Report on our virtual meeting 07-01-2021

Our first meeting of the year was to be held on Thursday 7th January 2021, but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting had to be made into a virtual meeting. It was to be organised by Douglas Stewart and the subject matter was making wooden jewellery. You were all invited to take part in the virtual meeting by making something and sending the pictures of the items you made to me for publication on our web site. However the uptake was even less than usual with only 2 members taking part, those were Nick Simpson and myself.

This is what Nick had to say about his entry.

Morning Alec, Happy new Year.

Here are 3 pictures of brooches / shawl pins .They are all made from Cherry and measure approx 65 mm diameter, the pins are ebony. The decorations vary from coloured hot melt glue to pyrography and Bubinga inlay.

Please forgive the clash of tartans!

Kind regards

Nick Simpson.

Brooches by Nick Simpson.
Picture of the front of the brooches.
Picture of the back of the brooches.

I made some ear rings from laminated woods and also from a acrylic blank that would normally be used to make a pen.

These were made from 5 pieces of wood laminated then turned. Made by Alec Mutch.
These were the ear rings made from an acrylic blank. Made by Alec Mutch.

Our next meeting should be on the 21st January 2021, this is also being organised by Douglas Stewart and his subject matter is wooden toys and puzzles, the meeting will be a virtual meeting again, but you are all invited to make something for that meeting. Let us have a much better response to this next meeting than what happened for the last meeting.

Our Secretary Geoff Potter and our Treasurer Cliff Sim are still looking to get the membership renewals for 2021 in as soon as possible, do remember that if you have not renewed your membership by the 4th February 2021 you could find yourself having to go onto the waiting list as we will be taking all those on the waiting list that we have at present and that there is space for, so the sooner you renew your membership the better.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next virtual meeting 07-01-2021 wooden jewellery.

Our next meeting should be on Thursday 7th January 2021, however due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting will not be taking place at our clubhouse instead we are making this meeting a virtual meeting online only. It was to be organised by Douglas Stewart and the subject matter was making wooden Jewellery, we are inviting you all to make something along this line, it can be a neckless, a pair of ear rings, a bangle or anything related to jewellery.

Whatever you make take some pictures and send them to me along with some information on what you have made and from what wood etc, I will post them on our web site and facebook page, we are looking to get a good response to this subject from as many of you as possible.

Here are a few ideas for items of jewellery made from wood.

Here are just a few ideas, you do not need to follow any of these exactly but use them for examples of what can be made, but put your own take on them.

Send your pictures and text to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com.

You have until Friday 8th February 2021 to get your pictures to me.

On a different note, I have just received the information on those who have paid their subscription for 2021, it would appear that only 1/3 of our 2020 membership have paid for the 2021 membership. We know the club has all but ceased to function due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it is still very important that you all take up your membership as you would normally have done in order for the club to survive. So please renew your membership before the AGM meeting that would have been held on the 4th February 2021.

We do have several people on our waiting list wanting to join the club who will be offered a place should there be spaces after the 4th February 2021, anyone who has not renewed their membership by that date will loose their place or have to go back onto the waiting list.

We hope 2021 will be a better year for the club, but in the meantime keep safe and we hope to see you all later in the year.

Happy new year for 2021.

The committee for the Highland woodturners would like to wish all their members, friends and on line observers a very Happy New Year, we hope 2021 will bring us back together for our meetings once again now that a vaccine has been found, in the meantime keep safe , follow the rules and save lives.

We will be continuing with the web site and facebook posts as we have been doing since the first lockdown, if any of you have anything to contribute to the website for the benefit of the club members, please send them to me and I will make up a post with your information.

On behalf of the committee for Highland Woodturners have a happy new year and we hope to see you all as soon as possible.

Christmas Greetings. 2020

The committee for Highland Woodturners would like to take this opportunity to wish all our members, friends and on line observers a very merry Christmas. We hope to resume our meetings as soon as is possible in 2021, in the meantime stay safe and we hope to see you all some time in the coming year.

Report on our virtual meeting 10-12-2020 Christmas Competition.

Our meeting scheduled for Thursday 10th December 2020 should have been our Christmas Competition, this could not take place due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19 regulations still in place, instead we made it a virtual meeting and you were all invited to make something with a Christmas theme, it could have been anything at all as long as it was relevant to Christmas. The response was as usual very poor with the same few members putting in all the entries, those were Dave Line, David Ross, Nick Simpson, myself and I included a picture from Bill Henderson from a previous Christmas competition.

Here is just a taste of what’s in the gallery in this post,

Just a few of the entries from those already mentioned.

I would have normally done this post in the picture gallery, however there are some gremlins in that system at present, so a standard post has been done instead, hopefully we can have the gremlins sorted out before the next post.

Our next meeting should be on the 7th January, it will be a virtual meeting on the subject of jewellery and would have been organised by Douglas Stewart.

I along with the HWC committee would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

We can only hope next year will be better than this year and that we can get back to some near normal meetings.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next virtual meeting 10-12-2020 Christmas Competition.

Our next meeting would have been on Thursday 10th December 2020, however with the Covid-19 restrictions still in force this has had to be changed to a virtual meeting. We are also abandoning the competition part of this meeting. We would like you all to make something with a Christmas theme the choice is up to you then to send me the pictures of what you have made, remembering to give me some information with your pictures, do also remember you can put forward more than one picture.

Here are a few examples of the type of thing you could make, or if you prefer to make something with your own initiative that will be perfectly fine, as long as you do make something.

