Syzygy ... » Musings

AAW Symposium 2010 – Teapot Exhibition

Keith Larrett — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:50:59 +0000

Teapots are so cool, and there were some amazing Teapots on display at a special exhibition at the 2010 AAW Symposium in Hartford, Connecticut.

It was really striking how each artist put their own voice to the piece, even when a teapot was something they did not normally make.

Getting back on the horse

Keith Larrett — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:19:16 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to my blog. Too long, I’ve missed it.

Work in the construction field here in Florida picked up in February, and robbed me of a lot of time and energy to write in my blog. Of course when I did have the time I seemed to have lost the habit of regularly posting. However, I can’t just use the excuse of work. At the beginning of the year I also started back an old passion of mine. One which I had not done for nearly five years. Skydiving. After telling myself for years how I wanted to get back in the air and in particular start taking photographs again, I was asked to film a memorial jump for a friend. The timing seemed so right. It was a real honor to be asked to film the jump and it provided the impetus to get back in the air again.

Of course, jumping put more demands on my time, however I’ve promised myself to devote the time to updating my blog on a regular basis. Hopefully, with a bit of discipline, I’ll make it a habit!

In June I was fortunate enough to attend the AAW Symposium in Connecticut, Hartford. What an experience! It was like trying to drink from a fire hose! So much to see, so much to learn, so much inspiration and motivation! I came away in awe of the talent I saw.

I thought I would get started over the next week or two by sharing some of the images that I took at the Symposium of the various galleries and demonstrations. Here are some images of pieces that were donated to the Auction held after the banquet.

2010 Florida Woodturning Symposium

Keith Larrett — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:31:48 +0000

This last weekend I attended the Florida Woodturning Symposium in Lake Yale, FL. To say that I had a great weekend is an understatement! It was such a pleasure to be able to immerse myself in wood turning for three days.

My trip started out early Friday morning. I had to leave the house before 6am to get to the venue as I was scheduled to do a workshop with Dixie Biggs at 8:30am on Friday. The workshop was great. Dixie, is obviously a great teacher as well as an amazing artist. I have just started to get into carving, my rotary carver is barely broken in yet, and was concerned that I might be “that guy” holding the rest of the class back. Fortunately most of the class was in the same situation, although I think Dixie is more than capable of handling a class with a variety of experience levels. There were only seven of us in the class, so we were really able to get some one on one time with Dixie.

I was also pleased that I was able to get some valuable information about what burrs to buy. I had been doing some research and with the huge assortment available I was getting pretty confused. I was starting to feel that if you ever think you have run out of tools to throw your money at, then you should get into power carving. Dixie gave us a list of a dozen or so burrs to bring to the class, and it seems that this will be a good selection to get started with.

After the workshop, the demonstration rotations started. Well, truth be told, we had lunch after the workshop and then the rotations started. It quickly became obvious that wood turners like to eat and they like to eat often!!

The list of demonstrators that I managed to see over the weekend were as follows:

Rudolp Lopez
Michael Mocho
Dale Nish
Nick Cook
Alan Leland
Larry Hasiak

Al Hockenbery was also demonstrating, but I did not see him as he recently did a full day demonstration and a full day workshop for our wood turning club.

Watching a total of eight demonstrations over a 48 hour period can be a bit of information overload! I plan on posting about some of the demonstrations over the next couple of weeks, as I process the information. I learnt a lot and there were a number of things that I saw which left me thinking, “I have to try that!”

In between the demonstrations and all the meals, I spent plenty of time in the main auditorium area where the vendors and the instant gallery were set up. While the vendors provided plenty of irresistible temptation, the instant gallery was a constant source of inspiration and motivation! I’m always amazed at the talent and creativity I see from other turners.

I took plenty of pictures of the pieces that I really liked and have created an album for those not lucky enough to be there. You can view it at this link. I hope you enjoy the images!

Opt out of Phone Books

Keith Larrett — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:57:12 +0000

It’s that time of the year again. At the beginning of each year we start getting a ton of paper left at our front door in the form of phone books. It drives me nuts. I can’t remember the last time I used a phone book to look up a number or a business. In this internet age if I need to find information I turn to my computer and a search engine. To my mind the yellow and white pages, at least the print form, are obsolete.

The image below shows the pile of phone books which I carried to our recycle bin this morning. Not one of these were ever opened, nor were any of them ever requested. They were just dumped on my doorstep.

This year I resolved to do something about it. My first instinct was to go to the source of the problem at yellowpages.com Well, that proved a bit fruitless. Ten to fifteen minutes of searching on their site proved that if they had an opt out option available, they didn’t want anyone to find it.

