Totally Turning Demonstrators, March 23 & 24, 2024
International/National:
Barry Gross, Mauricio Kolenc, Janice Levi, Mike Mahoney, Matt Monaco, Graeme Priddle and Melissa Engler, Derek Weidman
Regional:
Karen Amodeo, Joe Larese, John Ryan, Doug Scharf
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Click here to see a list of demonstrators from previous years.
International/National Demonstrators
Barry Gross
Pennsylvania, USA
With over 30 years of varied experience working in several diverse media, Barry Gross is an artisan who enjoys creating his fine writing instruments! He is an artisan who is inspired by nature and the rich textures of all the distinctive exotic materials he utilizes to create his one-of-a-kind fine writing instruments. His ongoing curiosity to discover more and diverse materials to create his unique pens is a driving force behind what inspires his creativity.
Creating fine writing instruments from re-cycled material such as watch parts, shipwreck coins, cigar labels, Cholla cactus, walrus Oosik, beer caps, jeweled beetle wings, surgical blades and sutures. Many hours of preparation and execution are needed to create a fine writing instrument such as a watch pieces fountain pen. This has led to his receiving a prestigious Readers’ Choice Award from Pen World Magazine; an honor that has only been bestowed on one other independent pen maker.
He has published over 70 articles in several woodworking magazines and is an author of six books on turning and pen making. He is a member of the American Association of Woodturners (AAW), Bucks County Woodturners, Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsman, Pen Makers Guild and was chosen to join the National Register of Who’s Who for executives and professionals.
He is a guest speaker / presenter at many woodworking shows and turning clubs throughout the northeast and has been chosen to demonstrate his pen techniques at three AAW symposiums. He teaches the art of pen making at various schools through the country such as Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Peters Valley and Marc Adams School of Wood Working.
Barry was commissioned by the “White House” to make pens as gifts to be given to foreign dignitaries and his pens can be found in the pockets of several famous individuals including Steven Spielberg, Jimmie Buffet, Greg Norman, the former Speaker for The House of Representatives, Norwegian concert pianist Leif Ove Andsnes and many local and state politicians.
Every piece of wood or recycled material is thoughtfully chosen to compliment both the style of pen and the finish which is hand applied. This unique combination creates a one-of-a-kind fine writing instrument that will be admired by all who own and use it. Thank you for visiting my site and I hope you will enjoy your fine writing instrument!
Demonstrations
1. Kitless Pen Making
• Making and turning a pen without a ” traditional prn kit”
2. Making a pen from beginning to end
• Drilling, squaring, turning, tool selection (carbide vs high speed steel) and other items
3. Pen Finishing Techniques
• CA Glue Finish
• Friction Finish
• Deer Antler Techniques
Mauricio Kolenc
Uruguay
Mauricio Kolenc is a full time professional woodturner from Uruguay. He started turning in 1996 and also worked 7 years in the skateboard deck industry while he studied fine cabinetmaking.
His work has been awarded nationally and abroad since its early stages. He specializes in hollow forms, hand thread chasing, elegant ogee forms, signature chess sets and some occasional production items such as salad bowls.
Being an avid reader, he understands the importance of using traditional knowledge to improve today’s turning. Mauricio was a demonstrator in the 2023 AAW international symposium in Kentucky.
Demonstrations
1) Mastering the Chaser
Take the mystery and fear out of thread chasing. In this demo you will learn some history as well as some key points in chasing threads: anatomy, selection, preparation and handling of chasers as well as the use of the armrest. Also, choosing suitable materials and my personal approach in order to get matching screw threads.
2) Signature Salt Shaker
Now that you learned how to chase threads it’s time to make a useful salt shaker. Learn how to deal with difficult, extremely hard hardwoods and all the key points in making a threaded salt shaker with matching grain. Same principles apply to any threads container-box.
3) The Elegant Ogee Bowl
Learn all the basic techniques used in the production of an elegant ogee bowl with a small base. Material selection, proportions, basic cuts with my personal grind and reverse chucking to finish shaping the base.
Janice Levi
Texas, USA
My fascination with woodturning goes back to my childhood when my father would let me hold a turning tool to a piece of scrap wood mounted on his old Sears lathe. I held that fascination with me well through adulthood. Finally, in 2001, I announced to my husband that I wanted a lathe for my birthday. I immediately joined the local turning club, and like most new turners, I wanted to learn it all and do it all. So I turned bowls, platters, lidded boxes, ornaments with finials, hollow forms, good wood, punky wood, I turned it all. Then I began to decorate it. I carved, sand blasted, burned, pierced, painted and dyed.
