Well, they hung from the rafters! There were over 60 members and guests in attendance for this three hour meeting which featured a fantastic presentation/demonstration by Sorby Tools Product Manager, Clive Brooks.
 

Clive once again finished his North American tour at his favourite stop – with the Nova Woodturners’ Guild at Busy Bee Tools! The ‘Sorby meeting’ has become sort of a fall tradition for us and those that have attended one in the past know that it is one of the most popular meetings of the season. It’s always a great time and tonight was no different.

Clive began with showing us the Patriot chuck and then moved through to the variety of Stebcenters available. He showed how they differed from the traditional centers that come equipped with our lathes, and its safety features. From here he showed us the Hollowmaster, how it worked as a combination spindle gouge and skew and the method for sharpening them. He turned and passed around an example of the smooth cut it can make on end grain, requiring little or no sanding when completed!
 
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The September meeting of the Nova Woodturners’ Guild, held at Halifax Specialty Hardwoods, focused on the sometimes elusive and often overlooked topic of Shape and Design. This was presented by Guild members Alan Hunt and Dianne Looker.

Alan spoke about the general concepts of shape and design and what we are looking to achieve as woodturners. Using both drawings and actual examples he showed us what works and what doesn’t, and why we find some pieces appealing and why we find some pieces that aren’t so appealing.

He spoke on ways to envision the desired shapes for turning by using a catenary curve, which is best described as the curve that a hanging chain assumes when it is held by its ends. He also gave an explanation of the Golden Mean, which is a “mathematical concept that expresses the relationship of two parts of a whole with each other and with the whole”.

Unfortunately there was not enough time for a thorough lecture and study on the immense subject of design, or even the Golden Mean, but Alan did cover a lot of the basics and gave us plenty of food for thought. The considerations and concepts that he raised are an integral part of creating visually appealing turnings and meant to be explored more.

Following Alan’s presentation Dianne introduced us to a new and exciting Guild project that is called “The Shape Challenge”. It is an opportunity for all of the Guild members to participate in turning an item that will challenge us on a specific design, in this case, a concave.

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This month was the final meeting for the 2009-2010 season of the Nova Woodturners Guild and as tradition has it, the Annual General Meeting.

The meeting began with the reading of past meeting minutes and then went directly to business issues that included an update on our meeting location for next season. We will continue to meet here at the local Home Depot as the new Nova Scotia Community College is still under construction. A big round of thanks and appreciation was voiced for Home Depot for allowing us the opportunity to hold our meetings here.

The Financial Report was given and it was unanimously accepted to move it to the auditors for review. The member auditors reviewed it and approved it.

Candidates for the new Executive were presented by a member of the Nomination Committee and each Officer was unanimously voted in. Congrats to all!

The meeting also included a Show and Tell session. Here are some photos:

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This months meeting of the Nova Woodturners Guild featured an excellent presentation on taking photographs of your finished work. It was presented by NWG member and avid photographer Glenn McCarron.

Using an extensive Powerpoint presentation that included quite a number of slides on both information and examples, Glenn took us on an enjoyable journey through the process of getting the most of our photo taking efforts. He began with some basic rules then focused on lighting, camera settings, studio setup and backgrounds.

Glenn told us about three basic rules for better pictures which are to ask yourself ‘what is the subject?’ , then draw attention to your subject and then make sure that you keep it simple.

Too often the subject of your photo gets lost within other things in the photo so the object is to draw attention to your subject by moving in closer and simplify by removing any distractions. One technique for drawing attention to your object is by controlling the ‘depth of field’. The depth of field is the area of your photo that is in focus and with a shallow depth of field anything in the background is out of focus and less obtrusive. Here’s an example:

This photo is without the depth of field:

Continue reading 'Great Photography Tips At The NWG'