Monthly Newsletter...Vice President’s Message:February 2010 A little over a year ago the AWA started our monthly President’s Challenge. For those not familiar with it, the President’s Challenge is where the club President assigns a topic or a theme for all interested club members to turn an item that relates to the assigned topic. Items are then brought to the next club meeting for display in the President’s Challenge gallery. Those that choose to participate receive a raffle ticket for a large raffle that will be held at the end of the year. In 2009 we raffled off several very nice pieces of wood and several hundred dollars of gift cards to both Woodcraft and Craft Supplies USA. As the months and the challenges have gone by they’ve gotten a little bit harder but are still well within reach of both new and experienced turners. I’m taking the challenges quite literally, I’m challenging myself to do something I haven’t done before or to put my own twist on a project. Past challenges include ‘bowls’, ‘goblets’ ‘lidded boxes’ ‘spindles with beads and coves’, ‘3X3X3’, ‘oops!’, ‘dye and color’, ‘woodburning’ and ‘rice bowls’. The ‘dye and color’ and ‘woodburning’ challenges forced me to work with dyes and color and to try my hand at woodburning, both of which I’m continuing to incorporate into my own work. I’ve made my share of lidded boxes but for that challenge I did several box designs I hadn’t done before including a nested set, a box from a burl with a natural edge, and a 3 sided multi axis box. In each case these challenges have required creative thinking on my part and some new techniques that can and will be incorporated into my future turnings. The next challenge will be due in April because of the Stuart Batty demo on March 13th. The theme for this challenge is ‘Multi Axis or Off Center Turning’ and should be a real challenge for me. I’ve been playing with Multi axis work for the past 6 months and demonstrated 4 different multi axis projects at the February meeting so coming up with something I haven’t done before or something the pushes my boundaries will be harder than it has been for most of the past challenges. If you haven’t participated in any of the challenges yet I encourage you to do so. If you’ve participated in past challenges I encourage you to consider participating in as many as possible in the future, they’re a great exercise in pushing yourself and to see what’s actually possible on a lathe and what you’re capable of. Who knows, you might even surprise yourself. Jason Clark January 2010 Newletter December 2009 Newletter November 2009 Newletter October 2009 Newletter Arizona Woodturners Association © 2009 |