But through it all, I loved the idea of combining art with the functional. But, I didn’t just want to leave those beautiful wood pieces on a shelf. That is when I began to experiment with “wearable” art. I first began by making purses in several styles and through several iterations. I then added jewelry. I had seen lots of wooden disks hanging on leather straps, but I wanted to do something different. So I began to experiment. I turned hundreds of disks in varying sizes, beads in varying diameters, then began to hollow, burn, carve, pierce and paint them.
Through it all, I was enamored with the wood, whether it was beautifully quilted or spalted or filled with voids and bark inclusions. Someone else’s scraps became my treasures—my art, and today, I’m wearing it.
Demonstrations
1. Turning a Bracelet Box (Download PDF)
2. Turning a Fancy Box with Finial and Contrasting Insert (Download PDF)
3. Jewelry Made Easy (Download PDF)
Mike Mahoney
California, USA
Mike is a remote demonstrator presenting in our virtual demo room Broadway 1/2.
Mike Mahoney has been a professional woodturner since 1994. His bowls are featured in galleries across the United States. Mike’s work is sought after by collectors all over the world. Mike is often requested to demonstrate and teach for woodturning clubs, craft schools, and symposia. He has traveled around the world to discuss and demonstrate his craft and is considered an authority in woodturning.
As you can imagine, Mike produces a lot of bowls and other turnings but he also produces enormous piles of wood shavings.
Demonstrations
1. How to turn a bowl (Saturday)
2. Coring (Sunday)
Matt Monaco
Missouri, USA
Matt Monaco operates a full-time woodturning studio in the Ozark region of Missouri, making dedicated collections, signature series vessels, lidded containers, and spindle-turned items for industries of craft, interior design and the high-end furniture trade. Matt is a Fine Woodworking Contributor & Ambassador, and is supportive of U.S. craft organizations and environments that carry desire to further integrate woodturning into wider demographics and wish to see the craft thrive into the future.
As a full-time professional turner with 20-years experience, one of Matt’s missions is to make the highest quality products that reflect both the mastery of the tools and the functionality and timeless beauty of wooden decor in others’ lives. Matt is one of very few young modern traditional woodturners in America having apprenticed and trained as a trade professional, and has worked closely within a high-end furniture production landscape — Shackleton Thomas Furniture & Pottery as a full-time maker/item producer.
At center of Matt’s work is his understanding and mastery of tool control, sharpening and cutting execution as an expression of traditionally crafted design as fine art — in producing forms and items that are made to be as tactile as they are sublime, and created with intent and purpose.
Demonstrations (Saturday and Sunday)
1. The Skew Chisel — Advanced Concepts
2. Classical Bowl Turning — Fine Detail, Form Finesse & Freehand Tool Modifications
3. Footed Ogee Vessel — Developing Advanced Tool Control, and cutting clean surfaces
Graeme Priddle and Melissa Engler
North Carolina, USA
Graeme Priddle has over 30 years experience in the woodworking field, best known for his sculptural turnings/carvings reflecting his life and environments in Northland, New Zealand. He has won numerous awards for his work, which has been exhibited widely in New Zealand, UK, Japan, Taiwan, France, Germany, U.S.A and Canada.
He is very active in the wood turning world and commits his time and talent to many creative endeavours. He has served on the committee of the New Zealand National Association of Woodturners for five years as well as being instrumental in establishing the New Zealand ‘CollaboratioNZ’ Conferences in 1998.
And for the last 20 years has demonstrated and taught for numerous woodworking and woodturning groups and at many woodworking events throughout the world.
In 2015 Graeme took up permanent residence in Asheville NC to work with his partner and fellow wood sculptor Melissa Engler. Together they run Half Feral Studio at Grovewood Village and are currently building their own school on land they purchased in Mars Hill, about 30 minutes North of Asheville.
“I have always felt a natural affinity with wood and after twelve years working as radio technician I felt the need to do something more creative with my life. Originally I was drawn towards ‘free-form’ furniture as our bush block is littered with deadfall timber, the leftovers from the Kauri logging days of the early 1900′s. In 1990, the New Zealand economy became very depressed there was a limited market for original hand-crafted furniture. Fortunately, at that time I met a group of very creative woodturners and realized that there are endless creative possibilities to lathe work.
I am mainly self taught with a lot of advice and inspiration from many other woodturners. In my first four years or so of turning the emphasis was on using very decorative timber and applying simple form so as not to overshadow the natural beauty of the timber. While this is still a dominant factor in some of my work I now spend more time on creating pieces where my design is the dominant factor and using timber and other materials sympathetic with my designs, these pieces tell stories about who I am, where I am and the things in life that I am most passionate about.
Major influences in my designs come from my natural surroundings, especially the sea and coastal environments, dreams and life experiences.”
