Being a Krenovian ( James Krenov being a prominent furniture maker who
espouses Do a few things, but do them exceptionaly well - keep it simple
/
less is more - and It's The Wood Stupid ), I tended towards turnings
that
were as close to the natural wood as possible - little if anything
between
you the viewer / holder and the wood. And all the surfaces should be as
smooth as possible and, preferably, sensuous. The finished piece should
be Off The Lathe - completely done on the lathe - in one, maybe two
set ups - but all on a single axis.

Then things changed.

It started with Barbara Dill's article in the Fall 07 American
Woodturner
magazine on multi-axis turning. Single axis symetry started to feel
a little constraining. Then I watched Cindy Drozda do a beautiful,
elegant little three sided lidded box. Both kept it Off The Lathe -
pure
wood - but . . . a crack was opening in my Purist Approach.

I've just gone through 105 hi res photos of a demonstration Neil and
Liz Scobie did for our woodturning club, after going through hundreds of
photos from demonstrations by Binh Pho, Bonnie Klein and Malcom
Tibbet (there are advantages to volunteering to be a club webmaster).
My Purist Approach - pure wood, pure symetry - has, as a result, been
shaken further.

A turning may be only an intermediate step towards the ultimate
end point. By piercing and carving and texturing and painting/
staining / burning(pyrography) / charring / sand blasting/ patina-ing
- new dimensions of interest / expression may be added - for
better OR worse. The option of "enhancing" can be a double edged
sword - most enahancements are irreversible. And somewhere
on that path the piece may cease to be a turning. Worse yet,
THE BUZZ may be lost.

I really really like turning - the immediacy of results - in an hour
or so it's done. Good, bad or in between - in an hour or so I've
made a piece. A chunk of wood, two or three tools - and maybe
some sandpaper - and an hour or so - start to finish - almost
instant gratification, or disappointment. All decisions are made
On The Fly - little if any Should I Do This OR Should I Do That -
it just happens. No Post Lathe stuff to do. It comes off the
lathe and it's done.

The various Post Lathe processes all take more tools, more materials
- and a lot more time. Do I really need to learn yet more techniques,
more materials/mediums? There's already so much to learn with pure
single axis turning. Why head down another yet another path when I
haven't really explored the immediate vicinity of where I am now?

So I asked those of you who have ventured Over The Next HIll
- is there still THE BUZZ? Are there Zen Moments - Out There?

charlie b