After some more searching on the internet I came across a movement called Yellow Pages Goes Green. Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org is an organization working to educate consumers and promote a movement to eliminate unsolicited delivery of Yellow and White Pages books. You fill out a simple form on their site and they will contact the publishers on your behalf and inform them that you have chosen to “opt out” of delivery of the phone books. After filling out the form you will receive an e-mail and there is a link in the e-mail which you must click on to confirm your sign up. The service is free to you.

Looking at the pile of books that I had heading out to the recycle bin, I realized that not all of them were the Yellow Pages. A bit more research and I found another website, Yellow Pages Opt Out. By entering my zip code at this site I was able to get a list of publishers that distributed in my local area. This included my local Chamber of Commerce, Yellow Book, AT & T and The Complete Phone Book. The list also included phone numbers and e-mail addresses to contact in order to opt out.

Another large publisher of phone books is Dex. They do not distribute in my area, but you can get opr out information by entering your zip code at Select Your Dex.

Some interesting statistics from Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org

Over 500 million of these directories are printed every year. That is nearly two books for every person in the country! These directories produce a staggering amount of waste, not only in terms of misused natural resources but also in filling of valuable landfill space.

To produce 500 million books:

19 million trees need to be harvested

1.6 billion pounds of paper are wasted

7.2 million barrels of oil are misspent in their processing (not including the wasted gas used for their delivery to your doorstep)

268,000 cubic yards of landfill are taken up

3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity are squandered

The cost associated with the delivery and disposal of these books is exorbitant. Unfortunately, these unsolicited costs fall heavily on consumers. Why are we paying for something that was delivered to our homes and offices that we did not ask for?

A tour of the blog

Keith Larrett — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:41:26 +0000

A recent comment by a reader made me think it might be helpful to describe some of the features here on my blog. I’ll start with a definition of a blog:

From Wikipedia:

“A blog (a contraction of the term “weblog“)is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.”

To put it in simple terms, it is a list of entries that have been made with the latest entry at the top. My blog currently has about 75 entries and displays the latest 5 entries on the home page, so when you get to the bottom of the page feel free to click on “older entries” and you will see the next five on the list.

Use this button to search the entire blog. Simply type your search term in the box and hit "enter"

Because of the way a blog is structured finding certain information can be difficult. I am working on an index of entries but until then you can search the entire blog by using the search button found in the top right hand corner of each page.

Subscribe via RSS or e-mail

Because the content of a blog is updated every couple of days it’s often convenient to subscribe to a blog and have the latest content delivered to you rather than having to revisit the site. You can subscribe by clicking on either of the three buttons in the top right of each page.

Clicking on “Posts” will subscribe you via RSS. RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. I’m no technical guru, but basically you use a feed site (I use Google Reader) and that site will collect the latest content from all the sites you have subscribed to and deliver it for you to read in one place. It works really well if you follow a couple of blogs, as you can just go to your Google Reader page and any new content from the sites you subscribe to will be waiting there for you. A lot more convenient than having to go to a bunch of different sites.

Clicking on “By Email” will allow you to subscribe via e-mail. You simply enter your e-mail address. You will receive an email asking you to click on a link to confirm your subscription. Once you do that your subscription is activated. You will receive an e-mail with the latest content each time it is posted on the blog. If you wish to cancel the subscription there is a link in each e-mail allowing you to do so.

Follow the blog on Face Book

Another convenient way to access the content if you are on Facebook is to click on the “Follow this blog” button found on the left side of each page. It will open a window allowing you to sign on to your Facebook page. Any new posts made on the blog will then automatically appear on your Facebook homepage.

Share a post

At the end of each post you will see a group of buttons as shown in the image above. These allow you to share a post that you think your friends might find interesting on a number of different social networking sites, Stumble Upon, Digg, del.icio.us, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. I would certainly appreciate it if you shared any posts like that.

The first of this group of buttons allows you to print an article for future reference. It will allow you to print just the article without the various header and sidebar information shown on the site. It will also give you an option to save the article as a PDF on your computer.

Social Bookmarks

The Social Bookmark buttons found towards the top left of each page are simply another method to share an interesting post on various social networking sites. The subscribe buttons are another method to subscribe via e-mail or by RSS reader of your choice.

Comment on a post

At the end of each post there is a box where you can leave a comment or question about the post. It will not show up immediately as the comments are moderated. I don’t moderate them in order to just choose comments that I like, I moderate them because a lot of spam gets posted and that is deleted. Any constructive comments, regardless of whether you agree with me or not will appear on the site. It would be really great to see more comments posted and to get some feedback !

