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club demo's

john lucas

john lucas

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I will be helping set up the demo's for both of the clubs I'm in. I would like to hear from you all about the demo's you would like to see or the ones that have been the most popular or necessary to small clubs. These clubs are too small to have outside demonstrators more than once a year so they need to be demo's or projects that can be done by the club members.
 
I actually spent the past year doing just this with my club. There are several demos that have been found to be very popular.

The first demo of the year for last year was "Turning 101". I got a friend and we spent the entire meeting starting with the absolute basics ("this is a lathe. this is a gouge. this is a scraper") and working our way up through basic techniques and cutting concepts. We've since had demos for the spindle gouge, the bowl gouge, and the skew, in addition to club members doing demos on their particular niche skills such as cutting spirals, goblets with rings, threading box lids, etc. Worked out pretty well for the year.

I'm actually thinking of doing the final demo for the year myself and doing "what is wood and why we should love it".

dietrich
 
You might consider theme focused group demos.

You get a panel of demonstrators who each take 10-15 minutes to show their part. This lets more people participate and present several ways of doing the same thing. These panels readily include newer turners as well as the usual suspects.

Some examples I recall our club doing are:
finishing processes
Reverse chucking techniques
Grinding systems
my favorite tool
how to improve success at art & Crafts show
home made jigs
how to give a demo

Also tap the other local artists
Potters can talk all day on form and design
Photographers on how to take jury slides
 
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