Club Meeting: 13 August 2025
Report by Ian Connelly

Emma started the evening talking about the piece she did at the NAW Demo Weekend in Upper Hutt. She also showed the decoration that she had put on a pipe turned by Glenn Cleaver and inspired by Lord of the Rings.

The she started the project of the night – a lotus flower.

A block of kahikatea approx. 200 square and 30 thick was mounted on the lathe between centres and a spigot was turned suitable for 30mm jaws .

She created a gentle curve on the bottom, turned it around into the chuck and thinned it down, It was then shaped the same as you would with a plate. Thinning the edge and tapering the thickness into the bottom to represent the petals thy were to become. The turned plate was then sanded.

Emma used the indexing on the lathe, and a marking tool on a platform to mark out even spacing and a concentric line to denote the bottom of the petals. She also drilled a shallow 10mm hole in the centre of the bowl.

A second piece of wood was then produced which was approx 160mm square and 60 thick. Mounted it on the chuck with a spigot.

The outside was turned as a layered bowl, looking like one bowl emerging from the other. It was turned around and hollowed, to the “top of the tealight”. A 1 1/2″ forstner (38mm) was used to drill a hole for the tealight.

Emma then used a woodcut flexi hollower to hollow between the bowls, sanded and marked out using the index on the lathe.

The Emma got out the NSK high speed dental drill to carve out the petals of the bowl. The speed caused th wood to burn on the edge, but running a light pass over the surface removed the burning. This NSK only works with a good compressor and runs using 70psi and a good regulator.

Then came some colour, Emma talked about dyes, lumiere metallic and pearlescent acrylics and her use of Eye Candy Mica Powder mixed with Pinata Claro Extender so that it works more like a paint.

Another great demo with lots of information, some shavings on the ground. A great night at the club, thanks Emma.