Emma Cook, AKA the Tiny Turner was our demonstrator for the day which she filled with a number of projects to suit most tastes (and bought lots of goodies for people to buy!).

First up on the lathe was a short (6 inch) spindle of Sycamore that would become a small box with a textured and coloured lid. Chucking points were added at either end before a slightly oversized lid was parted off. The body was hollowed out using a spindle gouge by drilling into the centre using the gouge and then rotating out of the work in a scooping action. Once the bulk was removed, the bottom of the hollowing was tidied using a Simon Hope box hollowing tool.
The base was anded and then treated with Chestnut cut & polish and Wood Wax 22 to finish. With the lid mounted, a jam chuck created and the base of the body completed. The lid was then carefully reversed onto the jaws and tidied up with a slight domed top. The top was then sanded and finished to match the body.
Next, two V cuts were made to divide the side of the lid into thirds. With the headstock locked, Emma then used a Fishtail gouge (12mm no3) to carve shallow scallops into the band between the two V cuts. A slight twist to form a slicing action with the gouge ensures a clean cut! Once carved, no sanding was needed due to the clean cuts, so on with some Black Gesso (Gesso is a slightly textured paint, with a coarse sandy finish). Once dry, Emma than dry brushed some Green and then Gold Iridescent paints (Jo Sonja) to highlight the carving. The V cuts then had some gold leather thongs glued in using Fabri-Tac glue.

In the 30 minutes before lunch, Emma showed us how she makes Gonks, most suited for the fur that she stocks for their beards (and possibly has the largest mix of colours and styles in the UK!).
A small 2 inch square piece of stock (sycamore) is placed between centres and turned to round and a spigot added. Then a 2 inch square piece of Walnut is put between centres, rounded and a spigot added to each end. The walnut is placed in the chuck and a 4mm hole is drilled through the spigot. The piece is then reversed and the Hat shape turned, with the drilled hole now in the base. The hat is then sanded and finished before parting off carefully.
The Sycamore is then back in the chuck and a skittle shaped body created. This is sanded to a finish and then parted off, leaving a 4mm spigot to locate the hat. Another piece of sycamore is used to create a round ball with a spigot for the nose.
Off the lathe, the best side of the sycamore body is chosen as the back of the piece (the only visible wood!), then a hole is drilled into the front of the body, so that when the nose is inserted, it just misses the brim of the hat.
To finish the gonk, a piece of fur is cut to form the beard, and then a small hole cut out to pass the nose through. The nose is glued with superglue and the beard using Fabri-Tac.

After lunch, Emma turned her attention to a large square of Brown Oak (This is typically a French Oak that has been attacked by a particular fungus!). This was mounted between centres and carefully turned to round. A chuck point was added to what would be the top of the platter.
This was then mounted in the chuck and the base was prepared into an Ogee shape, with a foot for mounting in the chuck. Emma then used Staffordshire Black, a two part ebonising system to ebonise the piece.
She first applied the Tannin solution to the rear (You don’t have to use the Tannin solution but it helps with low tannin wood).
The piece was remounted to turn the top, with a rim of about 1/3rd of the top before hollowing out the middle into a shallow dish.
The top was then treated with the Tannin solution before turning the piece and applying the Ebonizing solution (The top was done during a short break in the next piece.)

While that piece dried, Emma showed us how she cuts spheres using a piece of Olive Ash. This was turned to round between centres before marking the centre line and turning away from the line to start forming the sphere. Once almost round this was then placed between two cup chucks, made with a clear silicon O ring for grip. Keep turning away the ghost image until almost round, then the sphere is rotated in the cup chucks again and the process repeated. Sand to finish, adjusting the sphere as needed.

The bowl was still slightly wet, so a small sliver of end grain Olive wood for a Pendant was placed between centres and turned to a cylinder. This was then attached to a sacrificial chuck with carpet tape and the front finished to a dome. This was reversed and the back completed, then sanded and buffed on the buffing tree. A pinch bail was then used to fasten the pendant to a leather thong.

Back to the bowl, this was sanded lightly and then brushed with a liming brush and copper gilt cream added. A small V cut on the rim was then used to finish the patter with a gold leather thong.

An enjoyable day.
The bowl was finished on her live youtube Sunday 24th July if of interest.

the next meeting Saturday Ausgust 13th will be a club day so please bring any problems with you and maybe someone will be able to help with a solution. Time to say hello to other members and have a chat. Lathes will be available for use if required.

See you there.

Graham/Paul/Fred.