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Jennie Starbuck was our guest for our June meeting and she is so full of enthusiasm for her artistic style of decorating. She is also an excellent turner with nearly everything she does having to be very thin. Jennie was accompanied by her husband Chris who acts as her “gofer” as arthritis limits her movements somewhat and she started her day by telling us a little about how she and Chris got into woodturning (well, Jennie really!). Over the years they have accumulated some expensive toys to enable her to do the sort of thing she does, like a dentists drill kit with compressor and all the drill bits that go with it. She has also got an Awata Highline air brush which is run off the same compressor. Yes, also expensive! Her first demonstration was colouring a spindle to show how we should experiment before tackling a piece of work that we wanted to keep. A good finish is essential because any scratches will be highlighted when colour is applied and Jennie always sands down first, then damps the wood, dries it off and then sands again, quite often going down to 2000 grit. She uses Liberon water based dyes applied with a brush and adds other colours when still wet if a blended effect is required. Following this she picked up some bud vases she had made earlier (Pete Fuller woke up here. Does the Bud Vase King have competition?). she coloured these, removing the surplus with kitchen paper and a quick rub down with Webrax before applying sanding sealer. Jennie then highlighted the grain by rubbing in some Liberon gilting cream or a metallic varnish, again, wiping off the excess with kitchen paper. This should be left for a couple of hours before adding another coat of sanding sealer. At this point we broke for a cuppa and for Jennie to judge this months entries. We had about 12 items on the table including a beautiful burr elm vase from Dave Reeks which Jennie admired and then promptly excluded it from the judging. I didn’t see Dave’s reaction!! She chose a mulberry burr bowl by Howard Overton as turning of the month and a tulip vase by David Ward for the runner up. Then it was back to the demonstration which was to turn a bowl with a beaded rolled edge and a recess to take a string of beads glued in. Jennie uses Hi-Tack glue available from most craft shops. She uses beading tools to cut the beads, especially small ones on goblet stems etc. and while using one described what she was doing. To stop the end grain tearing out the tool needs to be gently moved up and down as it is being pushed in to the work. And we learnt where some of us are going wrong when using these tools. They should be used with the flute facing down. Yep, upside down, or so it would seem to a lot of us. Finally Jennie showed us some of the techniques she uses to decorate her work. She sticks on transfers, which can be bought from any craft shop that sells card making components, to form a design on plates or bowls. Then using the drill the waste is cut away and then very carefully the transfer is removed leaving behind a lacy pattern. Copper sheet can be textured before setting it in to a piece of work by placing a piece of 40 grit sandpaper on it and running a roller over it. She also cuts recesses into the bowls or platters and sticks leaves for instance that have been cut from thin strips of contrasting woods into them. The whole is then flooded with coloured resins and when solidified they are faced off to give a very effective finish. An example of this was shown to us when Jennie set up a platter that had been prepared in her “studio” (no shed or garage here!) using the CNC machine (one of her expensive toys) to cut the design into the wood. It turned out to be our logo. It needs more work done to it but Jennie will send it to us when it is finished. It was a really interesting day and I am sure she will be invited back one day. The next meeting is on Saturday 14th July and we will be holding an Extraordinary Meeting at 9.00 am. The cost of hiring the hall has been increased and also more and more demonstrators are adding 45p per mile to their charges to come to us. We have to discuss with all members what we can do to cover these extra costs. We didn’t think this would happen until September but it has come in sooner. Please try and attend this meeting because a decision will be made and if you are not there those that are will be voting on your behalf. After this we will have Paul Nesbitt entertaining us for the day. Paul is well known on the demonstrating circuit but unfortunately I have got no details of what he will be doing for us. That’s all from me for this one. I will see you all on the 14th when I hope we have a big turnout. Graham This is going to be held again this year and the date is set for Saturday 15th September. Will the skittles be more noisy this year? Let’s have a house full of party goers this year and don’t forget that wives, partners, girlfriends are all invited, (but please, only bring one of them!!) |
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