July 14, 2014 Meeting Information
The program for this month will be a demonstration of various hollowing tools presented by Ralph Watts. This is a perfect follow-up to last month’s meeting where Lyle Jamieson showed us how to hollow a vessel using his designed tools. Ralph will show us some of the other tools available so that if you are interested in venturing into the world of hollow forms, you can have a choice of tools and techniques.
We are trying to look ahead and set up demonstrations for the rest of this year as well as projections for next year. In this regard we are looking for members to give demonstrations on any area of interest to club members. If you have never given a demo or feel that you may not have anything to offer, you should relook at your potential and realize that every demonstrator started as a beginner. If you are a turner and have turned even just one project then you can relay what it is you have learned. You will be amazed how much you get out of preparing for and giving a demonstration. That is how we share information and experiences which benefits all.
Please read the following excerpt from an article Dave Wahl wrote for the AAW Journal in 1999
Many things make our AAW family of woodturners special, but our direct sharing, volunteering and giving is really what makes us unique and sets us apart from other groups. We all recognize and appreciate that our professional and studio turners give their time and share their skills, techniques and ideas to inspire us and help us become better turners … and it has been through their giving and sharing that the AAW has grown. But all of us, including the novice, beginner, inter- mediate and hobbyist turner, have something to give and to share which will also help our own woodturning community improve their skills and help the public enjoy and appreciate turned objects.
Although many of our beginning and hobbyist turners share their knowledge and enthusiasm, we need more of them to do so. and there are numerous ways to do this.
For example, if you are a beginner or hobbyist who likes to turn some- thing like a small bowl or ornament, and even if you are only fairly good at it, then you are an ideal person to volunteer demonstrating this at your chapter meeting or to another group. To prepare for a demonstration, you need to analyze methodically the steps you almost unthinkingly go through to make your project, and you need to verbally explain to yourself what you are doing so you can explain it later for the group. You need to think about the safest, simplest, easiest, and fastest way to make your project. Through this process and your demonstration, you grow and improve, and more significantly, the group becomes better through the demonstration you give.
There are many opportunities for woodturners at all levels to give by sharing their knowledge and skill, not only to help someone else become a better turner, but to help a non-turner better understand and so appreciate how wonderful wood-turned objects really are. The faces of grade school and high school students light up with
amazement and excitement when they see a hobbyist demonstrate at their school. To these children you are a professional who has given them inspiration and opened their minds to a new and wonderful craft and art. You have given them something that they don’t normally or usually get in school. Your giving makes a difference.
You don’t have to be a professional turner to demonstrate in shopping malls, public buildings, galleries or craft shows. Showing and informing the general public about the art and craft of woodturning is a gift which even the beginning or intermediate turner can give. If you will show them, then the public will enjoy and appreciate your turned toys, useful objects and finely crafted forms. You are planting the seeds for them to eventually buy and collect all types of turned objects.
I hope you will consider these thoughts and be prepared to offer to give us a demonstration in the future.
SFTurners.org 