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Getting new stock ready

14/5/2017

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Well, the second weekend of the Open House has ended.  We had our private view on Saturday as well, which was great. I was lucky enough to have family and friends ready to part with cash to buy bowls and platters, which was also great - thank you family and friends!

Earlier in the day I managed to get this bowl completed, going from its unfinished state on the left to the finished one on the right.
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I decided to try a colour in the bowl as well, which obviously spoke to someone, as it was the first thing I sold on Saturday.  There is blue in the colours mixed on the rim and the bright blue in the bowl itself helps to bring this out.

There's been a huge jump in my Youtube subscribers as well, since Mike Waldt's shout out on Friday - about 90 new subscribers, more than doubling what I had previously!  Thank you again, Mike - and thanks to all my subscribers, old and new! I've just posted my latest video as well, showing how I decorated this platter.
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The next few weeks will have to be dedicated to getting more stock done. 

If you weren't able to make it to the Open House (there are still two weekends left and 7 bowls still for sale), I'll be showing work at Parham House on the 8th and 9th of July at their Parham Garden Weekend.  Since starting experimenting with colour at the start of this year, my woodturning exposure has really taken off!  Thanks to everyone who has given me encouragement and support to take this beyond a hobby.
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Open House Week 2

12/5/2017

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 It's Friday, finally, which means tomorrow is the second weekend of my Open House.  It's been a long week at work, so I'm really looking forward to doing something completely different this weekend. I've got three nearly finished bowls to add to my stock that I might get completed early tomorrow morning, if I can keep away from checking my Youtube channel for new subscribers and comments after a magnificently generous 'shout-out' from Mike Waldt in his latest video.  Just saying thank you seems like too little, but thank you, Mike! It's greatly appreciated.
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This generosity of spirit is something I've really enjoyed since joining my first woodturning club four years ago - free advice, offers of help, having a trunk chainsawn into blanks, a year long loan of a Woodcut Bowlsaver and McNaughton Bowl Corer, constant encouragement, and of course some gentle deflating of the ego! Not to mention the triumph of an occasional raffle win...

I also hope to get some more video work done this weekend. I'm trying to avoid repeating things in my videos, with the focus on different colouring and texturing techniques. There are plenty of great videos showing how to turn bowls, so my focus will remain on colouring and texturing for now - there are a couple of new ones in the pipeline that I hope to get out soon.  The photos show the results so far of a couple of different airbrushing techniques.  The blue and green platter video is nearly ready, hopefully by the end of this weekend.  The platter itself was one that was bought last week...and this takes me to the subject of pricing work.  I didn't really know how to price it as I had spent a lot of time on it (partly because after I'd done the airbrushing, I ruined the finish with some not very good lacquer work so had to sand everything off and start again!) The finished platter was about 11 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick.  I settled on £35.  Does this seem right to anyone? Too cheap?? Too expensive??? (Though, probably not as it did sell!) I'd love to know your thoughts, so feel free to leave a comment.

I think that pricing must be the hardest decision when we start selling our work and we're just delighted to have people like it. I also feel that I'm still at an early stage of this marketing and selling malarkey. Perhaps it takes a few displays of work to feel comfortable with pricing it higher.
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Finally, this week's purchases - are there any weeks when I don't buy something turning related - might lead to some new videos as well.  These were reduced on Amazon this week and I thought they might be fun to use to try some new texturing ideas.  The diamond wheels are very thin so could produce some quite fine work. It might be a while before I get to try them out with the remaining Open House weekends to do.  I've also been offered some space to exhibit my work in early July, so I'll have to be doing some of the things I know how to do to get some stock ready for this, rather than venturing into something new....well, I say that, but the temptation might be too great!

If you've enjoyed reading my blog, it would be great to hear from you, or to have it liked and shared. Have a great weekend yourself!

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Getting started

6/5/2017

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About twenty years ago, I was offered a Coronet 1 lathe for £50.  It seemed like a bargain, but I didn't have £50 so the opportunity passed me by.  

When I got to my fortieth birthday, and I'd been doing flat woodwork for a few years from my garage, I decided it was time to get a lathe.  Not the most dramatic of purchases for the auspicious birthday, but it was a life-changing purchase. It just took me some time to realise this!  For the first year of having a lathe, I turned lots of pens and two bowls.  I gave the pens away and was delighted with the pleasure the recipients showed on receiving them. Then my use of the lathe tailed off, until I realised it had been years not months that it had sat idle and unused.

This realisation coincided with news of a new woodturning club starting not far from me - South Downs Woodturners. I went to the first meeting and was hooked.  I met many like-minded enthusiasts and through one of them was introduced to another club in the area, West Sussex Woodturners. I now enjoy a double dose of woodturning club life at the start of each month. It's fantastic!

Being in a club is a great way to develop new skills and techniques, get questions answered and see some top quality demonstrations.  If you're thinking of taking up woodturning, check out a local club if you can find one. I'm fortunate to belong to two and the help, guidance and encouragement I've been given has been invaluable. The level of commitment shown by the members who take on positions of responsibility is inspiring. Club competitions are also a great way to improve your turning skills and give you an incentive to get in front of your lathe regularly.

The clubs got me started again and today, a little over four years later, I had my first display of work at an Artists Open House in the Brighton Festival. Getting ready for this has been an absorbing and time-consuming process. Fortunately, I had a number of sales - six of my bowls or platters were bought, nearly covering the cost of some of the blanks and business cards and leaflets I felt I needed to have printed! To be honest, I'm not sure I'll ever cover the costs as there always seems to be something else that must be bought...

So why have I titled my first blog post as 'Getting Started' when I started years ago? I suppose the answer is that I'm now putting my work out for others to see and enjoy (or criticise, I suppose...) and that's a new step: just like this website, and blog and my Etsy shop (currently empty of stock as it's all on display as the photograph below shows) and my Youtube videos.  In fact, a new chapter of my life, a life-changing one, where people I don't know actually buy what I make and I get asked to demonstrate at one of my clubs and get a load of great comments from Mike Waldt about my videos (if you're not a turner, you'll have to google him!)

So today has been a great day...I now have to catch up with the work that pays my mortgage and bills which I've let slide while I got ready for the open house, but it was definitely worth it!
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    Stewart is...

    Keeping sane and finding creative expression in a piece of spinning wood

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