Bob Presents Bowl #41

What a beauty!  As you can see,  Bob is no beginner.  He's an experienced turner and active member of the Baltimore Area Turners.  He turned this bowl (vessel might be a better word for it) at the bowl turning party on that very hot day in July (see Aug 1, 2010 blog post).   #41 has some very distinctive red markings in the wood that according to Bob, "give the bowl some character".  Thanks for the photo Bob.  For more information about the Baltimore Area Turners and other woodturning clubs in the area, visit the Links Page on our website or the American Association of Woodturning website.

Ed Supik's Pine Tree

Many of you have been curious about The Tree.  Well, here's a photo of the original pine tree from Ed & Linda's  house in Forest Hill, Maryland .  The tree was planted in 1985.  It had been the family Christmas tree that season and after the holidays, it was planted near (as it turns out, a bit too near) their house.   This photo was taken the day tree was cut down. Ed's looking through his family albums for us to see if he can find a photo of the tree as it looked on Christmas morning in 1984. 

Sue Puts the Finishing Touches on Bowl #52

Sue sent us a photo of Bowl #52 turned in the shop on the very hot afternoon of July 24th.  Nice finishing job, Sue!  We have a beginning bowl turning class scheduled for Saturday, October 23rd and one on Sunday, November 21st.  Those will probably be the last few opportunities for new turners to be part of the for the One Tree, 100 Bowl Project.  If you've take a bowl turning class with Mark, we have an open studio day set for October 9th and we'll have some pine bowl blanks ready to go.  More about all of this on our website. 

Bowl #9, All Aglow!

Bill,  thanks for the photo of Bowl #9.  Bill turned this great bowl on April 18, 2010 in the bowl turning class.  And what a beautiful photo with the sun shining through those amber pockets! 

Bowls 23, 24, 29 & 30 -- Looking Good!

Thanks, Brian and Stacy, for the photo of bowls 23, 24, 29 and 30,  all turned on June 12, 2010 in the beginning bowl turning class.  Amazing work for first time woodturners!  Congratulations.  Hope you'll bring the bowls (and yourselves)  back to Baltimore for the bowl reunion party.

The Last of the Pine Tree

Ed & Mark brought the last logs from the tree down from Hartford County last weekend.   Mark & Joe got the chain saw out and sawed them into somewhat manageable logs.  Counting the 70 bowls we have turned, we should have plenty of pieces left to meet the 100 bowl goal.  A few of those bigger logs might have to be group projects.  It will take a team to lift them up onto the lathe.  Any volunteers?

Kini's Hand Sands Bowl #51

Kini brought bowl #51 by the shop this week.  The hand sanded finish is beautiful!  Hope she'll bring it back for the 'end of the project' party/show.  This one needs to be seen and touched to be fully appreciated.  The photo doesn't properly show-off those natural features (worm holes).  Congratulations, Kini!

Big Pine Bowl on the American Lathe

Here's a video of Mark roughing out a big pine bowl (#58) on the old American lathe. 

Dan's Granddaughter Decorates Bowl #49

Dan sent two photos of bowl #49 along with this story about the bowl's new owner.  Thanks, Dan.  Looks like bowl #49 is in good hands.

Nancy,  I’ve sent you two pictures of bowl #49.  I got the bowl home and put a number of coats of poly on it but the pine wood was very porous and just sucked up everything I put on it.  I also wasn’t totally thrilled with the basic shape of the bowl and was considering tossing it.  However, it just so happened that one of my granddaughters just returned from two years out of the country with her parents and had just painted her room (purple—she is 13) and she wanted a bowl to put some of her things in. So, I offered her the bowl and allowed her to paint it however she wanted.  The result is the painted bowl you see in the picture. So, we are now both happy.  Warmest regards, Dan

Need Sandpaper?

