2019

December 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:12:55+00:00This was the second remote demo held at Elmcroft, third in total, thanks to David Buskell and Jamie Shears. A live, real time video link with Cindy Drozda in her workshop in Colarado USA. Cindy has an amazing web site www.cindydrozda.com and e-mail address, cindy@drozda co uk. Much of her work is available on videos which she can post directly to you. She can also talk to you live to discuss any issues you may have.

November 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:14:27+00:00Chris based his demonstration on the concept of Inspiration and design. Whilst out shopping with his wife his attention was drawn to the array of bangles and then to turning something to incorporate them eg a box. He was thinking of a round lidded box but so constructed as to hold the bangles externally. He chose a design suitable for a dressing table and with an inward fitting lid. His starting point was to prepare a sketch of the various stages involved. This he did on his computer entitled ‘...

October 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:15:55+00:00Paul Howard showed us how he produced his magnificent owls. He has designed and produces and sells various jigs for different parts of the process, for others he gave us precise measure- ments to use, for example in producing a sphere. He encouraged us to contact him for both the jigs and measurements and appropriate drawings. His website is www.paulhowardwoodturner.co.uk. It became obvious throughout the demonstration that following his measurements was critical in order to produce something t...

September 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:18:45+00:00The August meeting was attended by only 28 members which is normal during the holiday season. The evening started with a power point presentation by James Cassidy, who explained his influences and experiences with colouring, no doubt due to the demonstrators who showed us their work last year. This presentation can be found on the web site. Jeff Cordery then covered his favourite finish which was Danish oil, prompting a great deal of discussion. He also showed us colouring wood, using tannin. ...

August 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:20:33+00:00Thankyou to Chris Barrett for writing this article. Rafael Santoliquidos’ presentation included the turning of a hollow form in the shape of a flower or flower vase, pictures of his work and of where he grew up in Sao Paulo and of his philosophy in approaching wood turning. His theme was that craftsmanship is a facilitator of art. We should express our personalities and life experiences in our art and woodturning, it may not always be pretty. Rafael encouraged us to “Express Ourselves”

July 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:21:44+00:00On June 19th, Cheam Woodturners hosted a demo by Alan & Lauren Zenreich. Cheam members and guests from other clubs, gathered at Cheam’s usual venue, The Elmcroft Centre, for a live remote demo, our first at our own venue. Alan & Lauren are based in New Jersey and we are in the UK. How was it possible to interact with them? This was one of the key issues we needed to resolve and involved an upgrade to our PA system and the purchase of a hand -held wireless microphone. Using a static video camera...

June 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:23:12+00:00This was an interesting evening that attempted to broach the contentious subject of woodturning critique in an interactive way. Gordon brought in a wide variety of turned items from his own personal collection, some turned by himself as well as some turned by well-known turners and guided us through some of the many viewpoints and ways to critique the items. Members were divided into small groups so they could meet members they did not know, which seemed to work well. Each group was provided wi...

May 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:25:22+00:00This hands-on evening was only the 2nd of its kind at our club to -date and although it did not run exactly as planned, was a great success and enjoyed by all. We had 4 separate stations setup and all the lathes were in full operation. It was intended that there would be 4 groups of members that would rotate around the various stations, however it ended up that members enjoyed spending extended time at some stations and skipping others and worked out much better in the end. The first station was...

April 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:26:33+00:00Les Thorne demonstrates his Ta-Dah box Les gave members a very entertaining and informative demonstration of what he termed a da-dah box. What is a da-dah box? It could be described as an inverted box where a lid acts as a base and the box a lid. The basic shape of the finished item and its parts is akin to a tagine. Les is a production turner and when introducing his demonstration, he said that he would be focusing on techniques which he uses every day in his work, which can be equally applied...

March 2019

admin2021-12-07T16:28:55+00:00February’s demo was by Greg Moreton using his signature old oak fence posts to make a deep bowl, pencil holder and a sphere :- all showing some of their weathered rustic texture. He started by drilling holes through the oak to screw it to a waste block with a faceplate ring on it. Trying to screw through aged oak without pre-drilling is almost impossible. Ordinary wood screws were used because they are cheap enough to throw away after one or two uses. The waste block had already had the corners...