May 2017
CA Finish On Bowls & Vessels
Alan Trout
San Antonio, Texas is my home and I have lived in the area all my life. My home and studio are in the Tobin Hill neighborhood at the northern edge of downtown.
The last few years I have focused my work on what I like to call my “Syntho Organic” forms. I blend brightly pigmented acrylic resins with wood and other organic materials. All are finished with a glasssmooth or soft luster finish. My daily environment influences my work more than anything else. My family, the places I go, the things I see, and childhood memories all have a significant impact on my work. I like to think I see the “abstract” in my environment.
I pour a little piece of myself into everything that I make. I create for myself, but when others get enjoyment out of my work, it makes it that much better.
More info on Alan
March 2017
Craig Timmerman
Multi-Axis Turning
Craig Timmerman is a full-time artist and production woodturner living in Austin, TX. He is a nationally-known woodturner and gives demonstrations and woodturning instruction. His program on “Multi Axis Turning” will give you an opportunity to explore the idea of making your turnings with an artistic flair.
He picked up woodturning in 1998 when he took a weekend class at a local store. After that weekend the wood working equipment in his shop ceased to be used for anything except woodturning. He has now expanded into using bent lamination (the process of gluing of thin strips of wood and bending them under pressure over a form) to augment his turnings and to produce new and exciting pieces.
Craig's specialties include hollow forms, spheres, and non-round (e.g. square) turnings. Many of his pieces combine multiple turnings and bent laminations. He works primarily with reclaimed timber--trees that have come down in storms, trees being taken down for construction, and the occasional piece of firewood. Reclaimed timber is often filled with flaws of different kinds, such as cracks, bug holes, or voids. Rather than try to remove the flaws, he accentuates them by making them the focal point of the piece, filling them with crushed stone, or carving them into other shapes.
April 2017
Metal Spinning
Harlan Butt
Wikipedia describes the technique of "metal spinning, also known as spin forming or spinning or metal turning most commonly, is a metalworking process by which a disc or tube of metal is rotated at high speed and formed into an axially symmetric part. Artisans use the process to produce architectural detail, specialty lighting, decorative household goods and urns. Commercial applications include rocket nose cones, cookware, gas cylinders, brass instrument bells, and public waste receptacles."
My own experience in metal spinning is mostly self-taught after research, conversations with professional spinners and trial and error. Quite a bit of error. My first spinning was accomplished on a modified Rockwell wood lathe. Eventually, I found and purchased an actual small bench-top spinning lathe (Spin Shop) on Ebay which can turn up to a 12-inch disc.
Most of my spinning has been with copper, specifically 18-gauge (.040) C110 ETP (Electrolytic Tough Pitch) Copper. However, I have done some spinning with fine silver, sterling silver, brass, aluminum and pewter. Because most of my work is intended to be enameled, copper and fine silver are the best suited metals.
A simple open-formed bowl can be achieved with a single chuck. I turn these out of hard maple on the same lathe that I use for spinning. Of course, wood turning tools are different than spinning tools. For more complex shapes that curve back in, I was forced to spin the vessels in two parts and silver solder them together, resulting in a seam around the waist. This was usually successful but on occasion the solder seam would cause some of the enamel to flake off. Thanks to Neil Brand I am now able to spin at least one complex shape around a compound chuck which will then come apart after the vessel is complete.
My enameled vessels and other works have been exhibited internationally and they are represented in the permanent collections of the Enamel Arts Foundation in Los Angeles, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, the Museum of Art & Design in New York City , the Mint Museum of Art & Craft in Charlotte, NC, the National Ornamental Metal Museum in Memphis, Denali National Park Visitor Center in Alaska, the Houston International Airport, the Wichita Center for the Arts, the National Gallery of Australia, the Cloisonné Enamelware Fureai Museum in Ama City, Japan and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
February 2017
Cheryl Darrow
Metal Effects
Cheryl has been active in the craft industry since right after dinosaurs ruled the earth. She is the author of "Metal Effects", the A to Z of METALworks (DVD & CD) and two Die Cut Art books.
As the owner of TENseconds Studio she conducts mixed media workshops all over the world. Her passion for arts include; calligraphy, PMC, working in metal, fabricating jewelry and showing others how to "metalize their worlds!" She loves to show people how to use her VerDay Paints and Patina which go on anything and everything. She has produced hundreds of videos on her website about metal embossing and VerDay Paints.
Her hobbies are collecting vintage printer’s type, yard art and old neon sign letters; which she stores in her studio. She has recently taken up wood turning and is able to combine her love of mixed media with wood. She lives in Texas with her husband, Ken and has two adult children. She has grandchildren but they have four legs and are extremely hairy. Her adult children do not understand that she wants the two-legged variety.
January 2017 Demo
George Freeman on “What You Never Knew About Wood”
and Dr. John Blatman on “Wood Toxicity – Cause and Cure”
Demo Powerpoint Presentation - Click here
George Freeman Biography
Grew up in Boyd, Texas on the Trinity River Bottoms farm land and woods
Dallas Fireman for 45 years, retired in June 2015
Owner of Creative Concepts in Landscaping in Dallas for several years, which was a complete landscape/irrigation/stone laying business
Also had a companion nursery growing operation for trees and shrubs in East Texas at the same time
Enjoys woodworking and woodturning
Owns a sawmill and chainsaw mill used to cut specialty lumber sizes, slabs and beams
Spends a lot of the time in the woods gathering trees for the saw mill and logs to turn into turning blanks.