The instant gallery is an amazing, overwhelming collection of wood art, ideas, creativity and craftsmanship that is really hard to take in all at once.  So many ideas and so many different skills that are all in one place in no particular order.  I have gone through and taken pictures of just about everything in the past and not sure what good that did me, so I just took some shots of things that got my attention for one reason or another.  Mostly for inspiration of my future work.   Here is what I came home with in no particular order....

I thought these were very cool.  I am not sure how they did it but found it intriguing to think about how to do it.  Also is pretty math-geeky...  

I make mostly bowls and I like the beads on the outside of a normal bowl.  Black is fine and done a lot these days but like the shape of the bowl. 

 I liked this shape and the grouping of different sizes.  I really want to pick them up and feel them, how heavy are they? how does the curve feel?  how do they compare?  one of the problems with keeping everyone's work safe.

 I love Phil Brown's Vortex bowl.  I have touched this and love the feel of his work.  He has combined his two favorite shapes with this new design and I really like it.

I liked that they combined these huge turnings with the mini versions.  I like the shape and can't get anywhere near the large ones now but may try a smaller version.

I have made Christmas ornaments for the past several years and  always looking for new ideas... I am not really into piercing but liked these.  I also liked the bottle and glass in the background.  What I would use sooner than piercing is the ornament holder. 

Here are more ornaments I would be more likely to make.  Many ideas are here...

 

In the spirit of ornaments something a little different, Halloween bat houses. (not really from the instant gallery)

I am not into segmenting but I really like the semi-random walk of the piercing.

 I am not sure I like this shape/final piece but I like the idea of pieces put together or maybe a multiple axis piece like this...

 I like ducks and these are cute.

Scenic St. Paul.

 The trip to St. Paul was wonderful.  I had a great time at the AAW Conference and St. Paul was a wonderful place with many things to see and do.    I only made a short walk about the area we were located but what fun!  Across the street from the convention was the Science museum with the King Tut exhibit.   My wife made it over there and found a lot of interesting exhibits on the Mississippi River and King Tut.

 

Turns out Charles Schultz was born and raised in the Twin-Cities.  Charlie Brown and friends are everywhere  around town.  They were in a ballroom in the hotel, store windows and snoopy was hanging out in the street everywhere.

It was a pleasant surprise to have the NHL Draft going on in the arena attached to where the convention was going on.  The Minnesota club was a block down the street and is a big hockey connection.  Several limo's were often parked out front.   We came around the side of the club to find this inflatable draft guy behind the statue of Herb Brooks.  

 

Also along the street were some pianos that were painted and left along buildings like the convention center and arts buildings.  We even saw a couple of people playing them.

From our hotel room we had a great view of the river and the railroad tracks along it.  We spent some time watching them come from way up the river and try to figure out where they were going.  The train draw-bridge even was raised and lowered several times!

I saw this along the wall and thought it was inspiration for people to work harder..

... but it was just telling us what we should be aware of.

 And finally I loved the slogan from the donuts for sale in the convention center Mini-sota Mini-Donuts.  Beyond the slogan these things sent an aroma through the basement of the Convention center that was heavenly!  I went in there around lunch time and without having breakfast that smell was getting to me, but just in time Cindy called and asked if I wanted to go to lunch, so we did.  Later during the next session I got a text "where are you?".... then 1/2 a bag of Mini-Donuts showed up.  Surprise and Delight was Just Right!

Don't turn crappy wood!

I was given some cedar logs from a friend that his neighbor took down and he thought I could do something with them... I rough turned one log into 3 bowls and was glad to see all the character in the pieces with bark inclusions and branches going everywhere.  I had one of the bowls crack in drying and thought that I would finish another one this weekend.  It was thick but I liked it that way and was afraid that  if it was much thinner it would have problems.   I shaped and smoothed it with a sander.  I was pretty happy with it and thought I would finish the base.  so I turned it around with a jam chuck and turned up the speed and this is what was left.....

The pieces when everywhere, one off my face shield and the rest went  everywhere.  I never touched a tool to the wood, the centrifugal force took care of  it all by itself.   Below is what I found around the shop, mostly refit together....
Lessons relearned ...
1.  "Wear a face shield, even when sanding".... from a demonstrator at one of our meetings.
2.  "Life's too short... to turn crappy wood"... John Jordan (as seen on a tee shirt)

busy, not in shop

I have not had/made time to get to the shop recently... today I made some time to get there.  I went to my woodturner's meeting on Thursday and got my interest up.  I turned, roughed out, two bowls.  The second is a box elder that had a bark inclusion that I had no idea was there... if I can get it sanded and parted off without breaking it it should be interesting with a big hole in it...
I have been stressing lately about my club's entry in the AAW Celebrate 25 I have been organizing it for several months and now I have all the pieces and need to put it together... Now I am getting nervous... Time to put on the big move on this.. Want to get this done this week.. we will see.

Turnning at the Renwick!

Our club had an opportunity to turn some wood at the Renwick Art Museum in conjunction with an exhibition of turned art from the Bresler collection.  It is a wonderful collection and a wonderful opportunity for me and my friend Mike to get a chance to show and talk about our hobby.  This was the last Saturday for turning at the Renwick and I am glad that I had a chance to do it.  Some of the more experienced woodturners took most of the slots before this and glad I got pushed into doing this..

   I had the some very fresh box elder and the chips were flying all over!  It was nice to have the safety shield but hard to talk through.  The feedback from the wall right in front of me was a little hard to deal with.  I had not turned on this lathe before and was a little intimidated with everything different but it all went so smoothly.  Even when Mike started showing off-center turning after a question from the audience.  

Notice my arm above.  Wet from all the water coming out of the wood.   Very fresh from a Pepco cutting!  People came and went over the 2 hours we were there but good crowds were there the whole time. Very impressive!

Here is my friend Mike turning his tea light holders from Christmas Tree leftovers.  I love the fact that I can say that my turnings were on display at the Renwick.... If only for 2 hours!   We had a great turnout, I am sure they were expecting someone much better but most were just glad to see some chips fly and ask questions.