WillR wrote:
Why do we see only bowls on the web sites?

A very interesting question. I have long been amazed at the bowl-centric
attitudes in many online discussions. On numerous occassions I have seen
discussions where it is assumed by many that the topic is bowl turning
unless explicitly stated otherwise.

But getting back to your point about websites, I guess it depends which
websites one looks at, or perhaps which ones we pay attention to, or
which ones make a memorable impression on us. Art has already cited his
website, and I did note that his bowls were hidden in a section titled
'too labor intensive to sell'

My own website has a fair share of spindle turned items, and visitors to
my studio will find even more that haven't yet made it to the website. I
would hazard a guess and say that 80% of my sales are spindle turnings,
most certainly because of the price breaks. Much of that could of course
be labelled treen rather than art, which is fine since I have always
considered myself a 'designer' rather than an 'artist'.

I agree with Mike Darlow when he says that the popularization of
woodturning was driven by vessel turners and hence the interest in this
area of turning. No doubt the tool manufacturers helped to further the
cause when they saw the potential for marketing new types of tools and
equipment specially designed for this type of work.

In my early days I was certainly attracted by the possibilities of being
able to create stunning vessels. I have little doubt that it is the
striking visual impact of such work that instills the desire to create
something similar. Very few spindle turnings have this same powerful impact.

There really has been little recent development in spindle turning, the
exceptions perhaps being inside-out turning (is involuted the correct
term?) and multi-axis work. While these both have a considerable visual
impact, I have some reservations about where they will go.

Most examples that I have seen (there are some exceptions of course) are
primarily of interest in terms of how the heck was it done? The
aesthetics of the final piece are often questionable - I don't recall
many that I would want to own and look at on a daily basis. They do make
good projects to feature in magazines for turners looking for new
challenges, but largely they haven't got past that stage. One reason I
think is some of the technical challenges they present, the other
perhaps is the intellectual challenge of design. My few experiments with
multi-axis work have only gone as far as trying the techniques and
puzzling over how I could make something that looks nice.

Maybe I need to make 2005 my Year of the Spindle. Anyone care to join me?

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toolrest/