Graeme Mackay – Christmas Things

Club Meeting: 28 Oct 2020
Report by: Janet McDonald

Graham gave us a lovely tutorial that showed how all small pieces of off cuts can be easily turned into Christmas decorations. How using colour or other embellishing can make a classic shape more dynamic for Christmas. He used bamboo skewers for the centre arms of the decorations and showed us that the thicker Korean skewers are more sturdy.

He recommended Prisma pens for quick colour enhancement and how easily stripes can be added by just hold the pen against the wood while the wood was turning. Metallic paints also add some sparkle that we all love at Christmas.

He emphasized how learning to use your chisels right and left handed gives you more scope for getting into small places and getting out a set of mini chisels is easier to handle on small pieces of wood. Also he showed his Japanese drawsaw which he said gives a great cut.

I love Graham’s enthusiasm for all things small; that not all masterpieces have to be large in size.