Journal

Show and Tell

Tonight’s theme of something round or spherical certainly got the creative juices of members flowing. Experienced and not so experienced hands contributed to the evening with tales of joy and tales of woe. Derry began with his items (not made by him as it transpired!) before Peter treated us to a lecture (complete with drawing on the board) of how to turn the perfect egg.

Contributions followed from Steve Moore, Brian and Ian.

Rob’s pens proved a good discussion point for the some of the problems suffered in a cold workshop at this time of year before Geoff took the floor with his accomplished and varied items.

Russell’s similarly varied collection of work introduced the next section followed by contributions from Andrea, Keith and Steve Martin.

Mark Warren and two of our newer members Alex and Phil brought a very entertaining and informative evening to a close by sharing their work with the group.

Chairman’s Surprise

For tonight’s traditional end to the year – The Chairman’s Surprise – we were split into 2 teams and tasked with producing enough skittles and balls to hold a contest at the the end. After a tense count up team 2 were the narrow winners! A great evening for all so thanks to Alan P for organising everything.

A very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all members new and old.

Xmas Ornaments

In our new format for internal demos 4 demonstrators showed members projects on the central theme of how to turn Xmas ornaments. To a packed audience Alan E, Russell, Alan P and Phil had a series of approaches to this – inspiration for everyone with the big season coming up!

Members were able to move between the various demos and ask questions about process and technique. Some more experienced members were even able to offer guidance to the demonstrators!

Finally here is a range of items produced or displayed with a big thank you to all our demonstrators.

Tonight’s Show and Tell was, as ever, well attended with contributions from old hands and newcomers alike. Russell began the evening with his own items – his take on Rick Dobney’s coloured ash pot with liming. This theme was picked up by Steve Moore, Geoff and Peter with a variety of results.

Other projects inspired by tonight’s theme of ‘something recently demonstrated’ included Brian’s vase, Ian’s Xmas ornaments, Kevin’s small lidded pot and segmented items from Sean and Geoff.

Also on show were Matt’s goblets with captive rings, Mark’s bowls, Sue’s What Not and bowl, various items by Steve Martin and last, but not least, assorted projects by Phil. Again a very varied and interesting meeting.

All Day Pyrography Demo

For our All Day Demo this year we welcomed Spirit and Bear to the club. This husband and wife team (Kez and Phil) have given pyrography demos throughout the country for a number of years and the basis of their teaching is very much a ‘hands on’ approach. So the project of the morning was a dog’s eye. Kez initially showed everyone how to transfer the image onto the blank and then began to demonstrate the process of burning and building the image.

Kez guided us through the various stages of the work – telling us which part of the tool we should be using and why. This was utterly absorbing so the time till lunch flew by.

For the second session Kez let us tackle a second project – a dog’s nose or something of your own choosing. She visited each table in turn and gave useful pointers about technique and approach before showing us how to do it properly! Examples of her work were also on display to show what can be done – with a lot of practice! Thanks to Kez and Phil for a great day.