CraobhEo Chairman, Tom Jordan warmly welcomed delegates and introduced Imelda Connelly, I.W.G. Chairperson as our guest speaker.

Demonstrators for the day were Jim Kelly (Crossborder Chapter) and Christien Van Bussel (Gorey Chapter).

From her own perspective, it has been a busy and rewarding year. She has had the experience of meeting so many talented individuals and experienced first hand the generosity of spirit that exists within the woodturning community. Whether collaborating in projects or just enjoying the camaraderie of fellow woodturners, it reaffirms her belief in the power of this craft to bring people together. Its not just the turning but the friendships we forge and support we give one another. She praised the woodturning craft for being active on so many fronts. Whether you are here today to sharpen your skills or get some advice to sharpen you own expertise, know your presence today enriches all of us. It was also nice to see the I.W.G. numbers going up again after the lows of Covid.

Imelda thanked everyone for coming and was delighted to see and be able to meet so many woodturners together. She looked forward to seeing the demonstrators, Jim and Christien and thanked all the volunteers involved in hosting the event including the Gateway Hotel, our hosts for the day.

Christien Van Bussell

Donut bowl (First demo)

This was a nice project to kick the day off. Start by mounting an ash blank in a screw chuck, round it up to 200 mm by 60 mm and true up face. Drill a recess in middle half way in and sand through grits around this recess. Make recess for chuck and ensure your plug (for holding the bowl later) fits as well into the drilled recess. Sand, apply finishing oil to this area only and polish it off. Remount in chuck and commence shaping the underside of the donut bowl, starting with recess and working out to the rim. You will break through in the centre to the half drilled recess earlier. Christien uses a jig (next step) to hold the bowl for turning the top so the shape must match the jig. Use a scraper held high and at an angle for finishing cuts but cutting rather than scraping. She passed on many useful tips throughout the demo on using the various tools drawing on her many years of teaching. Sand and apply finishing oil as above.

Next mount jig in chuck and adjust if necessary so the donut bowl will fit. Insert bowl in jig and hold together with threaded bar making sure its centred. Hollow out the bowl working from both sides. Avoid cutting too far in when working from the middle to avoid torn grain. Look for a nice curve to finish. Sand and apply finish (Chestnut finishing oil). She demonstrated how to make the jig as well at the end. Lovely demo and so well delivered.

Colouring Small Items (Second Demo).

Box

First up was a little box. Turn a suitable box blank to a cylinder, part off the lid and hollow out body of the box. Next mount the lid and hollow out the underside. Remount and turn outside of the lid starting with the top which is flat.

Colouring and decoration comes next. Make two grooves with a mini parting tool, one on top of the lid and on the other on the body of the box. File pastel dust for colour into a small container and mix it with Isopon and the appropriate amount of hardener. Push this mixture into the grooves make earlier and allow to harden. Sand off hardened coloured filler once dry and finish. This gives you a lovely coloured insert ring.

Many teaching tip again especially on working with various types of grain and using the spindle gouge.

Eggcup

Prepare a cylindrical shaped blank. Hollow out cup being mindful of end grain. Shape the outside to your preferred design. Turn two beads on outside of cup, these will be coloured. Define your area for colouring by burning two lines with a wire, this stops seepage. Burn lines across the beads as well in a brick wall design with a pyrography tool to further define your colouring area. Apply spirit stain colours then to the design of your choice.

Candleholder

This was the final project. Mount the candleholder blank, 150 mm by 30 mm (Christien used her own special faceplate for this) and use tailstock for support. Round up rim, true up bottom face and turn recess for chuck. Remount and true up top face. A texturing tool is used on surface to be coloured. Define the area first using spindle gouge and then texture. Following texturing, apply colour of your choice with lathe spinning and follow this by applying gilt cream.

A lot of ideas from this demo and many topics covered in a short time. Thank you Christien for travelling the breath of the country to be with us for our 2025 CraobhEo seminar. We were delighted to have you as our demonstrator.

Jim Kelly

Inside Outside Candlestick (First Demo).

This is a four part candlestick using two chucks instead of glueing pieces together with a paper joint. You will need an adaptor with morse taper at one end and a thread to fit your chuck at the other – a useful tool to have. Prepare four 25 mm square pieces, 280 mm long and mount them stacked together between the two chucks (50 mm square now). Ensure this is running true. Sketch up design for first turning now on this surface which will eventually become the inside surface. Work from a prepared template, measuring from the flat side always to get you shape. Jim imparted plenty of tips like for example listening to the sound of the lathe as feedback to your turning. Use a scraper with burr removed and positioned on centre to finish. Sand thru grits and apply finish. Next take it off the lathe and mark an arrow at the end pointing inwards towards the centre so you don’t mix the blanks up . Reposition 180 degrees and glue up. When dry remount in the two chucks as before taking care in lining up. Mark up for your preferred design and turn the outside. Use the  bedan tool to turn down both ends first followed by the spindle and roughing gouge for middle part. The scraper is used for finishing cuts. Tip, find a tool grind that suits you and stick with it. Refine your final design at this stage. Mark out and shape the bottom, allowing 22 mm spigot for fitting to base. Finally shape the top, allowing spigot to hold the candle cup before sanding thru grits and applying finish. Part off at bottom and top to finish.

Base

The second part of this project was the base. Mount a 125 mm by 25 mm blank for base in chuck, round up rim and true up face. Turn recess to receive candlestick and leave flat lip at top. Then turn outside to preferred shape before sanding and applying finish. Finally remount in chuck, turn bottom design, sand and finish in the same way.

Candle Cup

Finally the candle cup itself. Mount blank for finial, turn to a cylinder and make recess to match top of body turned earlier. Turn outside shape and remount in chuck. Finally turn recess for candle insert at the other end. Sand and finish as before.

This is a lovely project to do if you want to try something a little different.

Clock (Second Demo)

We were excited by this project because it looked lovely.  Start by mounting a 205 mm by 38 mm beech blank for clock in chuck, round up rim and true up the face. Mark out for chuck and turn spigot on face (to turn underside). Remount and leave a small foot and spigot for chuck (to turn top). Turn underside to an ogee shape and sand thru grits. Apply cellulose sanding sealer and with lathe running, wipe and buff. Remount in chuck and true up top face. Mark out 130 mm and 84 mm diameters on face, area between rim and 130 mm mark will be coloured. Prepare outside area for colouring using scraper and sanding thru grits, working 3 mm in from rim. Apply cellulose sanding sealer and buff. Spray the face black and leave to dry. Select sample of turquoise, violet, flow medium and gold colours to use on clock. Start with violet and apply to prepped area with a brush in an ad lib fashion. Then follow with turquoise, gold and flow medium in a similar style. Cover with cling film, dab it and leave to dry with cling film removed. Colour changes as it dries and really pops. Hollow out a recess, 84 mm diameter in middle to depth of your clock and fit the clock. Remount and turn off the base. Sand thru grits, apply sanding sealer and black gloss lacquer.

Beautiful clock project.  Thank you Jim for making the journey from Monaghan to be with us for our seminar. It was a pleasure to have you with us.

Open 2^nd Place   –   John Flynn

Open 3^rd Place    –   Joe Diver

Segmented           –   Kevin Geaney

People’s Choice   –   Kevin Geaney

Competition Pieces.