12 September 2026 Club Meeting

 The met at the St Ignace High School wood shop for the first time this year.   The shops have been remodeled.  The metal shop was transformed into an area where students can build large out buildings and thereby learning construction skills.   We set up in the woodshop with many show and tell items as well as some bring backs for the raffle.  

 Here are some pictures of the show and tell items members made.  

There were quite a few show and tell items of many different types.  

 

This vase was made from a burl and has many natural openings created by the tree.

Two platters were made with an interesting design cut into the inside lip of the platter,  Behind the platters are two cell phone horns to direct and improve the sound from you cell phone.  When placed on their sides the horns have a slot for you cell phone to set in so the sound from the phones bottom speakers are directed out.  This was tested during the meeting and greatly improved the music sound from the phone.

Gary Weirmiller brought in some items he made many years ago.   Four bells and a box with a hole in the top.   Gary said he made it in two pieces and glued them together.   

Archie Patterson made three hollow balls.  The light one, back left, made from oak, did not come out as spherical as he wanted so he made two more from aromatic cedar and developing a method to get them more spherical in shape.

Here are two beautiful platters.  Not the one on the right was made from a crotch and has some of the feathering grain of the crotch wood.   Well done.

There was a variety of bring back items.

This is a round section of maple.

 

This is a round section of Hemlock.

Here are two sections of Apple wood.

These are two section of burl wood.  

This is an old pressure cooker that can be turned into a pressure pot to cure resin.
 

 Jim Rutledge was kind enough to share some of his knowledge on wood burning that he uses in much of his carving.   Here is his presentation.

 Steve Promo also presented how to turn spindles.  He has a current project to turn several hundred spindles for a hotel on Mackinac Island.    Here is his presentation.  

 

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9 May 2026 Club Meeting

 On 9 May the Club members met at Sam Staffan's shop, in Mackinaw City, Michigan, with Show & Tell and many Bring Back items for the raffle.  Here are some pictures of the items.   First pictures are of the Bring Back items.

Bring Back items on the right.

 

Bring Back items included blanks of Ash and Cherry.

Many of the Bring Backs were finished items to share with members thru the raffle.  This is a top view of some of the items.

Here are some of the many Show and Tell items.

Many of the items have cut and polished stones incorporated.

The diversity and ingenuity are amazing and members freely explain how they did it.

Jim Rutledge is center background.

Carvings added to the items lids add character.  

Steve Promo had an interesting story for this item.  The vase is end grain turned and thru the crack you can see the wall thickness.  However, Steve said he made the top and bottom caps fit snug inside the openings so when the vase contracted it had resistance as it compressed around the caps.  The stress was relieved by the wood cracking.  

  After the Raffle there were two presentations / demonstration of using a skew and alternates to make rounded beaded sections on a spindle.   Part I was done by Jim Rutledge and Part II was done by Steve Promo.  Here are the videos of the demonstrations.   

First Part I by Jim Rutledge.

 Part II of the Skew discussion was by Steve Promo and follows:

 Many thanks to the members who brought things in and to Jim Rutledge and Steve Promo for doing the demonstrations and discussing making beads on a spindle.

Portrait Trio

 A trio of Gambel's Quail portraits.  This time of the year they are pretty plentiful.  

GMC Portrait

 Last Friday Gloria and I visited the Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior AZ.  WE had been there before, but it has been awhile.  WE got on the road pretty late so it was nearly 11 am by the time we arrived.  This wasn't a photography outing. so the harsh light wasn't a biggie ...but I did bring a camera.

There are a lot of very large Eucalyptus trees there and in fact Gloria is sitting on a cutoff from a tree that was cut up.  

Dogwood

Our trip to Yosemite was timed for the Dogwood blooms. But the dogwoods were a bit impatient this year and by the time we got there the blooms were wrapping up.  I did find a few blooms still in decent shape.  One is pictured here.  The Pacific Dogwood flowers are quite large, 3 - 6 inches across and are more creamy in color.  

Northern Cardinal

 While not as commonly found here in the southwest as they are in the Midwest, I do occasionally find one in my viewfinder. 

This guy was in some direct midmorning light Thursday morning during a Photoclub outing.  

Nesting Great Horned Owl

 I found out about this nesting site a few weeks ago and didn't have a camera with me.  Yesterday I was back in that area and checked the nesting site and she was still on the nest.  The male was near by as well but in heavy foliage, so no pick.  This was shot with a 500mm prime so I didn't need to get too close.

I grabbed a few quick shots and left the area. Fortunately she was looking my way in couple of them.

Tunnel View

 A late afternoon  image looking into Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View.

Mirror Lake

 Mirror Lake in Yosemite National Park with a few rain drops.  A seasonal lake on Tenaya Creek.  

The proud parents

 The proud parents.  Image was made last Saturday morning during my photo walk at Desert Meadows Park in Green Valley AZ.  A pair of Gambler's Quail with their chicks.  

