Dennis Laidler's Blog: June 21 2007 - Utah Woodturning Seminar

And then day one of the 2007 Utah Woodturning Symposium arrived.

The seminar is organized by Kip Christensen and his dedicated team.

I've tried to add links to many of the woodturner's own home pages or relevant resources so you can read more about each turner.

The symposium was opened by the head or a senior office bearer of Brigham Young University, the Mormon university in Provo on the premises of which the seminar is held

No tea, coffee, smoking, alcohol, drugs of course

I liked the idea of each demonstrator giving a short slide show (6 slides max) and short description of what they were going to cover in their demo

And then the demo's begin

Here is Mark Baker demonstrating hollow forms

Rapt attention from all

Mike Mahoney, a real nice guy, very practical and with a tremendous knowledge of woodturning

Cindy Drozda

I really love the style of what she produces

See some of her wonderful pieces in the gallery later

Here she demonstrates a small finial box from holly

You make it go round and round ...

and viola ...

it comes out here

Nice one!

Cindy is from Colorado. She has worked with wood professionally since 1977. Cindy shares her knowledge and passion as an international demonstrator and teacher. She is known for her precise techniques, fine details, and analysis of form and the elements of successful design. Her elegant lidded vessels with delicate finials bring a contemporary flair to classic forms.

And then some multi-centre turning

Off centre at full revs - on three different centers

I'm not a safety nut but this really scared the hell out of me - there should have been some sort of protection for the audience

But anyway, if you make the inside diameter larger than (most of) the outside diameter - yes

Finishing the third surface

And you hollow it out with this laser guided system

Then you end up with a piece with three windows in the three surface facets

Strange but true

And finally reversing the thing on using a Kirsten Kone developed by Oskar Kirsten of San Diego

This is a really useful device that merely pinches the base of a vessel between headstock and tailstock and the cone is pulled up lightly to centre and stabilize the opening of the vessel

This image from Australian Burls woodturning tips - See the very bottom of that page

Now let's take the first of many trips to the seminar gallery

What you must understand at this point is that the gallery is so big that it is just impossible to take it all in in one visit

I couldn't possibly photograph every piece either so what you will find in these posts is progressive disclosure - numerous visits to the gallery and pics of the the pieces that I found most interesting experienced

Doorstops by Martin Pidgen

Behind is a poplar crotch vase and a Ponderosa pine vase by Andi's favourite plagiarist Lane Phillips

Basket illusion pieces by David Nittmann

David is now getting into the technique of using an airbrush and presented a most interesting demo on that during the seminar

This is an airbrushed canvas of David's piece in the top left of the previous photograph - a really interesting development by David

And this is the work of Gorst duPlessis

Gorst left South Africa after school, just before he attended medical school

Gorst's home is in the New Orleans French Quarter

He creates challenging ornamental boxes and bowls with a Rose Engine Lathe.

The finials each have 24 flutes

The finials are actually lids and fit absolutely perfectly into the scalloped orifice of the vessel

Gorst is a great guy with a fund of stories and much loved by the woodturning fraternity in the USA

More gorgeous pieces by Gorst

Gorst is a member of Ornamental Turners International

See a couple more images of Gorst's work

Gorst's ornamental finial vessels in close up

Gorst is a member of Bayou Woodturners

One of Gorst's ornamental bowls

Beautiful !

'Love me or Leaf' me by Don Ganzl

'Wings' by Terry Scott of Auckland, New Zealand

Terry is a member of the South Auckland Woodturner's Guild

More work by Terry ...

and more

And here is one of two pieces exhibited by J. Paul Fennell

There is a wonderful write up about Paul on the Woodturner's Resource

Paul told us the story of his previous piece and this one

This is based on a Chinese lattice pattern

Amazingly each large flower is raised above the general surface of the vessel

And here is the first of three pieces by Andi Wolfe

Piece number two

Piece number three

Here are a couple of pieces by the Australian turner Vaughn Richmond

Vaughn is a woodturner, teacher and demonstrator. He is one of Australia's leading contemporary woodturners, He specializes in carving, sculpting and decoration of the turned form using a variety of medium including gold and copper leaf, and acrylic paints

Andi chatting to the collector David Wright of San Diego, California

Another piece by Vaughn Richmond

Ten Daisies by Vaughn Richmond

Vaughn ...

and Vaughn again

I really enjoy his carving on turning

And here are two beautifully turned and carved pieces by Dixie Biggs, Florida. Dixie is a full time turner who is best known for her meticulously carved leaf "wrapped" vessels. She has been exhibiting her work in juried art shows and galleries since 1989.

I really enjoyed and admired the carved Ginkgo leaf motif (Ginkgo biloba)

Max Krimmel of Colorado, is a studio craft artist known for his work in lutherie, woodturning, and stone turning. He has written articles for Fine Woodworking and Turning Points magazines and has demonstrated throughout the USA.

These pieces are in alabaster

and another alabaster piece by Max

The three right hand most pieces by yours truly, Dennis Laidler

Chris Pytlik

Stunning coloured pieces with a high gloss finish

Stars and Stripes

Rex Burningham, Utah, specializes in large natural-edge platters often incorporating inlays of crushed stone. Rex also has experience with a variety of craft items and is co-author of the book Turning Pens and Pencils.