Turnfest 2011 Gold Coast, Australia

Turnfest - A first for me – 3 days of turning demonstrations with Australian and Overseas professional turners, together with 350 woodturners from Australia & New Zealand attending. What do you call a group of wood turners anyway? A circle of turners (too bad a pun) or a forest of turners…?  Turning at the Seaworld resort was quite different from down the club or out in the garage, all those carpeted conference rooms with aircon. Was a bit like turning in your living room, didn’t feel quite right, almost expected a sighing cleaning lady to brush past you with an overloaded vacuum, muttering about the shavings. However, could not complain about the location or setting, was quite beautiful.

The line up of expertise was inspiringly varied, each turner with their own different background, skills, advice and experience. From Al Stirt (NE America, near Canadian border) , Jimmy Clewes (English, living in the States) and Pat Kramer (Hawaii) to Australian Glenn Roberts (NSW), Tony Hansen (QLD) and Vaughn Richmond (WA) and all those others I didn’t manage to get to. The variety of demo styles was refreshing too. 
Have to say Jimmy Clewes for me, as a beginner turner, was the most accessible. He came across as a genuine guy, an efficient teacher and excellent communicator of woodturning skills and techniques. Ray has invited him to our club next year, during Turnfest and he is interested in teaching some groups for a Turning Down Under series of his videos. That would be great.

So what did I learn? Some bits of wisdom I picked up and could decipher from my pages of scribbled notes:

Al Stirt – did a session on balancing the grain in an open bowl. Seems obvious but you can move your mounted bowl to manage where the grain patterns are lying ie to the middle of your bowl instead of accepting the offset location you are uncovering. The use of water to lubricate if you are getting chattering as cutting. Buying bolt covers (for sticking out bolts) at your hardware and using them to cover the outside end of your calipers so you don’t mark the finished surface when you are measuring wall thickness of your bowl.  Creating his square edged platter with the little bowl in the middle was great to watch.

Jimmy Clewes – liked his clear explanations of technique, too basic for experienced turners to read but great for me. Although did hear the same comment repeated that experienced guys liked his back to basics approach and his packed sessions spoke for themselves. Each project followed a common sense working through the stages, like the bowl hollowing out – finish your cut at the rim, then move down in steps, clear out middle bulk (as far as you have come down the wall), back to edge, cut, clear and move down. His theory behind this was that the bulk (or guts in the middle) should be left in for support, get each bit right before moving further down as the wood is not supported if you go back to trim up by the rim once the bulk is removed.

Sharpen your tool for the finishing cut so can’t blame your tool if it goes wrong!

Use the lathe at a fast speed, there’s less resistance to the cut, can work more fluidly and get a better resulting finish on the surface. He introduced his audience to the word “shetoiancy”, can’t imagine how you spell it but it means that almost 3 D shimmer you sometimes see in the grain of wood. Bevel rubbing, parting tool cut before start with bowl gouge, mistakes in thickness of bowl and how to avoid the trap of the wrong cut, design, ergonomics etc etc. He had a wealth of information and an easy patter with his audience.

Glenn Roberts obviously has a very creative, problem solving mind and had devised many gadgets to tackle situations he encountered. Loved his sandpaper velcroed onto an electric knife and also onto a plastic bendy spatula for awkward sanding places, a nail file cut in half also doing the job. The effect of his bleaching technique was interesting to see. Have to say though that when Glenn Roberts and Vaughn Richmond were both presenting their versions of how to still get something out of a stuff up or rather “it’s not a mistake but a design opportunity”, they seemed to make perfect things then purposely create a mistake to “fix” with something arty which there was a public demand for. Seems ironic that when you are so good,  you have to make mistakes to sell your work. Hey, if it’s a stuff up they need, they should just shout for a few beginners to volunteer to turn at the beginning of the session, then they’d have something real to show us how to rescue!

