woodturning Universe. Just as DH was starting to get enthusiastic about following Dale Nish’s work, we heard that Nish died unexpectedly at the end of May. Mike Mahoney, who was a close friend of Mr. Nish, gave a speech at the AAW banquet Saturday night, honoring the man and relating some funny and memorable stories about him.

view of Tampa

The banquet was super-sumptuous, and we enjoyed the company of a table full of friendly fellow-wood enthusiasts; especially a couple who had driven all the way from Dallas, Texas, and a guy who had flown from New Hampshire.

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Last Saturday AAW Workshop Fun

On the second day of the American Association of Woodturners 2013 Symposium I felt compelled to get ready by eight o’clock in the morning and go to Marilyn Campbell’s workshop Simple Inlays. By this time in the conference, I’d seen Marilyn Campbell‘s name a few times in the handbook and on at least one placard next to an art gallery entry.

I didn’t really know what to expect with any of the workshops I attended. But Simple Inlays was really amazing. When you think of the word inlay, in the context of a woodworking symposium, naturally you picture in your mind a recess or groove of some sort that’s been worked into a wooden object and filled, or inlaid, with something. Marilyn Campbell’s class was all about making inlays using epoxy resin.

Marilyn Campbell bowl with epoxy-inlaid rim

Marilyn Campbell bowl

Marilyn Campbell bowl with end-grain pieces of zebra wood as inlays

bottom view of Campbell’s end-grain zebra wood inlaid bowl

During this workshop, Marilyn showed the group how she does her amazing work, from the planning stage to the finish. The handout we were given featured an article with details of cutting the objects to inlay (she likes to use a band saw and cuts a thick shape, then cuts that shape into several 1/4-inch slices), preparing them and the vessel, mixing the epoxy, coloring it (she likes to use artist’s pigments), assembling, and finishing. She demonstrated her newly-devised “dip method” as well as talking about other ways to inlay.

a platter inlaid by Marilyn’s dip method

Marilyn Campbell demonstrating

My next rotation was Beth Ireland’s Turning With Your Mind. Prior to that session, she had given a demo on Turning Outside the Box. I was slightly disappointed that she wasn’t going to turn wood in this presentation, but my twinge of disappointment was fleeting; I think this was one of the best classes I’ve ever attended. Ireland started with a mushroom joke: “A mushroom goes into a bar…” It was all uphill from there!

She shared a little bit about her fantastic life journey as an artist and woodworker. This course’s aim was to help the participants find inspiration and creativity whether they see themselves as producers of functional objects or as artistic innovators. Obviously she has had success at both! Recently she has embarked on a Turning Around America journey. She might pick up and go at any worthy prompting to a foreign country to spread woodturning expertise and fun. In class, she led the group through a brainstorming session and charted the results. She pointed out that recording the results of random thoughts, especially by also drawing words as symbols or sketches, is a very important part of the creative process. “Your mind is like a computer desk top,” she said. I got a mental picture of how I may file away and compartmentalize ideas in the old mental desk top. But she showed us ways to open our files and recapture those great ideas. Beth believes we should stop compartmentalizing ourselves to the extent that we cut ourselves off from some creativity by only concentrating on one aspect of ourselves at a time. “We are all woodworkers,” she said, “but some of us are woodworker and engineer, woodworker and nurse, woodworker and…!” All of what we are together makes our work and art unique. I hope that if you have a few spare moments, you check out Beth Ireland’s work, because it is amazing eye candy. She told us some fascinating stories about some of her art works, like the bowl with the golf tees and bamboo skewers inlaid in the epoxy resin rim. It came into existence because of her and fellow woodworker Wally’s creative challenge to each other she nicknamed “bag of crap.” 🙂

I snagged Beth Ireland’s box-turning DVD and DH and I enjoyed watching it the day we got home, along with several David Marks DVD’s. Woodturning heaven!

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Just Be-ing at Wednesday Night Knitting

The focus was on jewelry-making!

Ethel brought plenty of stash to experiment with and ponder.

