April
The topic this month is ‘Holloween’ comes early, a discussion and demonstration of standard and specialist hollowing tools. If there is sufficient interest we may run a hands-on, have-a-go type session this Saturday. We’ll pass a sign-up sheet on a clip-board round later; please put your name down if you are interested.
The Competition item is a pepper mill. The Shop still has a few pepper and salt mill mechanisms in stock if you didn’t buy them last month and want to have a go.
The current ‘Introduction to Woodturning’ course finishes this week; another course starts next week and is fully booked. If there is a demand we could start a further course in July – speak to Phil H if you are interested. The syllabus is on the Notice Board and on our web site.
May
The topic next month is ‘It’s about time’, a demo on clocks and other timepieces with Phil Jones.
The competition item is your interpretation of a hollow form. Note : a discussion during the evening came to the conclusion that for the purposes of the competition, a hollow form is a vessel where the diameter of the opening is considerably less than the maximum diameter.
On Saturday 25 May, Mark and Lisa Raby from Mylands will be presenting a full day of demos. Mark will be covering all aspects of Wood Finishing and Lisa will be demonstrating Pyrography. The full range of Mylands products will be available for sale. This should be of interest to all woodworkers, not just turners so please spread the word as widely as possible. There are some posters on the table below the Notice Board. Admission will be £6 per person, tickets will be available at the May Club meeting and on the door if there are tickets remaining.
Spring Fling, the finest open studio event in Scotland, which has been widely copied but never bettered, runs from Saturday 25 to Monday 27 May. This year a record 93 artists and makers invite you to visit them in their studios and workshops. Brochures are on the table below the Notice Board.
And finally . . .
The various ideas regarding possible uses for our workshop which were listed in the previous two Notices have generated very few responses – one person thinks it would be a good idea to run Turning Tuesday in the afternoon. There is a Committee Meeting on 29 April so now would be a good time to put your ideas to any Committee member.
We will need to run some sort of fundraising in the future and we will need to have some turnings for sale. Judith came up with the following idea to make this more interesting for everyone . . . .
1. At the May Club meeting, everyone who is willing to take part brings a turnable lump of wood. Wood is photographed, then allocated by lot to all participants. The challenge is to make the best item you can from what you are given.
2. In June, the items are judged by members according to the skill and ingenuity shown, with the starting point taken into consideration. A second question on the judging form asks members to suggest a selling price for the piece.
3. Then at whatever fundraising event we hold over the summer (coffee morning, soup and sweet, open day etc.), the items are sold for the average price recommended. The two winning items (most expensive and most ingenious) are raffled.