Tony Hansen’s approach was different again. He doesn’t have time for mistakes. It’s a tealight every 25 seconds or productivity will suffer. Obviously driven by a need to produce to sell, his presentations were quick and simple. Easy projects, well they looked easy compared with the design creations of Pat Kramer. Beautiful, simple vessel shapes lured you to his talk, with additional information on a slide presentation illustrating varied and creative work. Obviously extremely talented and at the arty end of the turning spectrum.

But back to Tony, a down to earth, hard working turner who moved quickly and easily through his demo with projects you are keen to try at home, especially with a different medium like his banksia nuts. I believe Alan bought a bagful if anyone wants to offer him bucks to part with them.

 Our club members are the friendliest bunch I reckon. Well, miles better than the guy I sat next to, who seriously told someone to "shut the door to keep the women out" after I sat down. Gold Coast Woodturners have a future, they have old and young, men and women and all with a genuine enthusiasm for the craft. Woodturning is certainly alive and kicking on the Gold Coast.

Turnfest 2011 was a great experience. 2012 is the 10^th anniversary, hosting the largest group of professional turners in one place that the world has ever seen and promising to be a truly unique event.

The start of 2011

It's March! Last entry was in November and a great deal of woodturning has happened since then. Many Christmas presents emerged from my lathe, mostly pens and honey dippers, a beautiful bowl made from a wood that sounds like a rock band: “Black Heart Sassafras”, a gorgeous platter made from camphor laurel and a set of knife handles with a lovely smooth finish. My girls each received a ring on Christmas Day. They were made with sheer determination as opposed to skill, so it just goes to show that anything is possible when you set your mind to it.

January hosted the student turning course down at the club. I helped teach the 10 wood turning kids, one being my daughter Shona. One of my other daughters, Jessica, joined the pyrography course. They ran at the same time, over 3 days. It was quite nerve-wracking, making sure everyone left with the 10 fingers they arrived with! They were such great kids. It's so good to see kids out there trying something different. 

My eldest, Kirsty, used the images from the 3 days to put together a slideshow to music (Walking on Sunshine & Time of Our Lives) which looked great and sounded so upbeat. The efforts of the organisors and tutors was excellent. Passing on of skills across generations is very satisfying. 

I managed to write up the burl turning article at long last and just have to finish it as we continue with the turning. Shona has joined the beginners class, I got promoted to intermediate and Jessica joined the pyrography class. She created a wonderful Aboriginal dot form turtle which I love. 

This week she added fairy doors and windows onto one of my mushrooms, which was something new compared with creating pictures on a flat board. It's becoming a family affair now, with all three of us down at the club on a Monday night. 

Mudgeeraba Show is coming up in June. I will have been turning for a year by then. My ambition last year was to enter something great in the show this year, so I will enter my burl bowl and see what else I can come up with between now and then. Watch this space.

I have also been turning  growing bowlfuls of mushrooms and honey dippers etc which I would like to put out on the stand to see if they sell. They won't make my fortune but might pay for some new tools etc. I bought a bandsaw from Anne so am enjoying the independence of cutting up my wood now and getting it onto my lathe. 

Our 6 bicyles were moved out of the garage to create more turning space, chickens had to move homes to accommodate the bikes but it all worked out. 

The wood I collected from various neighbourhood sources last year is being put to good use. Branches are turning into mushrooms and larger pieces will become bowls.

I mastered the art of bangles and this week undertook a hollowed sphere. The first exploded, under the tool of the tutor not with me. Couldn't be annoyed, as if it hadn't been him, it would surely have been me. Started again this week and managed a fair attempt. Digging out the inside, through a small hole in the top, while keeping a uniform thickness, is no mean feat. Eddie designed a tool which has a kind of handle half way up the tool shaft which sits on the flat tool rest, guiding your cut which works really well. 

All the smaller projects relate to the larger ones. Learning the cut to make, the tool to use, the curve required, are all interlinked. Practicing many smaller things leads to a better understanding when tackling a bigger or new item. The only agony is "crawling" when you want to be running already. So much to learn, so little time! 

