I began woodturning in Victoria during the 70’s in order to make a bedroom suite. With a used lathe and a basic box of tools
I naively set out to turn a set of posts for a waterbed, teaching myself by reading books. Although it was frustrating to learn the
basic techniques, I loved the process of sculpting something out of a piece of wood. Feeling limited by laminated dimensional lumber
and looking for different material to work with, I discovered a piece of figured poplar while gathering firewood. I just couldn’t
bring myself to burn it in the fireplace and decided to have a go at it with the lathe. This new source of wood opened up endless
possibilities. The wood’s figures and grain patterns, which are not as evident in dimensional lumber, turned out to be a dream to
work with.
A career change resulted in a move to Burnaby where I got married and started a family, putting woodturning on the back
burner. Fate intervened through a chance meeting at a local tool store when someone mentioned that a local woodturning guild was being
formed. My passion for woodturning was re-ignited when I joined this new guild. I have been a member of the Greater Vancouver Woodturners
Guild ever since, serving on the executive in many roles including my current position as educational coordinator.
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