A big thank you to all of the club volunteers who helped at the Milwaukee Woodworkers Show held in February. The booth had plenty of shavings from the two demonstration lathes and club members had great conversations with many show attendees. A special thank you to the club members who not only helped but actually ran the Wounded Warrior Project pen turning. – Thanks to all!
And welcome to all of MAWT’s new members. Many heard about the club through the booth at the Woodworkers Show.
Our March meeting featured Colleen Volland, owner of Cream City Clay in West Allis, who spoke about Milwaukee Empty Bowls and all of the local food non-profits that the program benefits. Afterwards, everyone was “entertained” by the Dueling Turners – Mark Trenier, Tony Rozendaal and yours truly, showing the audience how quick and easy turning a bowl can be (even if there is a catch or two).
By the way, if anyone is interested in considering another hobby (like you really need another hobby?!), check out Cream City Clay and their classes at creamcityclay.com. There is an annual Empty Bowls Throw-a-thon on April 6 and 7, and a Gallery Night/Raku Workshop on May 17 and 18. If you have never seen a raku firing, picture an outdoor 1,800 degree kiln, wood shavings, newspaper and lots of fire!
The Wood Raffle had lots of bowl blanks and we are hoping that many of those become donations to Empty Bowls. Last year we had about 15 bowls and for 2019, we would like to triple that. The club appreciates everyone who brought wood, and to Barb Nelson who handled the ticket sales and also donated several bowl blanks.
As I noted during the meeting, the club is in need of at least 3 more demonstrators. The months of June, July and August are still available. MAWT’s mission statement talks about members “sharing their knowledge”. If you have a specialty you would like to share with the club, contact Tony Rozendaal, our demo coordinator at trozendaal@wi.rr.com.
The monthly club challenge for April is to turn a bowl for Empty Bowls – this is a great community outreach program for MAWT, so help us by turning a bowl or two, or more!
Safe turning,
Ron Zdroik
From the Tao of Woodturning: A serene life is in direct proportion to the amount of wood shavings produced.
Here are a few cell phone pics from the inside of our booth at the Woodworking Show – taken by Tony Rozendaal.
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