Ethel’s moveable feast of jewelry possibilities

She gave me a friendship bracelet she’d made on her recent trip to Grandchildrenland (gator colors!)

gator friendship bracelet

This bracelet is made by knotting the thread in a pattern, and adding beads.

bracelet from AAW Symposium trade show

I showed the copper jewelry I’d made at the AAW Symposium and this wooden bracelet I got there from vendor Classic Wooden Watches.

I showed her the bracelet I’d made from Carol’s class (see prior post) and the Leisure Arts Patterns. She showed me some crocheted bracelets she’d made using green yarn and jade stones or beads. Beautiful!

Then we got into the Right-angle Weave Beaded Tennis Bracelet I learned to make at another AAW Symposium Craft Room class. Our class instructor was Sonya Barriger, who happens to be married to renowned woodturner Dave Barriger, a teacher at many woodworking events here in Florida and at the John C. Campbell Folk Art School. It wasn’t easy for me to master the right-angle weave, but after a while I and my other classmates were absorbed in the activity. Sonya had us choose a kit at the beginning of class, which included a long beading needle, a length of thread (a “wingspan” she called it), a button, and quantities of seed beads, pearls, and crystals. The color combinations in each kit were varied and delightful. I couldn’t help but notice that Sonya was wearing some of the most beautiful sky-blue and crystal beaded jewelry I’d ever laid eyes on. I chose a kit with a brown and antique metal button and light brown pearls and seed beads, with clear sparkly crystals. Because of time constraints, I didn’t finish the bracelet in the workshop, but Ethel helped me with the loop and it was finished.

finished tennis bracelet

I can see that jewelry making is going to have a permanent place on my list of hobbies. The art and craft of picking up tiny beads on a needle and forming them into beautiful things gives great satisfaction. I read that Wendy Ellsworth, wife of another famous woodworker David Ellsworth, has a studio next to her husband’s.

When Ethel was leaving, she said what I perceived to be a very Zen-like comment: “You know, we ought to get together sometime, and just BE.” For a split second, I thought about the meditative qualities of knitting, beading, woodturning and smiled. Of course, she really said “BEAD” but it’s all good!

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2013 AAW Symposium Friday Notes

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I am still pumped from the American Association of Woodturners conference we attended over the weekend.

Other rotations we attended on Friday were
Glenn Lucas: Salad Bowls
Steve Sinner: Green to Rough-turned
Connie Parkinson: Lampwork Jewelry Show
Steve Sinner: Rough-turned to Finished

When my DH found that Glenn Lucas had a workshop, of course he had to go see it, because he really admires Lucas for his prodigious output of beautiful bowls. DH, as engineer, is interested in how Glenn Lucas has developed the speed and efficiency of his shop processes to consistently produce so many quality items. And also, DH as 60-something-year-old woodworker with aches and pains, wants to know how Lucas maintains his stamina while spending many hours at the lathe and in the shop, wielding heavy tools and standing on concrete floors. Lucas gave plenty of good information on how he keeps moving from station to station, and strives for the best ergonomic positions while using tools and machinery. Lucas made a bowl in class, showing his procedures for roughing it out, drying it, finishing.  Naturally, DH has a DVD of Glenn Lucas, which he studies religiously.

view from back of Glenn Lucas workshop

We were a bit hagged-out after lunch, which we ate at the Convention Center: spinach empanadas, black beans and rice, and plantains. It was delicious! I thought we’d have time to go to the hotel and take a little snooze, but we really didn’t  after all. So we got to the next rotation a little late. DH went to see Steve Sinner and I went to the Lampwork Jewelry trunk show.

Connie Parkinson makes lampwork jewelry components by working with glass in a flame. I bought a few of her beautiful beads with the idea of making them into something, but I may end up just looking at them as they are: beautiful little globes of glowing light and color.

lampwork beads

While I was seriously dropping some coin at the trunk show, DH was watching Steve Sinner in the preliminary process of turning a hollowform vessel. I joined him at Steve’s shop for the next rotation, where work on the vase progressed. One of the amazing things about Steve’s hollowform objects is how he  hollows out a long, tall vase, urn, box, or jar. He says shape is everything when it comes to art appreciation. So he has made special tools to aid in the formation of the inside of the vessel. Watching him true up the foot and hollow out the inside of a very tall jar with a narrow opening was just phenomenal. Details about his methods are featured in our handout notebook (thank you Sharon Bierman for putting together this wonderful book!)

