WGO Turning Parties

With our AGM coming up in June, Turning Parties are at an end for this ‘year’. In September, however, they will resume. We are fortunate to have Humber College providing us with a wonderful facility where we can meet our Turning Party and interactive needs throughout this coming year.  We expect to meet at Humber’s Etobicoke campus on one Sunday of each month and one Monday evening. As soon as a TP has been arranged, it will be posted here, on our website, and announced at next monthly meeting in Pickering.

At this moment, we are looking for hosts for our Turning Parties for 2008-2009. A host’s duty will be to select a focus for the event (e.g., turning wine bottle stoppers or Christmas ornaments or improving spindle turning or finishing). Then the host must determine what supplies will be needed for that TP. What tools, wood, etc. must participants bring to the shop?

The host also determines that nature of the instruction what will be offered. He or she may instruct personally, or may invite a fellow turner to handle the instruction while he or she assists in managing the event. In fact, more than one expert in the area of focus would be welcome at any TP. Such volunteers willing to supportive fellow members should contact the host to let that person know that he or she will be there to assist.

So, if you would like to volunteer to host a Turning Party the coming year, please contact Penny at your earliest convenience. She will be away for much of the summer and so if it is possible for you to contact her before the end of June, that would be much appreciated.

WGO members who wish to register in a particular TP should contact Penny McCahill or Nancy Hooper to reserve one of the lathes that will be at Humber. Because we will have more lathes at this site than we have had previously and because we will have a significantly larger space, there is a wider window of opportunity to participate in TPs this year than in the past.

Contact Penny at penny@technolinks.com or Nancy at nhooper@sigmacomponent.com or telephone one of their numbers on the membership list.

Folks who register for a particular TP will be contacted about a week in advance of that TP regarding instructions of what to bring, what to expect, etc. It is anticipated that most TPs will take place on Sundays between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., although there will likely be some exceptions to this plan.

 Many of us who have participated in Turning Parties in the past are looking forward to those that will be scheduled for the coming year. If you have never attended a TP, you don’t know what you have missed, but what you have missed includes amazing opportunities –

to boost your skill level and heighten your powers of design;

to enhance your knowledge of new tools and products that will assist you in creating exceptional pieces;

to network with fellow turners and enjoy the camraderie of our guild.