June 2024 Newsletter

We had a great demonstration with Keith Gotschall on Monday night (6/3/24). We had 26 or so members in the meeting room and 12 or so on line for a total of about 40 in attendance. Those who attended on Zoom may not have realized that we were having technical issues with the sound in the meeting room. We finally got the sound to play through the speakers on the laptop, and actually were able to hear quite well. I apologize for those issues and thank you to everyone for your patience.

Keith’s presentation was to do a live voice-over of pre-recorded videos. This was very effective as he had the ability to speed up repetitive actions and to slow down and even back up and replay critical actions. I enjoyed his presentation very much and have pondered on how to do a similar turning (only with with less expensive materials). I especially enjoyed the invitation to critique the two bowls at the end of the presentation. For a woodturner of his accomplishments to invite critique is a rare thing, and it allowed anyone present to think and to verbalize their thoughts which helps to develop our own turning skills. I was proud of those of you in the club who expressed their thoughts in a professional and courteous manner.

Members will be receiving an email with a link to the recording of his presentation.

I had very few announcements at the beginning of the meeting. For those who could not hear, they were:

• The next meeting will be July 8. There will be a short presentation related to wig stands by Candace Strong from Tricia’s Troops, and the main event will be club member Bob Leonard turning a “Slipper Bowl.”
• We will have a workshop day on June 15. I will send out an email with details.
• I’ll be milling some logs sometime in the next few weeks – if you have a small log or two that you need milled let me know.

Some announcements that were not made include:

• The board is beginning to put together the schedule of events for 2025. If you have a demo that you would like to present OR if you have a topic that you would like to see demonstrated, please let Kevin Seigworth or any board member know.
• Remember that we have a Tuition Reimbursement funds available for established members who participate in a qualified woodturning course. There are conditions.
• If you have any Beads of Courage boxes / covered bowls completed or near completion, Ron Z. is planning to make a delivery to that organization in July. Bring your completed containers to the July meeting.
• Don’t forget about opportunities to serve our community with your woodturning skills. You can turn Pens for Troops, make Beads of Courage lidded boxes/bowls, and make bowls for the NourishMKE‘s (formerly Friedens Food Pantries) Empty Bowls Event.
• I have considerable quantities of green boxelder wood available. There is nothing special about this wood, it has a limited amount of pink in it, but would be appropriate to practice either conventional or natural edge bowl turning. Contact me if you are interested.

Have a great June (what’s left of it)!! Stay dry and keep turning!!