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!