...been neglecting you!

My first cover shot!

I guess the art of blogging is something I need more work on - four months have passed since my last blog post. And do I have any defence for being so neglectful??  Well, not really, considering it doesn't take that long to type something up!  So what has been happening...

The highlight of the last few months has to have been UKIWS 2018. I was immensely flattered to be asked to demonstrate (quite a daunting prospect for my fourth public demo!) And I was even more flattered when I saw that one of my platters had made it onto the cover of the printed programme. Thank you so much, Martin. As well as having fun doing the demo, it was great to meet people I have only had contact with in cyberspace. Real life is much better. A big thank you to Barry Cook for a large Afromosia blank that will feature in a video sometime soon. I have to admit to having some nerves before starting the demo off, which lessened as it went on - but I did manage to muck up the timing completely and stopped half an hour before I was scheduled....shame, as I still had two more blanks to demonstrate a couple of different techniques on...

UKIWS 2019 is already provisionally set for Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July 2019. I can't wait!

We've also had Makers Central since my last blog. I was able to get along for the Saturday. It was great fun - lots to see and lots of people to meet. I managed to limit my spending, somehow! There were many highlights, but I especially enjoyed seeing Mick Hanbury demonstrate colouring with Jo Sonja paints....and, yes, I did buy some... It was also great to meet up with Terry Smart from Chestnut Products. I've been a fan of their products since I first saw Terry do a demonstration at South Downs Woodturners in 2013. Terry has kindly offered to support me with supplies to help me with the colouring and texturing videos I've been making since 2017. Thank you for your generous support, Terry!

I've also done two club demonstrations - one at Birstall Woodturners in April, and one at Berkshire Woodturners Association in July. These were great fun to do, even if the Birstall one involved a lot of travelling up to Yorkshire from Sussex. 

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Demo at Berkshire Woodturners Association - photo by Colin Burge

Jo Sonya metallic acrylic paints mixed with Kleister medium over Chestnut Spirit Stains

Different colouring and texturing ideas - photo by Colin Burge

A different colour combo of stains and metallic paints

And of course, there have been the videos....and the subscriber count has been continuing to rise.....now just over 2000! So there'll be another giveaway coming up soon, though the summer holidays will delay this a while. This year, we are off to Italy and Austria - an opera in Verona, some swimming in Lake Garda, and then off to the Alps in Bolzano and Innsbruck. I'm hoping there'll be some inspiration for platter decorating - a recent trip to Snowdonia gave me some ideas which I've had a bit of play around with, but I should have mixed up the right colours before I started. I also need to work on making the texture a bit finer.

I'll try to be a bit more regular after the summer break!

Inspiring landscape in Snowdonia - the Ogwen Valley

...and first platter rim based on this inspiration - definitely more work needed!