Artistry In Wood: November 2017

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Christmas tree ornaments

Been making some Christmas tree ornaments from Urchin shells.

Saturday, 25 November 2017

Richard and his Son Toby were with me today for a days woodturning experiance.
The day was bought for them as a Birthday present for Toby.
I am sure they bothe enjoyed their day here and they both turned very nice Beech bowls.
Richard is so inspired he is thinking he will probably take up woodturning as a hobby.

Saturday, 18 November 2017

Four lovely Ladies.

I was asked recently by Elaine if I would like to Tutor herself and three friends for a days woodturning experience.As I do not as a rule teach more than two Students at a time I spoke to my Brother Chris and asked him if he would like to work with me for the day teaching four ladies.Chris and I have worked together many times over the years on building projects and always got on well and worked together well but never teaching woodturning.We both carry out out woodturning very much the same way and having spent a lot of time discussing teaching over the years we both teach about the same.The day went very well the Ladies were great company and we had lots of laughs and the Ladies Elaine,Jane Ilse and Rebecca all went away with beautiful Beech Bowls.
Thank you Ladies we enjoyed your company and hopefully we will see you again some time in the future.

Here are some pics I took during the day.

Left to right Rebecca,Elaine,Jane and Ilse when the arrived.

We added some texture and colour to the rims to give the Ladies something special to take home.

Don't they look pleased with themselves and so they should they did well.

Wednesday, 15 November 2017

Barry's Bowl

Barry was comming here for two days but unfortunatly due to things beyond his control he only did one day
Given a choice of wood Barry chose Cedar of Lebenon and turned a beutiful bowl.
Well done barry I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Tuesday, 14 November 2017

John's high speed turning

Not easy sometimes to rid people of bad habits and John is a good example although I think I won in the end.John has been turning for a number of years and did everything at high speed and after two days of nagging I think I have convinced him to have more consideration for the wood to slow down and treat the wood more kindly as this is the way to get good results.The first day John when given the choice between Sycamore and Cedar of lebanon John chose the Cedar and turned a very nice bowl.On the second day John brought a piece of Oak that he had for a long time and he turned a very nice wide rimmed Bowl with a textured and scorcher rim.
Well done John.

Sunday, 12 November 2017

An eventful day

Quite an eventful day yesterday.
Yesterday and the day before I had two students here Paul and Ian.
Paul has been here quite a number of times and is always good company and he loves his woodturning.
Friday went well both Students making beautiful Bowls from some Cedar of Lebanon.
The plan was to have a days bowl turning and the following day to be spindle turning.
Second day all going fine both Students practising beads and coves when all of a sudden Paul said I don't feel right I feel giddy and unsteady on my feet.
I keep a good solid bar stool in the workshop because sometimes elderly Students need a sit down for a few minutes.I sat Paul on the stool thinking it would pass in a minute or two but things did not improve.Rather than take any chances I rang 999 and spoke to the ambulance service who could not have been more helpful.After explaining all the symptoms they said they would send out some medics.Within about five minutes two first responder turned up followed by an ambulance and two medics.After extensive tests they said they thought Paul might have an middle ear infection but to be on the safe side they would take him to Weston Super Mare hospital for a scan.After a long wait Paul was told they could not do a scan because it was a weekend.Just rang Paul and he has numbness down his right hand side inc his foot and hands.
In the morning he is going to ring his own doctor and take his advise lets hope all is OK.
I have a couple of pictures below.
I will update this post as I get more news.

Tuesday, 7 November 2017

Jan and Sue

Today I had two lovely Ladies for a days Tuition they have both been here before and they wanted to just have a day of Bowl turning and good company.
We had a very relaxed day and the Ladies both turned very respectable Beech Bowls as you can see from the following picture.
Jan and Sue had never met before today but as they were both about the same ability and both wanted to come I arranged so they could come together and take advantage of the lower rate for two people.
This is something I plan to do in the future as I want to cut down on the amount of days teaching I do.
Having Students two at a time helps me and they gain by paying less.