Demonstrations
1. Ammonite Bowl
2. Surface, surface! – Part 1
3. Surface, surface! – Part 2
Derek Weidman
Pennsylvania, USA
Derek Weidman is a woodturner and wood sculptor who lives in rural Green Lane, Pennsylvania. He participates in exhibits and publications across the country. He received many awards including the AAW Symposium Emerging Artist and the Professional Outreach Committee Collegiate Award from the American Association of Woodturners. Weidman’s work is in numerous permanent collections including the Fuller Craft Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. His approach involves multi-axis turning as the foundation of his work. As an avid animal lover with deep connections to nature, Weidman volunteers as a wildlife rehabber, gaining an enormous amount of inspiration from working so closely with local fauna.
Demonstrations
1. Turn any Animal
This demo involves taking suggestions from the audience and turning any animal with multi-axis techniques without a clear plan ahead of time. This demo attempts to show how versatile a carving machine, albeit unusual, the wood lathe is.
2. Turn a Human Bust
This demo goes through the steps to turn a human face. Expect some extreme and unexpected cuts to achieve this form
3. Chainsaw meets Lathe
This demo goes over a number of extreme texturing processes, including using a chainsaw to texture on the wood lathe.
Regional Demonstrators
Karen Amodeo
New York, USA
My journey into the realm of pyrography began several years ago. I have always had an interest in art and my husband Sam suggested that I consider studying the technique of pyrography to apply it as a complement to his wood turnings and once I took the leap, our husband-and-wife team was conceived.
Sam creates his wood turned vessels that provide me with the inspiration to explore my creativity, from bowls to the peppermills and beyond. I am entirely self-taught, and my artwork is performed free hand allowing me to design one-of-a-kind treasures through the technique of pyrography.
Pyrography, also known as “Writing with Fire”, uses a temperature controlled heated metal tipped pen to create distinct and uniquely striking, detailed pieces of art. Various ranges of tones and shades can be achieved through this process allowing me to exercise my personal interpretation and imagination.
My passion for pyrography continues to grow and develop with each piece I design and provides me with the outlet to express my originality and the joy of sharing it with others.
Demonstrations
1. Pyrography
2. Mediterranean Bowl Design
Joe Larese
New York, USA
Joe Larese enjoys demonstrating and has been an woodturning instructor at SUNY Purchase and the Brookfield Craft Center.
He has written a number of articles for the AAW’s American Woodturner magazine, including “Finial Fundamentals” and “A Guide to Gouges”.
Joe is currently making videos of his projects and techniques and is sharing them through his YouTube channel “Woodturning with Joe Larese”
He is a member of the AAW, Nutmeg Woodturners League and Kaatskill Woodturners. He lives in Cold Spring, NY.
Demonstrations
Turning Finials: The Skew or the Spindle Gouge?
Joe’s turning method is fun and intuitive, and while the finished finial has complex shapes, the cuts used to create them are basic.
A cone shape is established, rough diameters are blocked in, and practice cuts are made. The tip of the finial is created first, before making additional cuts. The next portion is blocked out, cut and the process continues down the length of the blank.
Joe also shows how he sharpens and hones the spindle gouge and skew and shares his chucking strategies, including a method of using standard jaws to firmly hold pen blank stock so finials can be made from exotic but reasonably priced materials.
Turning An End Grain Box.
Joe will explain the methods that he uses to hollow and how to get a good fit on a turned lidded box.
John Ryan
USA
John Ryan was a millwright in a steal mill for 25+ years before he retired. It is there he developed an interest in the stained glass hobby. During his work career he turned a hobby into a stained glass company. His company repaired antique lamp shades and stained glass windows. John’s business operated approximately 30 years.
He attended a Showcase Woodworking show nine years ago and decided to join NWA and learn the fine art of woodworking. While learning to work with wood lathes he gained a specific interest in turning pens and working with carbide edge tools. As a natural progression he developed an interest in acrylic pen blanks and has been creating and poring his unique acrylic pen blanks for six years.
Demonstration
Resin pour basics 101
John will be covering Pouring pen blanks, bottle stopper blanks, knife scales and hybrid blanks using Alumilite Products.
Doug Scharf
USA
I am Doug Scharf, a professional woodturner. Ten years ago I was forced into retirement due to Agent Orange Contamination from the Vietnam War. I was so depressed but I remembered the fun I had in 7th grade wood shop. The lathe was my favorite machine so I went and bought my first lathe because I remembered the fun I had back then. I have since become a wood hoarder and a tool turning geek. I enjoy exploring new avenues and different techniques. I hope to give you all somethings to think about and a few different ways of doing something. I will be demonstrating “Making The Perfect Pepper Mill In 60 Minutes” and in my other demo I will have open discussion on how to price out your work and get the big money at a show. Hope you have a great time. Please bring your questions and pictures of your work.
Demonstrations
1. The 60 minute Peppermill – How to build the perfect mill. Quick finishes tools needed and why these specific tools.
2. Selling your work and pricing – What kits make money and which don’t. Etsy set up and run.