Turnfest is coming up. It's a woodturning festival on the Gold Coast  with overseas and Australian turning experts who demonstrate their skills. Looking forward to seeing what the professionals turn out and to being inspired in new directions.   

Time for an update. My burl bowl is finished. What a great experience. Ray’s finishing skills pay strict attention to detail. His experience from the galleries he supplies is that the smallest imperfection in the finish is picked up and the item is returned to him, so he is very particular about his work. Good learning curve for me, with a lesson in: ”what the eye can’t see the hand can still feel”. Signing my name on the base of my bowl with the engraver pen felt really good. The final bowl is really amazing; don’t think I will ever be able to part with it!

We also had an evening at the club making snowmen. That was fun. Many a nose was dropped and lost to amongst the shavings and had to be remade. Anyone dropping in to the club would have wondered what some of the big guys were doing crawling around on the floor - looking for a tiny nose! The snowmen are quite cute. I ended up bringing half a dozen home for the girls to paint. A bit tricky when the scarf, arms etc. were glued on but fun nonetheless.

I made a set of knife handles for a Christmas present, buying the steel for a cheese knife, butter knife and cake server. I got all my woodturned gifts off to SA with Grahame on his recent trip back. A few pens and honey dippers, which turned out rather nice, made their way to Durban. Just finished the UK presents now and need to think about the Australian ones next. Set myself the task of making all my Christmas presents this year, which has been good. It’s nice to think of someone when you make something for them.

Started another bowl at Anne’s. Seemed to get off to a slow start but was getting some very fine cuts made by the time I was finishing the outside and the resulting smoothness of the wood is a pleasure to feel. Anne also gave me a big platter blank to turn so can’t wait to do that. Would like to make some wooden bangles for the girls to put in their Christmas stockings. Only 2 Monday nights left so not much time.

Went to the woodturning Christmas lunch this weekend. Was awarded my beginners course certificate to “Snakes Jackson” but that’s another story about 3 snakes in my washing machine….

Today we were down at the club again helping with a working bee. A new shed has gone up and help was needed putting in shelves, cutting up and cataloging wood and clearing the area around the clubhouse. I did a band saw operators course last week so was able to help with some of the cutting. It was also good marking the cuts of wood as I learned a few new woods and got quite familiar with their look. We cooked up sausages for everyone’s lunch; the girls helped and rode around in the wheelbarrow. Shona had her first try on my lathe and has been bitten too by the looks of things. She didn’t want to stop after she learned basic skills and then we made a pen together. Down at the club they have a couple of lathes that can be lowered for someone in a wheelchair so they will be lowered for the kids class in the holidays, which Shona has signed up for. Jessica has started pyrography on a Monday night too and seemed to really enjoy it. Chainsaw course next, more bowls and final Christmas presents.

Kept thinking about names so I can make labels for the things I make. I like the sound of the word Kookaburra, as they seem to sit and watch me turning and laugh raucously too, hopefully not at what I am producing! Was wondering how to work Kookaburra into a company name. Couldn't think of anything that related to my name. Also think your name has to explain what you do so perhaps need the word woodturning in it. Anne tried to introduce me to clock making this week but I was determined to make a bowl. Grahame also mentioned clocks tonight as no one else is really doing clocks. Perhaps turning burl clocks would be unique and then at the supper table we thought of Kookaburra Clocks! Now that has a nice ring to it….

Turning a Burl

Wow! Awesome! Incredible! Exciting!

Our Tuesday morning turning with Anne was at Ray's yesterday. Ray turns burls - large growths on the trunk of a tree.. The grain appears in swirls with wonderful patterns. The colours in the Brown Mallee burls we chose, vary from a soft and reddish brown through to a rich cream. As pointed out, you don't know how your bowl will turn out until you start , when the design emerges from the wood itself. My bowl revealed a winged rim with the most superb natural edge. As we worked the edge, breaking off the bark, little spiky bits began to pop into view which I found really exciting. Cleaning them off was done with a wire brush. The "bits" reminded me of the middle stem of a carrot and the thick root type growths you sometimes see growing out from the central core.

