Yosemite Goat at the Sonora Spring Festival

       I had an excellent day visiting with many many wonderful people at the Spring Festival. I was visited by many very nice people, a few relatives, many friends, and one I have not seen for years! Those of you that did attend, thank you for visiting me in my out of the way place. I wished I was in the center of activities for increased sales, but I think it does not matter too much. My name is slowly reaching many folks and I had friends say my woodworking was mentioned up in the downtown area.
     


           Next year I will procure a space more downtown. In the meantime, I have been asked to participate in the Sonora Farmers market, the Mother Lode Fair, a small festival in Groveland, and another festival in Lodi. Lodi is a little out of the way, so I will likely not make it to that festival. The fair and the farmers markets will likely be an excellent local option for me. With such a successful start of the year I will continue to attend some of the local events and perhaps one or two at a small distance.

Once again, thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello!
Scotty  

Sonora, County Fair and Spring Festival

         Coming soon to Tuolumne County and the surrounding communities are summer festivals and local Farmers Markets. These are always great events that I have enjoyed as I am able to visit with the wonderful people involved. This year I was asked to participate in many of these events and help support our local communities. I think this will be a great way to support local farmers and craftsmen and craftswomen.

      The summer starts off with the Spring Festival in downtown Sonora on April 28th. I am planning on attending this fun event. My booth will be located just South of the main light on Washington St., across from the Opera Hall. Come visit me and check out many of the items I will have on display.

    Over the summer there will be numerous festivals and fair featuring many exhibits. I am currently trying to decide  which items I will enter in this years County Fair as a fun and creative way to evaluate my woodcraft with many other talented artists. I was actually looking into participating in the the State Fair as well, but I have yet to decide if I will take part. One of my newest creations seen here is a coffee knocker for the espresso machine. A very easy way to rid the grinds without banging and it looks nice in the kitchen. Most are made from stainless steel and I thought a sturdy washable piece of Black Oak would be perfect. Plus Oak has a very high tolerance for bacteria and other organisms (think about wine barrels)!

     I have been making dozens of fruit bowls utilizing a variety of artistic styles. The fruit bowls are one of my best sellers and have been hard to keep stocked. I am very tempted to use alcohols to speed up the curing process and increase my roll over in products. Waiting 6 months to finally have a stable bowl is the most trying part of my hobby. I try to keep as natural a process as possible, especially since my products have a very organic style and feel, and 99% of the time they are! As I mentioned, the artistic style is a great way to test my skills. As of late my challenge  has been producing a bowl that is very thin. Most of the time I am around the 1/8" realm and I am getting closer and closer to going even thinner. My goal one day is to produce a bowl that you can almost see through. This will be a ways down the road as I personally have never seen one. I believe you should always have a challenge somewhere, somehow to improve your skills and keep your mind and your eye sharp with creativity.

   Lastly, per the request of some friends of mine, I have been commissioned to make some crosses from the local woods. One friend enjoys collecting crosses from around the world and asked if I could make one for her from the local mountain woods. Where I find my inspiration and passion! My other friend plans to hang his in his home office. It brings joy knowing my art will be appreciated and admired in a caring home.

I hope to see you at the Sonora Spring Festival!!

Scotty

Manzanita Salt and Pepper Mills

Making Salt n Pepper Mills has been a grand project. I have learned a lot about how to skin a ............piece of manzanita. It has been wonderful using different techniques to put together these cool salt n pepper mills. There are about 12 steps needed to accomplish this seemingly simple task. Each time I make one I get a little better and the process is a little smoother. Each task is essential to complete the items. Some of these tasks, such as drilling the long cavity for the pepper corns, I should use a specific tool. But, since tools can be costly I bypassed them with the good ol' fashion hand drill. Yeah.......... you should see me standing on the work bench, butt in the air, chest on the ship's auger, applying enough pressure to drill a hole in the super dense manzanita. Oh yeah....... the soon to be mills are in the vise so they don't wobble and move around while I drill.

Each salt n pepper mill was made from the beautifully dense yet colorful manzanita. The density of manzanita is very 'fun' to work with since it dulls my forstner bits and need to be sharpened often. But the results are always the same. Everyone loves the color and uniqueness of manzanita. In fact I sold one of these lovely items during the craft fair in Murphys. Perhaps the other will be equally admired in a new home too!

 Made in the USA, I love it and always try to do my best to promote local craftsmen and items made here in the US. Not to mention when items are rare and unique, such as the love I have for manzanita!!

As a final note: I wonder if my colleagues sometime feel the way I do, because the mills Brad Sears makes are amazing. Maybe I will send him some Manzanita =)

How to Create Beautiful Wooden Bowls

Bowl Making

The number of steps it takes to make a bowl gives woodturners great patience…... 

Here is a classic example of how each bowl is created:  

1.    Collect the wood (truck, chainsaw, gas and the eye for a nice trees).

2.     Begin turning on the wood lathe (includes : lathe; chisels; electricity; rounding of bowls with chainsaw; saws need sharpening too {30min}; and cleaning up the mess you make).

3.     Cure the initial turn (3-6months of curing so the bowl is stable).

4.     Return bowl to the lathe (back to chisels, electricity, sharpening set, lathe chuck).

5.     Finishing cut to make as smooth as possible (practice on many, many, many, many pieces, more sharpening and sharpening stones).

6.     Sanding to a smooth finish (sandpaper with different grits: 50;60;100;150;220;320;400;600).

7.     Apply coating(s)/oils (food worthy tung oil and or mineral oil).

8.    Finally we take the bowl off the lathe.....................................engrave name, photograph for records and perhaps internet sales (laptops and camera needed).

9.     Now the beautiful bowl is ready for market and ready for your home!!!