New Gallery

Today I have received an order to supply a new Gallery that is opening in about three weeks time so i have to start making some new pieces.
Here is the first piece it was rough turned about a year ago it is approx 8" x 8" sanded to 600 grit and buffed of the lathe.

That is the next one completed.

This bowl is 11" wide and turned from Elm.

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New outlet.

I have a new outlet for my woodturnings in Glastonbury, http://bluecedart.co.uk/ This is a fabulous art and mixed media Gallery in the main street of Glastonbury.
It is run by husband and wife team Paul and Angela.
It is a super light and airy gallery with a very nice vegetarian Café.
The artworks are very well layed out with lots off space between them.
If you click the link above you will be able to sign up for their news letter which will keep you updated on their activities.

Teaching today.

Todays tuition was for two of my regular Lady students Sue and Sheryl .
Both of these Lady's come to me for regular tuition which is a real pleasure as you can see them progress and improve.
They are both a real pleasure to teach as they both get a lot of pleasure from their turning and are prepared to listen and learn.
It is nice for a student to go away with something they have made on the day but it is also important to give them something to think about and exercises to do when they get home.
It is all to easy to send everybody home with a bowl, that is OK for a first lesson but after that they need to be moving on to more advanced work.
Today we briefly went through safety then moved on to the structure and seasoning of wood.
If you understand the structure of wood you will have a better understanding of how it cuts and the importance of working with the grain.
Understanding how to cut wood and season it can save you a lot of money in the long run.
If you are happy to go into your local hobby turning shop and buy prepared blanks at anything up to £15  00 each that is fine, but as you start to use more you find this gets very expensive.
I recently bought a lot off timber from a sawyer at Yandles show and after a bit of work and Patience these blanks will cost me about £2  00 each.
Lets get back to Sue and Sheryl .
The next thing we went through was tool sharpening and the importance of working with sharp and well profiled tools.
Both ladies then practised their tooling with the spindle roughing gouge,the spindle gouge,skew chisel and parting tool.
No matter how proficient you are with the tools it never hurts to have a practise and warm up session prior
to starting a project.
This took us up to lunch time and an opportunity to just sit relax and have a natter.
In the afternoon the ladies both made very nice goblets which was an opportunity to practise their  tooling on a proper piece.
As you can see from the pic above they both look well pleased with themselves and so they should they are both doing really well.

A surprise parcel

 It must be my lucky day.
This morning a parcel van pulled up and asked me to sign for a large parcel although i was not expecting anything being someone who cannot say no to something that might be free i took it.
I know i have fallen out with a few people in my time but  i am sure nobody hates me enough to send me a parcel bomb.
It turned out to be a selection of beautiful wood.
It was sent to me by Ian Methering from Turners Cabin the online shop for Woodturners as an example of some of the blanks they sell.
One of the blanks in the parcel was a lovely bit off crotch Ash.
Here is a bowl i made from it.
http://www.turnerscabin.co.uk/



Thank you Ian if this is a typical sample of your wares i think you will have a lot of satisfied customers.

Finishing ,texturing and colouring.Day courses.

I have just had a long chat with Mark Raby.Most of you will know Mark or will have seen one of his Demo's.
As you will know Mark used to demonstrate colouring and finishing for Chestnut products but now works freelance.
In my opinion Mark Raby is probably the the most knowledgeable person in the country on finishing techniques.
Because Mark is now freelance he is able to demonstrate and sell any products on the market.
What we propose is to have hands on training days here in my Somerset workshop with myself and Mark Raby to introduce turners to the many possibilities that Texturing ,finishing and colouring has to offer.
We propose charging £50  00 per day and the numbers will be limited.
I will be putting up more info shortly.
Local accommodation can be arranged at a reasonable price.
If this is of interest to you please Email me and let me know.  g.foweraker@sky.com

There is now further info and coarse dates on my page about Courses and tuition. Click here

Tom and Adrian.

Today i had a visit fromTom the owner of Woodhaven the online woodworking forum Woodhaven and Adrian who I know from the woodworkers institute Woodworkers institute .
Tom had some tools and equipment he wanted to show me and Adrian wanted to make himself a wall plaque or two.
I took a few pics today and tom took quite a few he is going to do a bit of a write up to be included here soon.
The main thing is we had a very relaxed and enjoyable day.
Tom went away with a couple of segmented blanks for a project he is doing with Les Thorn so that will be something to look forward to .
Adrian went away with a set of three wall plaques that he is going to frame up and we will getting a pic of them when he has finished.
Both Tom and Adrian did some work on the Plaques and they turned out well.

Three pieces of Yellow pine one foot square each.

Adrian starting to add some turned rings with a spindle gauge.

Tom has a go.

After texturing and colouring with spirit stains and Acrylic paints this is the finisher set of three ready to be framed.

Adrian has now framed the three Plaques into one frame and painted it matt black.

A great success i think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27uB6S01uGo&feature=player_detailpage

Yandles show.

Spent the last couple of days at Yandles show then had a couple of mates round for the day today.
I always enjoy Yandles show it is a chance to see some really good turners demonstrating and a opportunity to socialise.
I saw lots of people that i know and a lot seem to know me although i mostly don't have a clue who they are.I just smile and say hello as i don't like to say who are you in case they think i am rude.
I suppose a lot have seen my pics in the Wood turning mag and recognise me it is very flattering.
I picked up some real bargains a battery drill for signing up to the mag for another two years.A half price router jig and a load of cheap wood.
There is always a sawyer outside cutting up whole trees .
I ended up with a load of sawn timber for a fraction of what you would pay a timber merchant.
All this lot cost me £200  00 that has got to be the bargain of the year.
Here are some pics of the wood i bought.
I bought two lots the first day it was some stunning spalted Beech and the most beautiful Elm.

 It was all about ten feet long so i had to ask the sawyer to cut a lump of the end for me.
The four pieces on the right are spalted Beech and the two on the right are Elm

You would think that would be enough but no where wood is concerned i find it very difficult to say no.
The next day the sawyer let me talk myself into buying more.This time it was some of the most beautiful Ash.

The trouble with buying green wood is that you have to do something with it.
This morning I was expecting Tom and Adrian for the day .
I decided that before they came I would do some roughing out and had a go at the Elm.
Because the Elm was cut some time after it had died from Dutch Elm disease it is reasonably dry.
Anyway  I roughed out twenty blanks in an hour and a half only going through the bottom of one.

Cut in rounds ready for turning.

That is the outside rough turned.

A nice pile of shavings developing and the one I ruined.

 That is all the insides done and ready for bagging in carrier bags.