A few more items from WOODSPUN.

Tony Farrell's monkey puzzle bowl.

The inside of Tony's monkey puzzle bowl.

a yew plate

Leo O'Donoghue's walnut see-through clock.

Lighthouses, by Brian Goulding & Michael Pattwell.

Keep an eye on the Evening Echo on Friday next, 22nd August, for a report and photographs from WOODSPUN, our exhibition in Kinsale.

What true woodturners really want to see,  some of the exhibits. I can't recall who the makers of some of these items are but I will check it out and edit the credit in in due course. 

John O'Shea's magnificent hollow form, blackened elm on an elm base.

Yew lamp with hand-painted shade by Olive Murphy Designs.

Leo O'Donoghue's mahogany table lamp, again with an Olive Murphy hand-painted shade.

Kieran Higgins' bog oak hollow form.  Just imagine trying to keep that together on a lathe as it spins at several hundred rpm.  

Leo O'Donoghue's standard lamp (with another Olive Murphy shade) with a selection of smaller items on a display cabinet made by Fearghal O'Leary.

John O'Shea's turning/carving in contrasting woods.

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Brian Goulding, thinking outside the box, made these really wonderful floor lamps.

Brian McAdoo's twisted candle-holder.

Kieran Higgins' burr-elm bowl.  Has to be seen in the wood, as it were, to be fully appreciated.

WOODSPUN, 2014

We had a really nice opening of WOODSPUN, our annual exhibition, today. The Right Reverend Paul Colton, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, performed the opening. Both the bishop and our chairman, John Ahern, remembered George Colton who was a very respected member of our chapter for many years up to his death a few years ago. George was, of course, the bishop's father and accordingly it was particularly apt that His Lordship would grace us with his presence and do the honours.
There is a very high standard of work this year and the exhibition is well worth a visit.
The exhibition is open each day from 10.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. right through to Tuesday 26th August, inclusive. The venue is The James O'Neill Building (previously know as The Old Mill) and is very easy to find. It is right behind Kinsale Garda Station and Crackpots Restaurant and directly across the road from St. Multose Church. It is at the entrance to the car park there.
Help is still needed to man the exhibition each day and any member who can help out is asked to contact Tony Farrell.
There is very much thanks due to both Tony Farrell and Kieran Higgins for putting the whole thing together. Tony's associate turner, Mars O'Reilly, has been of huge help and we can never thank her enough.

Some of the beautiful workmanship on display

Some more of the items on display

John Ahern, Chapter Chairman (on left) & Brian McAdoo meet and greet Mrs. Susan Colton and Bishop Colton.

Bishop Colton and John Ahern, with John O'Shea's black hollow form between them.

Mrs, Teresa Ahern, who presented a bouquet of flowers to Mrs. Colton, Mrs. Colton, Bishop Colton and John Ahern.

From left:  Tony Farrell, one of the main organisers, his associate, Mars O'Reilly, Mrs. Colton, Bishop Colton and John Ahern.  Kieran Higgins, the other main organiser, was too shy to go into the photograph so the photographer did the next best thing by including Kieran's magnificent hollow form in the foreground.

GOTTCHA! Kieran (right) with Tony Farrell.

Charlie McCarthy welcomes Anne Dunne from Kerry.

Michael Bouchier (left) Chapter Hon. Secretary with his son, Tommy, and Tommy's wife, Lisa..

Chapter member, Jim O'Donovan, kindly sent me the following photos from his camera.

Visit the exhibition and take your time; we have plenty of it.

Paddy Lynch, chatting with Mick Bouchier, seems suspicious of the camera.

John O'Shea chats with the Kerry Chapter Hon. Secretary, Lesley Clarke.

Paddy Lynch (left) chats with Teresa Ahern and Mr. & Mrs. Leo O'Donoghue find it very interesting.

June, 2014 Workshop

We had a small enough turn out for for the June workshop at which three members of the newly formed Cork Branch of the Stickmakers Association put on a great display and demonstration. They were Martin Thompson, who specialises in chip carving and mainly makes hiking sticks, Pat O'Sullivan who is into scrimshaw ( If that is a new word, just look it up - it is a fascinating art.) and Matt O'Connor who took us through the steaming process for straightening sticks. Several of our members are keen to have a go and I wouldn't be surprised if the Cork Stickmakers had an influx of visitors at their meeting at The Lough Scouthall on Thursday nights.
Each of the demonstrators were presented with a pen as a token of appreciation. The pens were made by our chairman, John Ahern and by Peter Manning.

The entry for the "box" competition.

The competition for this month was a box and though the entry was small enough there were some excellent examples of what can be achieved. Micheál Howard was best in the Beginners; Jim O'Donovan was best in Intermediate and Peter Manning won through in a tough Advanced class.

John Ahern makes sprats fly.

Pat Dromey seems fascinated by Pat O'Sullivan doing his wonderful scrimshaw.

Maartin Thompson demonstrates chip-carving a barley twist.

Martin Thompson receives a token of appreciation from Chairman, John Ahern.

Micheál Howard, winner of the Beginners section receives his certificate.

Jim O'Donovan, winner of the Intermediate section, receives his certificate.

Peter Manning, winner of the Advanced section, receives his certificate.

Jerry, Seamus Healy, with Martin Thompson.

This is a reminder to all members and potential members that we have our regular monthly workshop at Togher School on Saturday next, the 21st June.  Our demonstrator for the day is Martin Thompson from the Stickmakers club.  Martin will have a selection of sticks with him, some completed, and he will go through the various processes.  He will also demonstrate some carving.  Martin is also bringing a selection of handles and will give information on where they get their supplies.

We had a great chapter seminar at Garryduff Sports Centre, Rochestown, on Saturday, 12th April. Our guest turner was the Guild Chairman, Joe Laird and Joe did us proud.  He undertook three projects that essentially took in most of the skills associated with faceplate/headstock work and even in making a hole-boriong jig did a little spindle turning too.
Hearty congratulations to Jim O'Donovan who won the overall prize.  Everybody present was absolutely delighted for Jim who won his first major award.  We look forward to greater success for Jim, who is turning for only a few years , in future competitions.  We'll be expecting a few demos now, Jim.
The venue was an excellent one and being just off the main road into Cork, coming from The Jack Lynch Tunnel, was easy to find.  It is very likely that we will use it again.  Brian McAdoo was the main organiser and the usual volunteer members, under Chairman John Ahern, all contributed to making it a flawless event.
"The Hut" volunteered at the last minute to set up shop for the event and that contributed in no small way to lending a great sense importance and enjoyment to the event - though it lightened our pockets too.  Everything we bought, however, we definitely NEEDED.  Thanks Des, and your lovely assistant, for coming and for donating the winner's prize.
Somebody asked me recently if I was still woodturning and I replied: "Well, I am still collecting the tools anyway."
We are especially grateful to our Kerry brother and sister turners for travelling to be with us and for their participation.
Our next chapter meeting is the 17th May at our usual Togher venue and remember it is "Bring & Buy Day".

Some of "the crowd".

Competition entries (1)

Competition entries (2)

Competition entries (3)

Com,petition entries (4)

Joe, with his first completed project, a square bowl.

The square bowl in detail - and Stephen's hand, of course.

Project number 2, a three sided bowl.

Jim O'Donovan, receiving his prize from Chairman, John Ahern, with Joe in the middle.

The third project, Joe's now famous Celtic bowl.