S
spiritwoodturner
Guest
I've been a member of Front Range Woodturners for the last several years, and last night was kind of a high point, although I always enjoy going.
First, I met Ed (Turned Around) from IAP, and what a great guy! He does very nice pens, and his finish is really very good. He hasn't been doing it all that long, and he's light years ahead of where I was at when I'd been doing it as long as he has. But maybe even more interestingly, he does microscopic digital photos of slices of wood! I'll let him explain it, it's really quite a process. Boils the wood, THEN takes less-than paper thin slices and mounts them on slides. Then dyes them, then fires away. Like I said, he's better at 'splaining it, but really quite fascinating. Plus, he won a very nice chunk of honey locust in the raffle. Beginner's luck, I guess.
Next, Trent Bosch demo'd his "Vessels of Illusion". If you've never seen this guy, you owe it to yourself to do so. He's really big on unlocking the artist within. His stuuf is crazy great, but he spends as much time teaching how to find your voice, and I think that's as important as any technique. He's really passionate about his art. If you take a class from him (he's only a few hours from me) you eat breakfast and lunch at his family's table, with his family! That's different. Anyway, what a demo.
Third, I took advantage of CSUSA's discount program to our club, and I suspect to any AAW-sponsored club. It's a bit complicated, but bottom line is if we order a few hundred pens (no problem), the discount is about 40%! That brings a Statesman down to around a Gent price, and that's tough to beat. I ended up getting about 600 bucks worth of product for around 360. That's a really good deal.
If you don't belong to an AAW-sponsored Turner's Club, I personally think you're missing one of the best resources available to a turner. AAW does so many great things to advance this craft, and we all benefit from it. Scholarships, Symposiums, education, insurance, discounts, so many things come out of those puny dues.
I drive an hour each way to get to mine, find one in your area and check it out! And again, Ed, it was so great to meet you last night! Wait 'till you see our Christmas Party! You better come hungry.
Dale
First, I met Ed (Turned Around) from IAP, and what a great guy! He does very nice pens, and his finish is really very good. He hasn't been doing it all that long, and he's light years ahead of where I was at when I'd been doing it as long as he has. But maybe even more interestingly, he does microscopic digital photos of slices of wood! I'll let him explain it, it's really quite a process. Boils the wood, THEN takes less-than paper thin slices and mounts them on slides. Then dyes them, then fires away. Like I said, he's better at 'splaining it, but really quite fascinating. Plus, he won a very nice chunk of honey locust in the raffle. Beginner's luck, I guess.
Next, Trent Bosch demo'd his "Vessels of Illusion". If you've never seen this guy, you owe it to yourself to do so. He's really big on unlocking the artist within. His stuuf is crazy great, but he spends as much time teaching how to find your voice, and I think that's as important as any technique. He's really passionate about his art. If you take a class from him (he's only a few hours from me) you eat breakfast and lunch at his family's table, with his family! That's different. Anyway, what a demo.
Third, I took advantage of CSUSA's discount program to our club, and I suspect to any AAW-sponsored club. It's a bit complicated, but bottom line is if we order a few hundred pens (no problem), the discount is about 40%! That brings a Statesman down to around a Gent price, and that's tough to beat. I ended up getting about 600 bucks worth of product for around 360. That's a really good deal.
If you don't belong to an AAW-sponsored Turner's Club, I personally think you're missing one of the best resources available to a turner. AAW does so many great things to advance this craft, and we all benefit from it. Scholarships, Symposiums, education, insurance, discounts, so many things come out of those puny dues.
I drive an hour each way to get to mine, find one in your area and check it out! And again, Ed, it was so great to meet you last night! Wait 'till you see our Christmas Party! You better come hungry.
Dale
