A Craft Show - My FIRST!!!

Ed and Chris were the best helpers ever at our first craft show. This was at a church in Wilkinsburg, which is in Pittsburgh. We had a lot of fun and met a lot of fun people. And most fun and most surprising was that there were friends who came out to visit, having heard of the whole bowl turning adventure. 

And my favorite bowl (so far) was sold to a very dear friend. John, I hope you will let me come visit it sometimes.

Annie's Hands are Turning

 

 

It was starting to look like wood turning was to be the next big thing for Annie's Phalanges. So a bigger lathe was got. This is the Powermatic 3520b, which I got used in an unbelievable deal. Don't you just love when things fall together like that? It makes all this feel so 'meant to be.'

Let me take you on a stroll through some of the features. See that face shield? It keeps junk out of my eyes. And when turning, there is plenty of junk flying around.

Earmuffs are not so dreadfully important when turning, as that is a relatively quiet activity. Sanding, however, is another matter altogether. But these earmuffs are so easy on the ear I just forget to take them off.

The red apron is made specifically for turning. It comes up into a turtleneck so as to keep shavings out of my shirt, and from there to my bra. Many times in my pre apron days there would be a goodly amount of shredded lumber spilled out of there. And there are pockets! My friend Anna Troxler custom made this for me, so it is all kinds of comfy. 

And this brings us to the grid arching over the workspace. Wood is unpredictable at best, and outright dangerous at worst. A piece that you have worked on for hours will suddenly turn on you (pun intended) and flat out explode. This happened to me once.

 

And here is the bowl that did it.

 

It's walnut, it's heavy, and it was seconds from being finished when it blew up. Lesson learned. LISTEN to the still small voice when it tells you to stop for the day and finish tomorrow. IGNORE ego when it insists that you can take it home to show Chris in just a few minutes more. 

 

That was mid September, and it is now mid November. The swelling is gone, but there is nerve damage that may or may not resolve. You just never know with nerve damage. 

Ernie Conover - mine for a week!

Me with Ernie Conover and SOME of the bowls I made

The two day class on bowls whetted my appetite, so I signed up for the five day training. I showed up, and was The Only Student! Once my jaw got picked up off the floor, we got to work. In the picture I am holding my bowl gouge. I hadn't had one before the first class, so Ernie loaned me one. And boy, did I get to use it!

Rudy, Judy and Ernie

Here are Rudy and Judy Fazzini. When they attended massage school many many years ago, I was among their teachers. We kept in touch over the years, and when I moved to Wheeling, our friendship kicked up a notch or two.

You see, Rudy has a workshop. A full on, all the bells and whistles, wood shop. And he was willing to teach me! He gave me rights to the shop, to come and go as I please, and believe me, I have taken advantage.

In that shop, over in the corner, covered in junk and clutter, was a lathe. Could I maybe play with that? Sure! And a new passion is born. Annie's Hands are turning wood.

Since we heat our house with firewood, there is always something with which to practice. These two sticks are from a particularly nice pallet, and one of those sticks has been turned into a candlestick.

Along with the lathe were some tools, and I used most of them making this. Looking back, after having taken a class and reading a lot, I don't know how I came up with this. I doubt I could do it again.

So let the bowl turning begin!

These are some of the little bowls I have been knocking out. I play with shapes, and finishes, and wood. It's mostly been scraps of wood, but now learning has begun in earnest. Which means classes!

First training, really, was and continues to be Cap'n Eddie Castelin. He posts videos on You Tube, and I eat 'em up.

Next was a two day beginner class on bowl turning. Looky what I made.

 

Using a tool that was made for turning bowls was a revelation. The excitement was too much, so that when Ernie Conover strolled over to see how I was getting along, he was grabbed  into a bear hug before he knew what hit him.

The bowl is walnut, and we watched as Ernie cut our blanks from a log.

Next step is to round off the chunk of wood into a real bowl blank, and from there to the lathe. Ernie is using a breathing apparatus to get fresh air from behind himself as he saws.