Andi Wolfe's Blog: Utah 2007 - June 20; Super Wednesday

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Utah 2007 - June 20; Super Wednesday

June 20, 2007. The day before the Utah Woodturning symposium begins is when Craft Supplies has their "Super Wednesday" event. Everything's at a discount with lots of stuff on sale, plus there are demonstrations that run all day long. Dennis rode over to Craft Supplies for the opening frenzy while Gigi and I drove up to Salt Lake City to fetch J. Paul Fennell and Don MacDougal from the airport.

First stop for me is always at Treeline to buy carving and teaching supplies. Here's a group of friends.

L to R: J. Paul Fennell, Dennis Laidler, John Wessels, Gigi Laidler, Stuart Mortimer. The three in the middle are from South Africa and it was a real treat to have them over here for the Utah and AAW symposia, which were in adjacent weekends.

Here's Anthony Harris demonstrating his threading techniques.

It was sure good to see Allan Batty back at Utah. He's growing a beard and so I called him an old scalawag.

Here's Jerry Brownrigg doing a demo.

Colin Spencer from the UK, and recent editor of Woodturning Magazine.

Mark Baker (UK) doing a coloring demo. Mark is again the editor of Woodturning Magazine.

I had several friends come up to me and congratulate me on having a bowl on display at Craft Supplies. I told everyone that I didn't have a bowl there and so I went over to check it out.

Hmmmmm - sure looks like an Andi Wolfe signature design. . . .

only it was a poor copy done by Lane Phillips.

I won't go into the details of the "discussions" I had with Lane about this (he sat in on my demos at Utah in 2004). It didn't make much of an impression with him ("I'll copy anyone I want to."). However, after a fruitful discussion with Darrell Nish at Craft Supplies, the issue of having an Andi Wolfe copy on display in their store was resolved to my satisfaction. They're decent folks there at Craft Supplies.

After returning from "Super Wednesday" it was time for "show and tell" in the hotel room. Dennis and Gigi had a lot of unpacking to do to make sure everything they brought was in good shape.

Here's one of Dennis' pieces that he brought to put into the instant gallery. It's made from pink ivory with a beautiful finial inspired by Cindy Drozda's work.

Here's a selection of threaded lid boxes. These were done using a Bonnie Klein threading jig. The one in the front on the left has a design inspired from Zulu milk pails. I'm the proud owner of that box now (woohoo!).

Paul Fennell showed us the two pieces he brought for the instant gallery, also. This is his latest "Red Cord" one, and it's a beauty. He told Dennis and Gigi the story behind this design.

Here's Dennis listening to Paul with Gigi recording it all in the background.

Paul's describing the inspiration for this piece here.

The design was inspired from Chinese garden lattices. This one's carved in 3D rather than simply pierced through. These vessels of Paul's keep getting more and more interesting. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Here are the two pieces on display in the instant gallery. They make a handsome pair.

I had two new pieces for this year's instant gallery. The ones on the right and center are inspired from the microscopic landscape of biological specimens. I added the "leaf saturation" one to fill in my three allowed slots.

Wednesday night was capped off with a party at Mike and Jen Mahoney's place. All of the demonstrators as well as friends of Mike's and previous years' demonstrators show up for this fun evening.

The untold story here is how we managed to make it to Mike's with all the roads torn up. No one had a map, my navigation system kept repeating, "recalculating" and I finally made a phone call to Jen Mahoney for directions . . .

Here's Richard Raffan (far right) talking to Ken and Pat Roth from the San Diego Woodturners.

Gorst duPlessis trying to give Paul Fennell some rabbit ears for a photo.

Mike Mahoney's shop.

Here's Stuart Batty with his daughter, Caitlin.

Three generations of Battys: Stuart and Caitlin with Allan. It was great to see them all together.

Ok - my turn to be the filling in a Batty sandwich.

Here are my friends from South Africa with the Batty family (Gigi and Dennis Laidler and John Wessels).

Dennis was impressed with Mike Mahoney's drying room.

Here are the Laidlers in the bowl room.

That's some wild party going on. I've heard of wearing a lampshade, but a bowl? What was I thinking?

L to R: Michael Werner, Vaughn Richmond (Australia), Dennis Laidler (South Africa).

Mike has a shipping and photography room next to the bowl room.

Here's a selection of stuff in that room. I'm not quite sure what the deal was with the sawn through vessel. Maybe Mike uses it in his demos or classes.

Mike and I get a new picture taken just about every year.

Here's Kip Christensen - the hard working organizer of the Utah Woodturning Symposium. Thanks, Kip! You sure do put on a great show each year, and we all appreciate it very much.