The October meeting was held on October 13 at Woodcraft in Peoria.

The October demo was a demonstration by Jerry Rhoads on how he turns hollow Christmas ornaments. We had 34 members in attendance and one guest, Dave Gleason. Welcome Dave, I hope you had a great visit.

The President's Challenge for November is to complete a Vessel of Illusion or to complete a bowl with one of the surface decorations that Trent demoed.

Terry Quiram discussed the club “Bring Back Piece”. The idea is to give a turner a blank to create an “Object D’art” to "bring back" and donate that piece to the club monthly raffle. There will be a "bring back" for each location. That will give the turner two months to complete the project. Joe Landon is doing the first Peoria bring back piece.

The 2009 Officer elections will be held at the November meeting in Bloomington. The slate so far is:

President - Dennis Belcher
Vice President - Frank Kobilsek
Secretary - Hod Bailey
Treasurer - Terry Quiram
Librarian - Joe Landon
Webmaster - Keith Zimmerman
Membership - Dave Carroll

The Sugar Grove Harvest Festival was October 18 in Funks Grove Illinois. Roger Alexander supplied photos of the event. The photos are available by clicking on Sugar Grove.

On the Tips page, there is a new document by Ken Christiansen about the art of criticism. It is a very good read and has a lot of insight into giving and receiving criticism. You can link to it here.

On Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, we hosted Trent Bosch, Internationally known turner, demonstrator, tool maker, and teacher.

The Saturday portion was an all-day demo where we had 33 attendees. Trent demonstrated his patented "Vessel of Illusion", a hollow form that appears to have a second form inside. It is a facinating process he uses to create this peice. He also turned a large bowl with a thick rim and used the rim to demonstrate different carving techniques for enhancing or decorating the rim. In additon, he also turned a thin platter to demonstrate the technique. Throughout each step of each piece, he took time to discuss the grain, the form, and the part of the tree and characteristics of the wood from that part of the tree. He also discussed, in detail, each tool he used and how it aids him in his work. Everything he talked about was passed around so everyone could examine it in detail.

Sunday was a 'hands-on' day where nine of us were able to work on any aspect of what was demonstrated on Saturday. We had people turning bowls, hollow forms, and doing some carving. Trent made it a point of spending time with each person, offering suggestions, and discussing options. It was a very enjoyable day and his sharing nature made it almost impossible to leave without learning something. Afterward, six of us got together with Trent over dinner, and talked about just about any topic there is about woodturning. It was a great way to finish off a great demonstration.

Photos are available by clicking on Trent Bosch.

Trent supplied us with a handout, covering everything he discussed. It is available on the Tips page or at Handout. CAUTION: This is very large file of 2700k.

One of the tools he showed us was a Golden Ratio gauge, a diagram of this tool is located here.

It's time to renew your membership for 2009. You should have already received a renewal form in your mail. You can also renew your membership online by logging into the members only site at http://woodturner.org/member/MemberLogOn.asp.

Ballots for three new AAW Board members have been cast, counted and the results are in. Congratulations to Dale Larson, Binh Pho and Cassandra Speier, who will join your AAW Board of Directors effective January 1, 2009. Our sincerest thanks go to all those who have volunteered their time and efforts to support our organization. Without your support, the AAW would not exist.

It's time to start making plans for next year's symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 26-28, 2009

Baby Fold (Normal) - John Katzke reports that the Baby Fold in Normal is asking for donations of ornaments for Christmas trees the organization sells to raise money. Each tree is "pre-decorated" then raffled off. Please keep the Christmas spirit alive all year by making two or three ornaments that are 2" -5" tall and weigh under 4 oz. Bring them to the Peoria Woodcraft store and they will be on display throughout the year.

Details of the requested ornaments are as follows:
• Each ornament tagged w/ makers name, wood types used, and value.
• Have them marked " Baby Fold/John Katzke"
• Deliver after November 15, so John has time to set up display area.

Almost everyone was a winner in the October Show-n-tell drawing as there were lots of blanks left over from the Trent Bosch demo. Frank Kobilsek won the platter and Harold Levin won the rimmed bowl from the Trent Bosch demo.

The following members shared and discussed their work with us:

Ken Baird - A small carved bowl and a small vessel
Jim Meizelis - A lidded bowl, a Christmas ornament, and a turned fishing pole
Dennis Belcher - Christmas ornaments
John Katzke - A walnut bowl
Harold Levin - A box of old (antique?) turning tools
Larry Moreau - A large, thick walled bowl and an off-center chuck
Roger Alexander - A square bowl and a spalted sycamore bowl
Keith Zimmerman - An off-center bowl, Christmas ornaments, and a finial box
Jerry Rhoads - Christmas ornaments
Joe Landon - A sculpted bowl, a dyed bowl, and a spalted vessel
Terry Quiram - A small maple vessel
Dick Coers - A box of tops
Dave Kraft - A rack of Christmas ornaments
Frank Kobilsek - Large ash and walnut bowls

See photos of our members showing their work at the October Show-n-tell.

The October demo was done by Jerry Rhoads. His subject was a hollow globe Christmas ornament. He showed his technique for hollowing the globe and turning the finials.