Turning the burl was like rattling along a 4 x 4 track compared with travelling on a tarred freeway. It was jolty and tough but oh so satisfying. Oh dear think I have a problem, need a program to help with this addiction. Hi my name is Susan. I'm a wood turner!

Tools used for the burl bowl were: bowl gouge (which I bought from an old chap at the club called Harry) which gives a lovely cut, especially after Ray demonstrated how to resharpen it, reverse end scraper (think that's right), skew chisel, sanding blocks and an electric sander with different screw on graded disc ends. After sanding we brushed on a varnish with an old toothbrush then rubbed it off right away. Don't think I was quite quick enough with mine. Alison managed two coats on her smaller bowl. I did one and need to go back and do a second before we tackle the inside next week.

Ray and his wife were so hospitable, not only giving up their time but also providing Alison and I with a delicious lunch. Their place is lovely, one and a half acres of conservation type plot, where Ray has been clearing paths leading down to a little dam and eating area. They have alot of birds who visit them on their deck.

The Australian wood turners I have met have been so generous with their time, advice, skills and even their materials. I feel lucky to have met them all.

The burl continues next Tuesday when we tackle the inside. I cannot wait to work the rim with it's striking white edge and hope to do the inside justice because the outside just looks fabulous.

The latest club newsletter puts me down as a volunteer to help with the next kids class in the December holidays. It would be fun and good to return some of the time others have so freely given to me, especially Anne. My daughter Shona is desperate to have a try so it would be good if there was a place for her. Need more hours in the day to get into the garage and onto my lathe. First job - Christmas gifts. It's a good feeling to make something for someone.

Rushing a job doesn't work well in wood turning. I tried to complete some pens that I wanted to sendback to the UK with my cousin as gifts and had a disappointing Monday night session. However, failure is seldom wasted if used

as a constructive learning curve and the following week I managed to turn out - with help, advice and some amazing pen blanks from Vince - two very beautiful and yet very different pens. The wood used for the first is dark and strong and the grain on the other almost shines out from the wood. I was very proud of them and have ear marked who they will go to for Christmas. Vince has made two end pieces - his magic mushrooms - for assembling the pens. I've borrowed these clever stoppers for the week. The metals ends make use of an embedded coin so the pen doesn't sink into the wood when pressing the pen pieces together. I will have to make myself a pair when I get the chance.

My mum has a birthday trivet heading back to her with my cousin, who has been here on a trip. The grooves around the edge are created with wire (held between two pieces of dowel) which burns into the wood. The centre is turned from corian which is a type of kitchen work surface. It is not nice to turn compared with wood but when finished offers a spot for hot items to safely sit on. The finish on the trivet is incredibly smooth and the base is as interesting to look at and feel as the top surface. My cousin and her friend had a wood turning demo one evening in the garage where they watched the creation of a little honey dipper on my lathe. We went up Mount Tambourine to visit craft shops and an early Christmas market but were surprised to see virtually no wood turned products.

So much happening, so little time. I made a set of 3 wine bottle stoppers for my cousin’s birthday. Jennifer is here at the moment for a month so lots of outings and good times. I also made something for my mum’s birthday and was very pleased with the finish on it. This last Monday night I made the most exquisite (even though I say so myself) little vase out of a banksia nut. It was fun to work with. It offered a different textures experience. The outer is quite soft and brittle and tends to crumble away but the core was very hard. The first cone (it seems more like a cone than a nut to me) I tried to turn (was aiming for a set of coasters) was rotten inside so it got tossed out. The next one was too small in diameter for coasters so Ray suggested a vase - actually he suggested a matching pair but I thought that was tad ambitious! He gave valuable advice, introduced me to a jam chuck and helped with the parting off.

