Ladies and Gentlemen,
It’s said that March comes in like a Lion and leaves like Lamb. We certainly had a strong dose of that being true this year! The severe winds and violent weather caused our DAW Board meeting to be postponed. We did persevere and carried out the business of the club. I am fortunate to have a great group of gentlemen to work with.
Thursday February 23 was an excellent day and we were blessed with good weather for the Empty Bowls event at the North Texas Food Bank’s Perot Family Campus. This event was a sellout! We represented the DAW with an outdoor demonstration of bowl turning. In spite of a chilly breeze, we used a nice tent and outdoor space heaters to create a space which was not uncomfortable. Having the breeze blocked by the tent and the heaters providing some warmth, many groups of people came to visit and learn a bit about how wooden bowls are made. Special Thanks to John Holderman, Jeff Edwards, and Glen Boudreaux. Together we put on a good demonstration of woodturning skills. We distributed a total of 239 bowls and the “Bowl a Thon” generated over $1600 for helping people with much needed meals. To everyone who made a bowl, donated and sponsored the “Bowl a Thon” Thank You! Now it’s time to get busy with making Bowls for Empty Bowls 2024. A bowl a month club has been started. When you come to the meeting there is a special table to drop off your bowls. We need just a little information about your bowl. Your name, the wood and finish. We will keep track of the bowls made and ultimately have a special drawing for those who contribute to the Bowl a month club or just donate some beautiful bowls for the cause. We will need many more to join in this effort if we are to best this year’s results in 2024.
Now the focus is on making Beads of Courage Boxes and Pens for the Veterans Court. Lou Boudreaux has designed a beautiful segmented BoC box design and kits with the segments pre-cut are available. If you are not comfortable with the process of making these boxes there are mentors including Lou who are willing to help you. Segmented work is an incredibly creative area of wood turning and making these boxes is a great way to get introduced to this element of our craft. As with most things there are many routes to success.
At last month’s meeting we were honored by a visit from the Honorable Judge John Roach made possible by Mark Ledbetter and Chris Cohen to explain the Veterans Court process and the need for custom pens for our veterans who are able to complete this program. These young men and women have made great sacrifices to keep us free to have things like wood turning clubs. I believe the effort to give them a beautiful commemorative pen to celebrate their achievement and return to a normal state of citizenship is well worth our effort. Chris Cohen is working to get us a source for the pen kits at reduced rates just for this project. More to come!
Our March demonstrator is Neal Brand of the Golden Triangle club in Denton. Neal will delight with some of his quick, cool & unique small projects that sell in the craft shows. Be sure to check the web page for information regarding our April classes with Cory White, White House Woodworks, where wood is art. Cory will do the April Demo and classes on Friday and Saturday. Check the events page on the web site for our plans for the future. As we head into the busy Spring I’m reminded, to Everything there is a season: Turn, Turn, Turn! – Kevin Bassett