Steve Sinner’s bio page from AAW handout

 Steve Sinner was everywhere at the symposium: teaching workshops, his tools were at the trade show, his art entries all over the galleries. His works are on exhibit at galleries, museums and art collections around the world. In person, he is as friendly and approachable as your old shop teacher.

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AAW 2013 1st Rotation: Patination & Copper Jewelry

On our first day at the 2013 AAW Symposium we got up early and walked to the Tampa Convention Center via a picturesque over-the-city street bridge in time to register and catch the opening remarks of the association’s leaders and the mayor of Tampa. That little trek from the hotel to the center was to become quite memorable: by the time the convention was over we’d made that trip during windy weather, rain, sun beating down, and punishing humidity.

DH attended the workshop of David Marks on Gilding Turned Vessels. I never noticed that my DH, who had been a chemical engineering major in college, has followed David Marks in various forms of media for a while. He loves working with wood, of course, but he’s really fascinated with surface embellishment of said wood with chemical preparations. So when Marks is up there in front of an audience talking about oxidizing the metal leaf on the substrate with mild acids, DH knows just what he’s saying, he’s probably calculating formulas in his head…

David Marks: an example of gold leaf on a wooden substrate

gilded bowl by David Marks

In the handout we were given at registration, I found a 3-page layout of David Marks’ profile and descriptions of the processes he likes to use to gild and put patina finishes on wooden vessels. The handout spiral notebook is a prize! It’s the best free gift of the whole weekend [although, nothing is really free…I know that!]

Since my ticket to the symposium was that of “spouse” I decided to attend some of the spouse workshops offered. Of course, this all smacks of the politically incorrect assumption that the spouse who is the woodturner is male, and that isn’t always the case! The activities held in the “Craft Room” (which was labeled Spouse Room also on the sign) included jewelry-making, painting, cupcake decorating, and seeing a lecture on a nearby botanical garden. For the first rotation, I went to a class in the Craft Room on Making a Twisted Copper Wire Bracelet. I had the best time ever!

Making the copper bracelets was an artisan-quality project. Instructor Karen Marsh, along with her husband Tony as assistant, guided us through the use of jewelry making tools and procedures that I’d never seen before.

Karen Marsh showing how to use a Europunch

We hammered copper wire, twisted it, coiled it, beaded it, and made it our own! So awesome!

my finished bracelet

Karen Marsh jewelry I purchased on site

I also hobnobbed with some awesome classmates, who were all helpful and fun to hang out with.

Carol Jane, who knows Karen Marsh and is modeling some Karen Marsh jewelry

Bonnie modeling magnificent wood jewelry her husband made

The tools we used: round nose pliers, rubber mallet, metal block, drill, mandrels of various sizes in metal and wood, several tools made by Tony Marsh that were very specific to the processes, metal punch, Europunch, metal dome forms and dappers, flat end of ball peen hammer, measuring tape. And this was just one workshop! The conference offered 11 rotations in all! More to come….

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AAW Symposium 2013, Woodturning Fantasies Fulfilled

I’d like to give you a little intro to AAW, the American Association of Woodturners. My DH is a member but strangely, he doesn’t attend at a local chapter like most of the members do. He gets all the publications and reads about all the events, and he watches DVD’s of favorite woodturners. That last is an understatement; he watches loads of DVD’s and gets the techniques down in his mind before he even attempts to go to the lathe. He is very familiar with these celebrities in the woodworking arena through their podcasts, books, magazines, and videos. To me, most of the DVD’s have identical sountracks: RRRRRRRRRRRRR being the ubiquitous musical accompaniment to them all, the sound of a block of wood turning on a lathe and then the high-to-low pitch screaming of a cutting tool sending chips and sawdust flying.

