2022/03/31 - Guild Meeting - Face-to-Face Live Meeting with Rudy Lopez
TR/BE | Published on 1/8/2022
Live Demonstration Meeting and Workshop with Rudy Lopez
- Thursday March 31st (2 weeks earlier than our normal monthly meeting)
- Zoom call opens a 6:15 for socializing
- Meeting begins at 6:45 PM
- Demonstration begins at 7 PM
WGNC is happy to announce that our first in-person and hybrid Zoom Demonstration is being planned for March 31st. To kick off this long-awaited event, WGNC will welcome back Rudy Lopez on Thursday evening, followed by a three-day workshop, Friday through Sunday April 1st - 3rd, 2022. Rudy has had a relationship with wood for over 40 years. His career began in fine furniture and eventually flowed into woodturning. Rudy's work has been featured in AAW juried exhibitions and the AAW Gallery of Wood Art. He received the Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of Arts Emerging Artist Award and continues to exhibit his work nationally. Rudy teaches and demonstrates regularly both in person and by IRD.
On Thursday evening Rudy will demonstrate a “Twice Turned Bowl with Decorated Rim Detail from a Log”, first long grain and then side grain, in order to expose and create a decorated rim. He will also discuss the techniques for turning and carving legs. This demo will be a warmup for Friday’s workshop.
Workshop Give Away and Registration: As part of our first Live Demo and Workshop kick-off, WGNC will raffle three workshop days to members. One workshop day will be raffled from the pool of members who renewed their membership before January 1st. A second workshop day will be raffled to a member that is present at the February 10th meeting/demo and a final workshop day will be raffled to a member that is present at the March 10th meeting/demo. A maximum of ten participants will be allowed for each of the workshop days. You may sign up for all three days for $250 or you can sign up for individual days at $100 per day. So, reserve your spot now by clicking on any of the registration buttons below!
- For all three workshop days click here.
- For the Friday Only Workshop - Twice Turned Bowl click here.
- For Saturday Only Workshop - ABC's & XYX's of Bowl Turning click here.
- For Sunday Only Workshop - Square to Round Vase click here.
Friday’s workshop: Will be hands-on in the Craft Center turning a “Twice Turned Bowl with Decorated Rim Detail from a Log”. This is a somewhat challenging project which requires everything from basic spindle work to good tool control on interrupted cuts. You will turn a bowl from a log, first turned long grain (spindle orientation) to cut beads or cove decorations on the rim and then side grain orientation to shape the vase or bowl form. The bead/cove decoration now becomes a rim detail around the rim of the bowl.
Skill level / Experience: Intermediate, with skills beyond the basics, familiar with using the side ground bowl gouge and able to comfortably turn a natural edge bowl with intermittent edges.
Tools & Supplies: Face Shield Recommended, Safety Glasses required, 1/2" or 5/8" side ground Bowl gouge, Round nose scraper, Spindle gouge, Parting tool. Some extra tools will be available if you don’t have all these.
Saturday’s workshop morning session: Will be the “A B C‘s of Bowl Turning” with turning a shallow flat rim bowl. Discussions on the correct sharpening of the side ground bowl gouge and the two different bevel angles used. Rudy uses a 60 and 40 degree bevel on his gouges. We will then cover the different cuts used and the when, why and how each cut is used to turn bowls safely and efficiently with a cleanly cut surface that will reduce sanding. We will also discuss the layout of the bowl in the log relating to grain symmetry and to predict warping. Most of the emphasis in this class is on correct tool technique using bevel supported cuts and sharp tools. Students will be encouraged to concentrate on good tool technique.
Saturday’s workshop afternoon session: Will be the “X Y Z’s of Bowl Turning” with the turning of a natural edge bowl. Building on the correct bowl gouge techniques learned in the morning session turners will improve on these to do more advanced natural edge bowl shapes. Rudy will explain and demonstrate when and why the different angle bowl gouges (40, 60 & 70 degree) are used and how they relate to cutting different areas of the bowl. Also, we will discuss some different tools and techniques used for these types of bowls and Rudy will also explain using and sharpening Negative Rake scrapers.
Skill level / Experience: Beginner with good basic knowledge of the lathe & tool use, turns currently.
Tools & Supplies: Face Shield Recommended, Safety Glasses required, more than one bowl gouge if possible 1/2" or 5/8" and parting tool. Some extra tools will be available if you don’t have all these.
Sunday’s workshop: Will be the making of a “Square to round Vase. Rudy will discuss and demonstrate the process used to create a vase which is square on top and tapers to round at the bottom. He will then show a variety of ways blanks can be designed and then how they can be cut on the band saw which will start you thinking about how many different design possibilities there are for these square to round projects. The basics of bevel-supported cuts along with two of the most important fundamentals of turning - sharp tools and good tool control will be emphasized. Attendees will learn how and why this along with lathe speed affects how efficiently and cleanly interrupted edges can be turned safely. Techniques for sanding and/or embellishing the different surfaces of the forms will also be discussed. This demonstration will provide attendees with a several new creative ideas and open up many new design possibilities.
Skill level / Experience: Beginner with good basic knowledge of the lathe & tool use, turns currently.
Tools & Supplies: Face Shield Recommended, Safety Glasses required, 1/2" or 5/8" side ground Bowl gouge, 1/2” to 3/4" Round nose scraper, parting tool and some type of hollowing tool. Some extra tools will be available if you don’t have all these.
About our Demonstrator: Rudy Lopez.
At a very young age Rudy began to develop his creative eye through photography, his first artistic pursuit. This began his relationship with wood as a craftsman of fine furniture and cabinetry. With an education in drafting and design, and many years working as a professional photographer, the transition into woodturning has been a seamless flow into another creative endeavor.
Rudy's energetic easy-going personality and his ability to explain woodturning techniques in a simple understandable manner have allowed him to share his skills and enthusiasm for woodturning through teaching and demonstrating at regional and national symposia and clubs across the country. Rudy also conducts workshops in his Tampa studio and teaches at schools including: Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft, John C. Campbell Folk School, Marc Adams School of Woodworking, the Center for Funiture Craftsmanship and The Florida School of Woodwork.
To learn more about Rudy, visit his website here.
We hope you will join us for our first live demonstration in many months. The demonstration will be informative and fun. If you are unable to attend in person, the meeting and demonstration will be available via Zoom. Connection instructions are below. In addition, we also hope to see many of you at the live workshops that will follow on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Rudy is a great demonstrator and teacher so register now to assure yourself a place at the lathe this coming March.