Island

 Island in the Stream,  Merced River in Yosemite Valley.  

Your singing the lyrics aren't you?   Kenny Rogers & Dolly

Dead Tree Portfolio

While visiting the Yosemite Valley area last week we were in the Swinging Bridge area of the valley our first morning.  That is where this dead tree, lit by natures spotlight, t caught my attention.  So naturally I photographed the crap out of it.  So the result is this little portfolio.

Yosemite Falls

 An image of Yosemite Falls as seen from the Swinging Bridge area.  Early morning as a spring storm clears.

Swinging Bridge

 I believe this is  an image of Swinging Bridge in Yosemite Valley.   I made this our first morning in the Valley.

Silver Strand Fall

 This image was made just as the sun was rising.  We were standing just off the road in th eTunnel View parking lot of Yosemite National Park.  In the image are th lesser know Silver Strand Falls.  They are a seasonal water fall in a few weeks will probable stop flowing.  Because of the fresh bright snow the smaller falls kind of are lost in the image.  Hopefully the v shape to the ridge line will guide your eyes to cascade.  The bright colored leaves of a single tree could  be a distraction, or a secondary interest point? As for myself, I can't decide...keep it in or tone down the red/orange leaves?

Bobcat

  I made this image of a bobcat while at Yosemite Falls.  It was very near the lower falls, just maybe 10 yards off the paved trail.  There is a story to go with this cat sighting that I may share in a future post. 

Leica SL3 with a Sigma 500mm prime, 1/800sec, f/5.6, iso 8000, handheld. 

11 April 2026 Club Meeting

The 11 April 2026 club meeting met at Sam Staffan's shop.   There were extensive Show and Tell items as well as bring backs.  All who bought tickets for the raffle went home with an item.  

 

Some of the Show and Tell items and some of the Bring Back items for the raffle.

 

Jim Rutledge brought in several wonderfully carved items.

More wonderful member items.  Carved fish and birds.

More wonderful items that were discussed including a bowl made to look like a volcano with lava flow.

This bowl has multiple curves top and bottom.

Another view of the carvings.  Note the leaves on the bowl topped with a bird.

Sam explained his magic floating candle.  Look close and you can just make out the fishing line.

With the right background the fishing lines are very hard to see.  It looks like candle holder is floating.  Neat work.

Sam make this bowl look like a volcano with lava flowing down.   Very nice, indeed.

Sam was nice enough to explain  how he did the work on this bowl.  

There was a demo by Steve Promo of making a bird feeder from nothern white cedar. 

 Please send comments to HiawathaTurners@gmail.,com

 

13 December 2025 Pre Christmas Club Meeting

 Many of the members go south for the winter but this year many of those were still here for December so the Club decided to have a meeting where members would bring Christmas ornaments for show and tell and bring on ornament to be given to another member in a drawing.  There were a lot of items that brought joy to our hearts on the the tables this December.  Here are a few pictures:

There were so many great items that getting them in one picture was difficult and did not really show off the skills and beauty of the items.  So more pictures were taken.  

Here is an Ash serving disk, minus the treats and three great looking boxes, i.e. bowls with lids.

Top center is an offset turning.  The bowls are actually turned from the wood and were not added on.  Imagine turning the bowls with that large piece of wood spinning around,   Well done Sam.  If that Crispy Cream Donut, in the center, looks good enough to eat don't.  It is a hollow wood turning.  Another one of Sam's great work.

Here is another view of all the items.  The boxes with fish on top were done by Jim who is an expert carver.  More great work from Jim. 

 

I had to add this one to show off the great our members do.  Top is an inside-out turning, Center is Sam's offset turning and bottom is Jim's carved fish on top of a bow.   Fantastic work. 

Sam decide that the meeting need a mascot so he made this boy holding a sign.

This is a tree Sam made putting branches on a post and then hanging some of his ornaments on it.  More great work by Sam. 

Left is a serving bowl by Archie, minus the treats and then three boxes, two with stones on the lids.   More great work.

here is a wonderful bowl with tree ornaments inside 

On another table were these turnings.  Center are three finished bowls in front of three rough turned bowls of the same design waiting to be finished.  Center are three candle sticks by Steve and right are three Candle sticks by Kate.  .  

Here is a close up of the off set turning by Sam.  Just thinking about turning the bowls while the whole thing is spinning around on the lathe amazes me.    Well done Sam.  Beautiful wood and beautiful work.

Here is a close up of Jim's fish carvings on his bowls.  Fantastic work, Jim.

Two more close-ups of Jim's fantastic work. 

Here is a close up of some of the ornaments turned.  

 

Many thanks to all the members who brought items for show and tell and for bringing ornaments for other members to take home.  All, of which, build great memories.  If you turn wood or want to learn about turning wood or carving wood contact us and come to our meetings.   See you in the Spring of 2026.

Marry Christmas to all and to all a good night.