Nick Agar, right, showing slide of his early hollowform

View of Tampa from our hotel room at the Convention Center

As participants in the AAW’s 27th annual symposium in Tampa, Florida, we were given a comprehensive handout, a spiral notebook that gives bios of the presenters including some detailed processes they showed in their workshops, and full-color gorgeous pics of some of their finished pieces. Many of the turners’ finished works are on display in prestigious museums around the world. Throughout the symposium, raffles were held and quite a number of lucky members received demo models of lathes, tools, and other items of extreme interest! On Saturday night, we got to attend a fabulous banquet and live fundraiser auction of fantastic objets-d’art turned on a lathe by member artists. DH volunteered a rotation in the Youth Shop where an instructor helped the youth participants make paper towel holders. The youth room was set up with projects for 10 of the 11 rotations that were offered.

Youth Shop with mini-lathes all around perimeter

One of the members of a class I attended brought her 13-year old grandson, who won a mini Jet lathe and all the tools with it! We were so excited! Actually, the odds for a youth winning the lathe and tools were pretty good, I saw the list of winners and there were at least 20! Thank you, awesome vendors!

The AAW’s Turners Without Borders group aims to expand the scope of woodturning to developing areas throughout the planet, collecting tools for distribution and providing instruction. This year’s ReTurn to the Community project, “Empty Bowls,” featured bowls turned by participants and donations of money to be given to Tampa Crossroads, a community effort to support homeless female veterans and veterans with families.

How–and why–does anyone become a woodturner? Why are some woodworkers craftsmen, or crafters, and others artists? Is it kind of like, why do I want to knit a pair of socks out of this $20 woolen hand-painted yarn when I can just buy a factory-knit pair at Target for $2.00? I asked myself these questions a lot during my sojourn to the fantastic 2013 AAW Symposium as I studied work with wood, metal, glass, chemicals, clay, and thread! Details to come.

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Knitting Merges With Woodworking: We Made Our Own Nostepinder

It was nostepinder night at Knitting! We started with some blanks of cherry wood that my DH had cylinderized to make it go quicker (in case our wood turning took longer than we figured it might). Trish was the first to start out at the Jet mini-lathe. DH bought this pretty baby a short while ago, and put it on a rolling stand to make it easy to move into the optimal turning position. Lucky for us, we had a beautiful January night with no rain or wind, and a balmy temperature in the low 70’s. Yay!

Tricia perfecting the turn

She chose to put in a few little coves and beads on her nostepinde. We used Easy Tools for this work, and everyone seemed to be very happy with them.

applying some grit

Trish was a natural. After forming the tool and adding some unique flourishes, she sanded it with a couple of different grades of paper, and DH helped put on a linseed oil finish and cut it off with the parting tool.

Tricia and her brand new nostepinde that she just finished making a moment ago!

Next, Ethel took on the mini-lathe.

Ethel roughing out the pinde

While she was sanding, Lois drove up. She showed us a bowl that had been made from a beech tree in their own front yard. Marvelous workmanship!

Lois with beech wood bowl

Ethel and her finished nostie

Ethel was very satisfied with her functional work of art and was eager to get right into center-pull yarn ball winding.

Ready, set, wind!

Now we were ready to wind. Just for more clarification, we watched a great You-Tube video about how to wind the yarn by Noreen Crone-Findlay. I have watched this so many times now, I almost know it by heart. Noreen mentioned that her husband had made that particular nostie, and we loved the shape and design burned into the wooden handle. And thanks to Kathleen Cubley at Knitting Daily blog, whose irresistible post on Discovering New Tools awakened me to the possibility that we, too, could have our own personal, individually-crafted nostepinder! I’ve been wanting to merge knitting with woodworking all last year, and this was the perfect chance to make it happen! A fabulous start to an artsy-craftsy new year!

Ethel is making a cowl out of the Red Heart Boutique Magical yarn that was featured on the cover of Love of Knitting magazine, and was the article in their Knit-a-long. A truly gorgeous purple and gray, thick and thin, sparkly and matte combination yarn!

Aslan Tango ball giftie from Ethel

She gave me a skein of acrylic/polyamide Tango yarn that she had wound into a center-pull ball using a size 35 needle for a nostepinde, prior to making the actual tool tonight! Thanks, Ethel!

Tricia and her knitted afghan

Trish almost made it out the door without showing off her WIP, a beautiful knitted afghan of white and many colors. Inspiring! Thanks to everyone for coming to Knitting and making it so fun. Looking forward to many yarny adventures in 2013.

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