Here are some examples of Christmas decorations that are made on the lathe.
Page 2 of 3 Christmas decorations.
Page 3 of 3 Christmas decorations.

These are just a small selection of things that can be made for Christmas, you may well, have something of your own in mind, it does not matter what you make there will be no judgement, just finish the year with a flurry of entries.

You will have until Friday 11thDecember 2020 to make and send your entry or entries. Send them to me at,

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Report on our virtual meeting 26-11-2020 Lamp bases.

Our virtual meeting on Thursday 26th November 2020 was about making lamp bases, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had to be changed to a virtual meeting. You were all invited to take part in this virtual meeting but as is often the case very few of you took part, nevertheless we are very grateful to those who did take the time to take part. We ended up with 5 people willing and able to show their work, those were Bill Munro, David Ross, Dave Line, Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you just a taste of what’s in the gallery from some of the entries, including a timeline from myself on how a table lamp was made from 2 bowling balls.

This was made by Dave Line.
This was made by Nick Simpson.
This was made by Bill Munro.
This was made by David Ross.
This is my entry, a table lamp made from 2 bowling balls.

The following gallery will give you some more detail on all of the items shown here, it will also include the timeline of the lamp made from 2 bowling balls made by myself.

For a larger picture of any in the gallery, just click the picture, this will also allow you to read the text with each picture.

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 10th December 2020, it should have been our Christmas competition and raffle draw meeting, as this cannot happen we will do another virtual meeting on that date, the theme will be Christmas ofcourse, so anything to do with Christmas will be acceptable. Lets make this meeting one to remember and have lots and lots of entries.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Our next virtual meeting 26-11-2020, Lamp bases.

Our next meeting should be held on Thursday 26th November 2020, but due to the Covid-19 restrictions still in place this meeting will now be held virtually. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim and Cliff’s theme for the meeting was making lamp bases, any type of lamp can be made it’s your choice. Remember there are other types of lamps that can be made and from lots of different sources even recycling from something else.

I will give you a couple of examples on what I mean from recycling,

This lamp and small bowl were made from 2 bowling balls that I recycled, I will give you the full procedure for this lamp base in the next post after I have received your entries.
This lamp too was made from a recycled table leg, only the base plate was new and had to be stained to match the original part of the table leg. I had 4 of these, all were made into lamps the rest of the table was made into various other items mainly on the lathe.

You are all invited to take part in Cliff’s lamp bases, don’t let him down by not entering, we want to see a very good entry from as many of you as possible.

Don’t worry about making just the base without all the electrical bit and bobs, it’s your idea for the base we want to see, we all know what the other bits look like.

Get your entries to me by the end of the day on Friday 27th November and I will post them on our web site, we need a good response.

Pictures and text to;

a.j.mutch4321@btinternet.com

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.

Report on our virtual meeting 12-11-2020

Our meeting on the 12th November 2020 had to be made into a virtual meeting due to the Covid-19 restrictions still being in operation. The meeting was to be arranged by Cliff Sim his theme was to be making wooden boxes on the lathe. We kept to the theme when we asked you all to make a box or two for the virtual meeting. The response was very poor with only 4 people taking part, those were David Ross, Dave Line , Nick Simpson and myself.

I will give you a feel for what sent in and a following gallery of all the entries along with some comments from each turner.

Made by Dave Line.
Made by David Ross.
Made by Nick Simpson.

Here is the picture gallery of all the entries, just click any picture for a larger view and also for the text attached to each picture.

We do hope this gallery of some of the members work will encourage you to also take part in future posts. It’s not difficult, don’t get too hung up on being perfect with everything, we would just like to see you taking part, I’ll doctor the pictures if needed and also deal with the text that you give me, so please do take part.

The next meeting will also be a virtual meeting again being organised by Cliff Sim and for this meeting Cliff would like to see you making lamp bases, any type, any size. This meeting is scheduled for the 26th November 2020.

Once you have made your lamp base send the pictures to me along with some information on what you have made, don’t worry if you do not have all the electrical parts needed, we all know what they look like, what we want to see is the lamp base you produce.

Our next virtual meeting 12-11-2020 Boxes.

Our next meeting should be on the 12th November 2020, it was to be organised by Cliff Sim but due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions this meeting will now be a virtual meeting. Cliff had wanted the meeting to feature making boxes, we can still make some boxes for Cliff, all you have to do is make a box or 2, any shape any size, once made photograph them and send the pictures to me for publication, give me some info on your box or boxes, things like the size and the wood it’s made from.

I will give you some pictures of the type of thing you could make, the first picture has quite a few boxes you could use for ideas, the second lot of pictures will be in a picture gallery of individual boxes with some instructions on how they were made. Pick a box or 2 from any of the pictures and see if you can make one or 2 similar.

Here are a few examples of turned boxes that may help you to select a design you like and that you will copy, any slight variation would be more than welcome, or you could just make a box or 2 of your own design.

The picture Gallery follows, here you will see 10 different boxes with some instruction on how they were made. Just click any of the pictures to get a bigger picture and to be able to read the text.

Come on everyone make a box or 2 and make Cliff happy, you have no excuse if it’s ideas you need you have them here.

Once you make your box or boxes, send your pictures to me at;

a.j.mutch4321@btintenet.com

You have until Friday the 13th November 2020 to get your entries to me for publication on our club web site. I look forward to seeing them.

Do remember the clubhouse remains closed.