Woodturning demonstration at Hobby-X Fair…

Last weekend I was one of the demonstrators for the AWSA at the Cape Town Hobbies Fair. Hobby-X is a very large event held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. There are a very wide range of exhibitors at the fair, from scrap-booking requisites and bead suppliers to major tool and equipment retailers.



As a result of our popularity with the public the WCWA is always invited by the organisers to participate and are provided with very generous exhibition space. We display an exhibit of many local and exotic timbers as well as having about four lathes ‘on the go’ during the four days of the event. The club members are also allowed to sell some of their own works. The event is attended primarily by ‘doers’ rather than ‘buyers’ so the AWSA use this annual event primarily to attract new members. There are other events during the year, such as the Cape Town Flower Show to which we are also invited, where we focus more on exhibiting member’s best work to potential collectors rather than attracting new recruits. It is really important to ‘tailor’ activities to certain events depending on the audience rather than adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

All the items that are turned by the demonstrators at Hobby-X are put up for sale and the proceeds donated to a local charity.




It was pleasing to see that I seemed to have a large audience most of the time that I was turning. I turned a potpourri vessel of camphor wood (filled with camphor shavings) and a shallow bowl, the design of which one of the audience members assisted with. Both sold immediately they came off the lathe.