Draycott Art Fair.

I do not do Craft fairs but as this was an Art fair I thought I would have a go and I am pleased I did it was a good day plenty of sales and met a lot of nice people.

This Picture has been taken from a local paper.

 

 

Teaching wood.

I have nearly run out of wood for teaching so my Brother Chris and I picked up a van load between us yesterday .

We brought mine back to my Workshop and cut it all up.

It is beautiful Beech so my Students will be well pleased with it.

It is very important to me that my Students get best quality wood and make themselves something beautiful to take home.

 

 Some nice firewood  to keep my Granddaughter Ali Warm

 

Birthday treat for Ian

My Student today was Ian who was here as a Birthday present from his Son and Daughters.

Good company and easy to teach that is my kind of Student.

We had a great day and Ian turned a very nice Beech Bowl.

very well done Ian.

 

 

Martin and Andy.

I am on a roll Students that are easy to teach and that makes for an easy life for me.

Martin and his Son Andy were with me today for some woodturning Tuition and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did they were great company.

Both took to turning very quickly and as you can see they turned a couple of very respectable Beech Bowls.

Very well done both of you.

 

 

 

Graham and Alice

Todays Students Graham and Alice.

What a lovely couple and great company made for an enjoyable day.

Graham and Alice come from Bedford and were her for a days Woodturning experience. Originally it was only going to be Graham and Alice decided to join him at the last minute and I am pleased she did because it made for a great day lots of laughs and some good turning.

Graham turned a very nice Beech bowl and Alice turned a beautiful Sycamore bowl with a textured and coloured rim.

Very well done both of you.

 

 

Paul's coloured Bowl

This is the third time has been here for tuition and he has shown a lot of improvement. He really has a feel for the wood you only have to watch him work to see that he will make a great woodturner in time. As he works every cut is carried out with care which in my opinion is the only way to improve. I think you have to have a bit of the Tree hugger in you want to really succeed and create exceptional work. Too many would be Turners just hack away at the wood without actually having any feeling for the piece the are creating.

Very well done Paul I enjoyed today and look forward to seeing you some time in the future.

 

 

Oliver's Beech Bowl

Oliver's Wife Heather treated him to a days Woodturning tuition .

Oliver was a good Student who caught on quickly and was a pleasure to teach.

This is the beautiful Beech bowl Oliver turned with a pound coin set in the bottom.

Very well done Oliver.

 

 

 

Well done Steve

Steve has been here for two days Tuition on Bowl turning and has got on very well as these two Bowls show. The Steve was great company and a pleasure to teach.

 The one on the right as you look at the picture is Macrocarpa and the other one is Spalted Beech.

 

Phill yesterdays Student

Yesterday my Student was Phill from Cardiff who has been turning for a while and wants to advance his turning from small bowls to larger work .

Phill was very easy to teach and did not need a lot of watching over which makes life easy for me.

As you can see some texturing and colouring was added to the rim of this lovely Beech bowl.

Well done Phill you were great company and a pleasure to teach I sure you will make a first class turner and I look forward to seeing you in the future

 

 

 

Yesterday's Student John

John has been turning for a while on an old lathe he was given by a friend but it only had a swing of 6 inches over the bed so he has been restricted to spindle turning and very small Bowls.

John wants to do some bigger Bowl turning so he came here for a days tuition before maybe investing in a larger Lathe. I think I have convinced him to buy an Axminster Hobby Lathe with variable speed as the 12 inch swing over the bed will make a big difference to Johns capability.

If john does upgrade as I think he should, he will make a very good Bowl turner

This a very nice Beech Bowl John turned yesterday

 

 

A pleasant days Teaching

I really could have done without Teaching today as I have just had two weeks open studio's and I am absolutely drained

The day was made easy by the good company of Mike and Richard.

Mike has been turning for a while and needed to polish up his tooling.

Richard has not done any turning but has a natural ability and should take it further.

We had a great day lots of fun and both turned very high quality Beech Bowls.

 

 

A Batch of apples and Pears

With Art weeks coming up soon I am making some small stuff that should sell well .

yesterday I made a batch of Apples and Pears

 

 

 

New Gallery

I have spent a lot of time in the last three weeks creating a new Gallery to show of and sell my work .Still a bit to do but it is coming along nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Johns Birthday present

Johns Wife Theresa (likes to be called Terri) treated John to a days woodturning tuition for his birthday.

John turned a very respectable beech bowl with a rim in Autumn colours because that Terri's  favourite colours.

John has got an old lathe and some own tools but I think after using my modern equipment he will upgrading shortly

Very well done John you are well on the way to making a very good woodturner. 

 

 

Two days with Keith

Keith's wife Becky treated him to two days Bowl turning tuition yesterday and today.
I have been very busy for weeks now creating a new gallery and teaching so I was very tired and not looking forward to two days teaching but I need not have worried as Keith was great company and easy to teach.
The first day Keith turned a lovely Spalted Beech bowl and the second day he wanted to be more ambitious and turn a natural edge bowl.
With lots of care and me watching over him like a hawk Keith turned a beautiful Cherry natural edged bowl.
Very well done Keith I look forward to seeing you soon and you joining our Woodturning club.

Square beech Bowl with beading

This Bowl is turned from Spalted beech beaded, scorched and coloured
9" x 9" x 1"

This Months Demo

I will be doing a Demo in our local Woodturning Club Link Here on the evening of the last Wednesday of this Month.
Never easy to think of what do  as I have done two Demo's a year for the last 6 years
I have decided to Demo how to make a Square flattish Bowl with a rippled scorched edge  like this one below

Well done Steve

Today my Student Steve was here for a days bowl turning tuition he has already had some experience at Spindle turning so was very easy to teach.
Steve turned a very nice bowl out of a beautiful spalted Beech blank as you can see from the following pics.

Roger and Jeanette

Today Roger and Jeanette were with me for a days woodturning experience and what a lovely couple they were.
Jeanette treated herself and Roger to the day as a Birthday present for Roger and to say he was pleased would be an understatement .
They were absolutely wonderful company and I can honestly say it is probably the best day teaching I have had up to now. As always we take things very seriously but the day was full of laughter and banter .
Both Roger and Jeanette were very easy to teach and by working on a bit they made two lovely Bowls with Textured and coloured rims.
Life is wonderful I am doing what I enjoy and getting paid for it.

Doug is Back

A few months ago Doug was here for a taster day of bowl tuning before going to Australia for two and a half months.He had a taster day to see if he wanted to take up woodturning as a hobby.
He decided that he will take up woodturning and has been back today for a days refresher and to work out what he needs to buy.
I have fixed him up with most of what he will need inc a set of Crown tools and have Emailed Axminster for prices on a Lathe  Chuck and dust extractor.
A Lathe stand and sharpening system from Yandles and he will be away.
This is Doug with the lovely Beech bowl he turned today

Apples and pears

On Tuesday night my Brother Chris Link here did a Demonstration in our local woodturning club Link here He stayed over night and yesterday morning we had a few hours and made some Apples and Pears.

Green textured and coloured Oak Bowl

The last one I made was Red and it was suggested that green would be worth a try so this is it.
14" x 2"