Carnival of the Creators #11

Welcome to the 11th edition of Carnival of the Creators, a monthly roundup of creativity in the blogosphere. Last month the carnival visited Grackle Stew.

This month the carnival concentrates solely on wood.

Rockler's Woodworking Blog looks at the Advantages of Designing Your Own Projects.

Woodturner Andi Wolfe is currently taking a five day course with Jean-François Escoulen. She is learning to use a bedan and how turn trembleurs.

Christopher Schwarz of Woodworking magazine builds a Roman-style plane.

Philly makes his own moulding planes.

Hilary Pfeifer has been blogging from the International Turning Exchange and reports on progress with her installation and a collaborative bowl made from laminated pegboard.

Also from the ITE, Vincent Romaniello has made a short video promoting the Open Community Day this coming Saturday.

Woodturner Dennis Laidler makes a collaborative piece with Carol Rix.

I'm very pleased to see that a Nigerian 419 scammer is spending his time more wisely and has taken up woodcarving. And if you don't believe how much wood shrinks, be sure to read the whole article on 419eater.

That's it for this month. If you would like to host a forthcoming edition, or have a creative blog post to submit for inclusion, please see Carnival of the Creators for details.

Pole lathe photos

Flickr user timtom has posted some woodturning pictures taken at a Celtic festival in Switzerland. French turner, Jean-Paul Rossi appears to be making some sort of ladle, and I just love the way his lathe is constructed, especially the headstock which is a limb growing out of the bed.  Here is a Google translation of Jean-Paul's homepage:

"The turning of this utility crockery, starting from green heart, is a traditional craft industry of the Solid mass of the Wallows (Savoy - France). It is concentrated since always in the small hamlet of Magne, in Saint François the Dirty ones, close to Féclaz - Revard.

It is practised by the peasants in double activity for a very long time. Texts recently discovered by researchers of the Savoyard company of history and archaeology attests the presence of turners of bowls out of wooden since 1345.  The women, the children and the old ones sell this crockery the winter in the plains of the South-east and the East of France. The return to the country is done at Easter.

The wood of the country, especially the maple sycamore, half-compartments at the end of August, left rough are processed during the next winter, using the turn with pole installed in the house."

The handled items look particularly interesting. I can only assume that they are made by making the lathe turn less than one full revolution for each cut. If so it must take an awful lot of cordination to be able to do this.

Swiss turner Claude Veuillet is pictured using a small adze and a guillotine-like device for preparing blanks to go on the lathe.

Thanks to Timtom for posting these pics. They are fascinating.



Technorati Tags: woodturning, pole lathe, celtic

Technorati Tags: woodturning, pole lathe, celtic

Gibsons Landing Fibre Arts Festival

Gibsons Landing Fibre Arts Festival doesn't sound like it would have much to offer woodturners, but the schedule does include several woodworking workshops. The aspiring woodturner can learn to turn a bowl, or make a stool. Also on offer is carving, driftwood furniture and basic joinery.

Other crafts on offer include weaving, spinning, rug hooking, quilting, knitting, needlework and basketry. Some courses are already sold out.

Gibsons Landing is just forty minutes from Vancouver by ferry.

Technorati Tags: woodworking, woodturning, workshops, weaving, spinning, rug hooking, quilting, knitting, needlework, basketry, Gibsons Landing Fibre Arts Festival, carving, joinery

International Turning Exchange gets blogged

Artist Hilary Pfeifer is taking part in this year's International Turning Exchange at the Wood Turning Center in Philadelphia, and is promising to blog about her experiences.

Hilary is a mixed-media sculptor who has recently added lathe work to her art. She says that she works fast, inspired by improvisational jazz, creating small components that are later assembled into larger sculptures. Other woodturners taking part in the ITE are Marilyn Campbell, Neil Scobie and Liam Flynn.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the results of all this creative energy colliding in one place and reading all about it in Bunny with an Artblog. Nice idea Hilary, thanks, and have a great time!

(thanks to Alyson B. Stanfield for bringing this good news to my attention in Blogging During an Artist Residency)


Technorati Tags: woodturning, art, wood turning center, mixed media

Technorati Tags: woodturning, art, wood turning center, mixed media

Getting started in woodturning

I quite often mention very experienced woodturners, so to day I thought I would point out a new woodturner who is off to a great start. Messiah, and I would guess that is not this turner's real name, bought a lathe a few years ago but never mastered it's use. A weekend course at a local wood supplier saw the creation of several nice pieces of work. Read all about it and see the finished items in "i made a stick....."

This post really does emphasise the benefits of getting assistance in learning the skill of woodturning. Books and videos are great, but there is nothing quite like the assistance of an experienced turner to provide guidance and feedback. There are so many little ways of doing things wrong that it is difficult for the beginner to analyse their mistakes.

Another problem with learning from pictures is that they are only two dimensional, and we are working in a very three dimensional space.  By my reckoning, the tools that we use have five degrees of freedom:

1. sideways along the tool rest
2. forward and back over the toolrest
3. the handle can move sideways
4. the handle can move up and down
5. the handle can be rotated

In most cases these are all happening simultaneously. This is much better learnt with a tool in hand rather than trying to figure out what a book is saying or a video is showing. In fact, it is much like riding a bike.


Technorati Tags: woodturning, woodturner, learning