November’s meeting was our AGM and we kicked off with the report from the past year and everything seems to be in a healthy state. The same committee was re-elected unopposed, namely Francis Corr: Chairman, Chris Hayes: Treasurer and Des Harbourne: Secretary with Jim Hynes as Competition Manager. I think we should say a big thanks for all the work they have done throughout the year in keeping our chapter running smoothly. Also, I should mention the other members who contribute to our meetings, Ciara Dowling and Tony Murphy who look after vision and sound, Frank Trappe who looks after the library, Tom Gibson who looks after the catering(most important!), Jack O’Rourke who helps organise demonstrations and you wouldn’t be reading this if it were not for Simeon Owens who keeps our website maintained and up to date and finally all of the members who attend every month and keep our chapter running.
Once again we had the services of Pat Walsh to demonstrate his turning skills. I recall a very good demo he gave us about his time last year, a beautiful textured bowl and I made a copy which turned out quite well. This time, with Christmas almost upon us, he chose to show us some Christmas tree decorations which can be made from small pieces of scrap wood. Light coloured wood is best for these such as sycamore as Pat used wood stains to decorate them. The first was a disk about 60mm in diameter with a Christmas tree motif and this was cut from a 60mm cylinder which he had prepared and mounted in the chuck, he then proceeded to true up and decorate one face. First Pat burned a circle about 8mm in from the outer edge. This prevents the colours from running into each other. Then using markers he coloured the outer rim green and the inner circle red. The markers used are called promarkers and can be bought in craft or artist shops. He then parted the disk from the cylinder and reversing it, he stuck it back onto the cylinder with double sided adhesive tape, enabling him to sand and colour the other side. This done, he put the disk aside and mounted a blank he had prepared for split turning and proceeded to turn a Christmas tree, sized to fit in the centre of the disk. This he stained green and when completed, it just remained for Pat to split it and stick in place with a little super glue. To finish it off, he drilled a hole at the top of the disk and threaded a ribbon through, making a loop to enable it to be hung on a Christmas tree or wherever.
The next item he made was a snowman about 60mm high which again as you can see can be made from scrap wood and can be painted in similar colours associated with the festive season and I have included some photos to show a variety of decorations that Pat has made so do have a go at these.
Now to our monthly competition results. I’m sorry to have to say it was very disappointing to see so few entries. In first place was Tom Murphy, second was Chris Hayes and third Pat Gannon. As Francis announced on Saturday, the format for next year’s competition will be different, it will be two tiered and the committee will decide, based on previous entries which tier each member will enter. This gives everybody a chance to show their work without being intimidated by our more experienced members so let’s see everybody having a go, we can all learn from each other.
That’s all for this month, I look forward to our December meeting, where I hope to see you all there!
Pat Gannon