This week saw the arrival of a lathe. Yes my own lathe can you believe. This woodturning seems to have a life of it’s own, with me as a happy passenger. Anne told me she had a lathe in mind for me and the next thing I knew, I was in a conversation that went something like this: “ I have a lathe for you. It was Bill's but he can’t use it now. Come on Wed at 12 and have a look at it.”

So Wed came and Grahame & I went round to the club to see it. It was under the clubhouse and when we arrived Anne, Ray and Vince were under there too. Our conversation continued with: “ Here it is. It’s a Carba-Tec, variable speed, swivel head. We’ll make sure it’s got all the bits. Have you got a trailer? No - don’t worry Vince will drop it off. We’ll bring it tomorrow at ten”. At this point I mentioned I wouldn’t be home as we were going whale watching with my cousin. “ What number are you? 6, fine, we’ll just pop it in your garage”. And so the deal was done and true to their word, Vince, with 2 helpers, delivered it the next day when I was out and we returned to a lathe!

It needs a clean up and some WD40, which I haven’t had a chance to do. I am of the view that once I start making things I won’t be able to stop. I am last to leave the class every Monday night as it is, so I can feel some long sessions coming on…. Can’t wait to get set up and started. The kids asked what I would call the lathe. We reckoned “Chuck” was a good name : ) Anne brought the “bits” around for it and some boxes of wood. Need to get the storage baskets I bought at a garage sale out and start sorting it all. So, watch this space. Christmas presents first I think.

Ray's burl turning got pushed back unfortunately as I had some teaching days then my cousin arrived but we have rescheduled for 2 weeks time so that’s great. Everyone at the club has been so helpful and great at sharing their knowledge. They all have a favourite tool that they seem to do most cuts with. For Vince it’s a skew chisel and his inlaid work is just beautiful. Ray loves his detail gouge and for Anne it’s got to be a bowl gouge. New members keep joining and us newies have become regulars. It’s the quickest 3 hours of the week on a Monday night. Nigel has a shop at the club, which I looked into this week and bought a pen mandrel. Need to go over pen making again so I can make some at home. Wish there was more time each week to see what everyone else is making. Sometimes we all make the same item, other times we are all off at tangents. The banksia nut stirred a bit of interest. Alison is keen to work one next week.My tool collection is growing, housed in a lovely tool roll Grahame and the girls gave me for my birthday.

Will leave you with a pic of a banksia nut and my vase. Next time, it will be me at my lathe!

Got such a nice surprise as I walked in at the club on Monday. There was a platform awaiting me at my lathe, made by Vince to give me the right height at the lathe. I felt like I should be giving a speech as I stood up on it for the first time. Vince was taking the pen making session and had some lovely pieces of wood to use. Blocks, called blanks, are supplied - you drill holes through and mount on the lathe using a pen mandrel which guides you to the right diameter as you create the two (upper and lower) pen shafts. The required "bits" for the pen come in a kit which you assemble once your wood pieces are ready and using the mandrel means they all line up properly, with the correct diameter.

I used cedar for the dark pen and camphor laurel for the patterned one. The cedar was a bit dry and needed sanding sealer on at the end, to smooth down the grain (it was a bit splintery) before sanding again and polishing up with Triple E polish. I was really pleased with them. They give a satisfying end result.

Managed to get my carvers mallet finished. It looks and feels a pretty solid tool and the grain in the wood is attractive. Glad to get that done!

At Anne's this week, I made the second pen, finished the sand and polish of the mallet and then made a wine bottle stopper. It was an interesting exercise. The point was part of the challenge. Will probably round off future ones as it looks a bit dangerous!

There's always time for tea and a cake mid morning and lots of ideas about what we'll do next. It's great. I would love to have a lathe and start making gifts for family and friends and maybe starting a stock of items which could be sold at Christmas craft markets.

Next week we are off to Ray's for a burl bowl turning session, can't wait for that!