Interesting Links

At the top of the left side bar you will see a “Interesting Links”. They are links to the following sites:

Zambezi Exotics is an online store that I own. I carry a range of bowl blanks, spindle stock and pen blanks in Southern African woods. Species include black stinkwood, olive ironwood, red milkwood, Zambezi teak and many others. The site is secure and payment is possible via Paypal or credit card. There is also a newsletter subscription.

Syzygy Pens is the online store where I sell my pens. I will also be offering other turned pieces in the near future.

Works of Art is the gallery in Jacksonville, FL where I am showing my work along with a group of friends from my woodturning club.

Exotic Blanks is an online store operated by some good friends of mine. They offer a huge assortment of pen blanks that are out the ordinary, unusual …. exotic!

Visual Expressions is a blog showcasing some of my skydiving photography. Totally unrelated to woodturning or woodworking, but you might find it of interest.

Navigation Tabs

The navigation tabs at the top left of the page will take you to the following pages:

About - A little bit about me.

Gallery - Images of some of my work.

Contact - A contact form should you wish to get in touch with me.

Show your Support - I have created an affiliate store with Amazon. In this store you will only find books and tools that I have purchased and used. If you purchase any of the products here I will receive a small commission and it won’t cost you anything. I don’t expect to be able to retire from the commissions I receive, but it would be nice to cover the hosting fees of my website. If you enjoy the content on my Blog it would be great if you make your Amazon purchases through this page.

Woodturning Online

Keith Larrett — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:27:16 +0000

A recent article I wrote on Making a Board Game on the Lathe is the featured article for this month at Woodturning Online. Another article, Turn a wooden mallet with an oval handle has been added to the Turning Projects.

For those of you who are not familiar with Woodturning Online, it is a great resources for woodturners. It features numerous projects and articles from a wide assortment of woodturners.

Turning Arts Group

Keith Larrett — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:01:04 +0000

I am fortunate to be part of a very talented group of turners who have formed the Turning Arts Group. We have been showing our work at Works of Art in Jacksonville, FL.

Yesterday, July 18th, 2009, we had our grand opening. The event went very well. We had a nice crowd attend and they enjoyed the work we had on show. The festivities included finger food, wine tasting and live music.

I’ve posted some pictures I took of the opening in my gallery. You can see them by following this link.

American Cancer Society benefit

Keith Larrett — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:24:46 +0000

Works of Art, the gallery where I am showing some of my work, have donated a booth to the American Cancer Society in support of “Strides against Breast Cancer”. The goal is to raise $4,000 so several artists & craftsmen have placed work in this booth with price tags marked from 20% to 100% of the sales price being donated.

Included in the booth is this pen that I have donated 100% of the proceeds to the American Cancer Society. The Gallery will be running a benefit this afternoon with live music, free food, wine and beverages. Part of the festivities will be a silent auction and this pen is one of the items in the auction.

American Cancer Society benefit

Excuse the dust

Keith Larrett — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:33:40 +0000

I am making some major changes to my blog. I have installed a new Theme which has a cleaner look and more options. I’m hoping that it will make for a more pleasant browsing experience.

It may take me a couple of weeks to get everything figured out, so please excuse the dust while construction is in progress.

Any feedback on the changes would be appreciated. Thanks.

Marketing and Art

Keith Larrett — Sun, 17 May 2009 10:45:09 +0000

I attended a talk on Marketing and Art. The talk was given by Kevin Monahan, the Special Projects Director for the Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida. The talk was hosted by Works of Art Gallery.

Kevin was a very personable and engaging speaker. He first defined marketing as being everything that one does prior to making a sale. A pretty broad definition that encompasses a lot. He spoke of the importance of networking. He said it was important to be viewed as an expert in your field as well as a resource for information.

I was pleased to hear him speak about the value of viral marketing through Facebook, blogs, twitter etc. It sounded like I was on the right track with my efforts. For the most part I’d rather be in my workshop making sawdust, so it was good to hear that the time I was spending on my marketing efforts was not going to waste.

Lastly Kevin gave us a list of Tips for Artists in Business and there was a group discussion on some of the points:

Do what you love. Doing what you don’t love isn’t going to be any easier.
Take control of your own destiny.
Fame or fortune? Make a choice!
Confront your fears.
Seek help from people who are where you want to be.
Opportunities often come under the guise of hard work.
Press on regardless.
It’s about you.
Quality or quantity? Make a choice.
Do a little bit everyday.
Maintain integrity.
Create best sellers.
Learn business skills.

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