Tom asked about final sanding, once the bowls are dry.  We've got sandpaper here at the shop if you want to stop by and pick some up.  You'll need more than one grade.  You're also welcome to stop by and put the bowl back on the lathe and sand it that way.  Frank & Stacy both did this with their bowls and found it to be a big time saver.

Tom Puts Bowl #20 to Use

Thanks, Tom, for sending the photos of Bowl #20.   This was Tom's first bowl.  It was turned in May's Basic Bowl Turning Class.  We look forward to getting photos of other bowls as they find their new homes.

Turning Bowls on this Summer's Hottest Day

Well, we picked the hottest day of a very hot Baltimore summer for our bowl turning open studio day.  But in spite of the >100 degree thermometer reading, 13 bowl turners joined Mark in an effort to boost our bowl count for the Pine Bowl Turning Project.  Thanks Bob, Frank, Donna, Tim, Stacy, Brian, Gretchen, Mike, Dan, Kini, Sue, Dan & Joe for adding bowls 41 to 54 to our count.  We didn't even have to toast those bagels.

All Set for Tomorrow's Bowl Turning Party

Mark is getting the blanks ready for tomorrow's pine bowl turning party.  We have 14 turners signed up to join us.  I'm heading out this afternoon to get plenty of ice for those ice-cold drinks.  It's a bit on the warm side in the shop these days. Looking forward to seeing everyone.  Hope we can add 14 new bowls to the count!  Nancy

We're Having a
Bowl Turning Party!
(because we've got a lot more bowls to turn and could use some help)

When: Saturday, July 24th

Who’s invited: Any one who's taken a bowl turning workshop at Mark Supik & Co (and their guests)

When: 9 AM to 2 PM (give us a call to reserve a lathe for a 2 hour time block).

What's the plan? Mark will give a quick refresher course on bowl turning and then everyone will get a section of our pine tree for their bowl. We hope to get all the turning done in the shop, but the finishing can be done at home (we'll want you to send us a photo of the finished bowl).

Why you should join us:

• Great chance to catch up with fellow woodturning students and meet some new ones
• We'll have a bagel brunch buffet
• You'll be part of very cool project
• You can impress your friends with your bowl turning skills!
  

RSVP to reserve your lathe time: 9-11, 10-12, 11-1, 12-2.
(room for 7 turners at once)
Call Nancy 410-732-8414

June's Bowl Turning Class Turns Out 12 Bowls!

Brian, Stacy, George, Donna & Tim set a new class record turning out 12 bowls in one class. Thanks for agreeing to let us post your class photo.

Mike Blair's Bowl #8

Thanks, Mike, for sending us the photo of your finished bowl. Great photograph! Mike sent this bowl to his mother in Florida as a gift. Anyone else from Mike's class have their bowl finished? We'd love to have photos.

The Planet Bowl

Here's one of Mark's bowls with the finish on it. Danielle named Bowl #4 "The Planet Bowl" because of the six tiny orbiting pine knots. I'll put up a photo of Bowl #12 when it's finished, because it actually has 8 knots!

Amber Glow

The amber pockets in the pine a beautiful in the right light, even if the light is Mark's desk lamp. Here's Bowl #15, fresh off the lathe.

6 New Bowls from 6 New Woodturners

Thanks to our students on Sunday who agreed to participate in the 1 Tree, 100 Bowls project. Dan, Gretchen, Tom and Melissa started with chunks of the pine tree and ended up with bowls #16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. We’ll look forward to seeing photos of the finished bowls. Mark turned bowl 22 as a demonstration bowl.

One Tree .....

In March of 2010, Mark Supik, brother Ed and nephew Joe felled a storm damaged pine tree that was unstable and too close to Ed’s house in hickory, Maryland. They brought the pieces to Mark’s Baltimore City shop with a plan to use the wood for turning bowls. Some of the bowls Mark plans to turn himself and some will be turned by students in his workshops. Expecting that there was enough wood to create 100 bowls, we decided to document each bowl as it was turned. We’d like to follow the story of each bowl after it leaves the lathe and reaches it’s new home.