February 2022 Newsletter

Hi Everyone;

I am reflecting as I write this “Newsletter,” is there any real “News” to be had? Sometimes I feel like we are stuck in a holding pattern (for you aviators and frequent flyers who read this). We are waiting for the Covid runway to be cleared so we can resume normally scheduled flight activities!

We had hoped to be doing something with the Woodworking shows this month, but the Milwaukee show was cancelled (or postponed if there is a difference).

We still have a number of folks who prefer not to participate in face-to-face meetings. That’s understandable! Everyone needs to do what they are comfortable with in these unusual times. We plan to “cast” our local meetings into the foreseeable future.

Meeting Review – We were pleased to be able to present Cindy Drozda and her “Fantastic Finials” demonstration yesterday evening (2/7/22). What a great demonstration. She reviewed the very basics of tool presentation with a spindle gouge and then went on to demonstrate her methods and the tools she uses to create “Fantastic Finials.” She has, as promised, sent me PDFs of her handouts, and those are posted with links in another News posting. You can download those and view them, save them to your hard drive, or print them out – whatever works for you.  Also, as promised, I have received a tracking number for the package with the completed finial. The board will decide who the lucky recipient is of that item. The meeting was well attended – the most online participants I saw were 45 which included the demonstrator and perhaps one other extra. For those that missed the demonstration, we were not able to record the presentation. However, Cindy did mention a live stream that she will be presenting on Facebook and Youtube later this week. There is a link to a Facebook post below.

And, you can always visit her website, cindydrozda.com, where she lists many resources and you can purchase some of her specialty tools.

Coming Up – If you were expecting to see John Jordan demonstrate last evening, he cancelled early in the afternoon, as he was not feeling well. He and his wife, Vicki, were found and made arrangements for Cindy as a last minute fill in. Thank you to John and Vicki! We will reschedule John at a future date, perhaps as soon as April.

For March, Ron Bukowy is planning to demonstrate “therming.” This will be a face-to-face meeting at Woodcraft with a wood raffle and an instant gallery (show ‘n’ tell).

Also in the works are…

• a demonstration from a member on making a Windsor chair (which involves a lot of turning)
• communications with Jason Clark in Illinois about demonstrating his “Saturn” bowls.
• a bowl turning demonstration by a member in connection with a presentation by a representitive of Milwaukee Empty Bowls.

These have not been slotted into the schedule, but we are busy making sure we have quality presentation for our members.

Other items – this Newsletter post goes public on our website – there are some other items I want to send only to members, so watch for those emails arriving very soon.

Hoping to see you next month at our face-to-face meeting…

Tony Rozendaal