I had a long, long day yesterday. An early start, a student in the morning, and a 3 1/2 hour drive to a demonstration in the Midlands at Tudor Rose…and then the same again home in freezing fog. In bed by 1.30 a.m. and back up again at 5.45! So I may slack a little today.
The Midlands is an odd area in Woodturning terms. There are a large number of turners, and three of most active and well-supported clubs in the country reside there, and you can’t help but wonder why.
Tudor Rose, where I was last evening, is a large club, well kitted out, with an incredible audio visual set-up, choice of lathes, great venue, and an active and interested membership. Heart of England and Coombe Abbey are also active and well-run clubs, and together they must form the backbone of the country’s woodturning community. Surely it can’t all be down to the M1? And if not, then why are they all congregating around the M1/M6 belt? It’s curious. To me at least!
The demonstration, I think, went okay. I was much less happy with the second piece than the first, and wish I’d chosen the other piece of wood I’d prepared, and turned something completely different. But hey ho. You’re always going to struggle when Guy Ravine, John Berkely, Charles Fagg, Paul Loseby and John Johnson are in the audience! But they all made me feel very welcome and I’m glad I went over there. I just hope they were.
I keep telling myself there will be a point at which demonstrations become easier…but I’m yet to convince myself.
So today? A gentle day I think. Gallery to tidy up after the workshop re-build, twenty sheets of 8 by 4 MDF to move…somewhere!…and then I’ll have a play I think.
January 12, 2009 at 8:48 am
Hi Andy,
I am sure your demo would have been great. It is always interesting seeing other folk work no 2 turners do it the same way. I love to see folk just doing what they do in the workshop, talking about the decisions they are making as they go along, making mistakes and recovering from them.
Pieces made on demos never turn out as well as those made at home because the piece is not the main product the demo is, we have to compromise the quality of the piece a little to make a fun demo. I did one for Sheffield woodturning club last week and there were times when if at home I would have taken just one more pass of the tool but chose not too in order to keep things moving along.
I once watched a Japanese turner demo in Germany and after finishing turning he spent half an hour sanding the piece, whether it made it a better piece or not is open to debate but there is no question it was a dull demo.
January 14, 2009 at 8:08 am
Your comments echo some of my own thoughts, Robin, which I admit surprises me. I often feel that demos I’ve watched have been showcases of the presenter’s talent rather than a sharing of techniques and ideas, and would rather watch the process than see the finished article and understand nothing of its conception and production.
Maybe that’s my problem…I want to do what people don’t want to see!