Monthly Meeting Highlights - Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild

Home2025 Monthly Meeting Highlights

2025: MONTHLY MEETING HIGHLIGHTS and SHOW & TELL PHOTOS

January - December 2025

December Meeting

Member Appreciation Luncheon

The annual Member Appreciation Luncheon was held at the December monthly meeting and included lunch & desserts (yum!), a gift exchange, member-made ornaments at the tables, great conversions, and the Turning Contest. OVWG President, Jerry Warner, expressed his appreciation for the support provided by members, volunteers, mentors, and instructors. Symposium Chair Doug Glessner thanked the many volunteers who made the Turning 2025 symposium a successful event.

Congratulations to John Richey who was awarded as the Honorary Lifetime Member for 2025.

Special thanks to members who entered the Wig Stand Contest or directly donated wig stands to help support cancer patients. The entrants demonstrated a wide variety of styles including embellishment, basket illusion, segmenting, wood burning, inside-out, multi-axis, and figurines — each one was unique.

For those who would like to make and donate a wig stand, see the how-to instructions for Wig Stands (Click here ). Basic unfinished stands are great as well - they can be painted by patients, family members or art students. Bring the stand to a monthly member meeting, drop it off at a Learning Center Open Shop, or contact Dean Devin.

Turning Contest Winners

MASTER

1st Place: John Shannon

2nd Place: Todd Carris

3rd Place: Jerry Warner

People’s Choice Award: Jerry Warner

ADVANCED

1st Place: Steve Curley

2nd Place: Lydia Hirsh

3rd Place: Dennis Reynolds

NOVICE

1st Place: Ethan Hoff

2nd Place: Bob Hackman

3rd Place: Fred Sebastian

Wig Stands from the December Annual Luncheon Contest and Show & Tell.

November 2025

Helen Bailey: Pierced Bowl

Helen Bailey is a woodturner from Newcastle Upon Tyne in the North East of England. Her work has been featured both in American Woodturner magazine (AAW) and the World of Woodturning website. Helen believes the quality seen in her work is down to meticulous planning, from the first design which she sketches out to the symmetry of the shapes. She is well known for her pierced pieces. Helen’s work is sought after by individuals and collectors all over the world. Helen demonstrated a pierced bowl, wire embellishment on a lidded trinket box, and a hand mirror (“mrrr”).

Helen’s website: helenbaileywoodturning.com/

View the demonstrator profile and meeting details at
Helen Bailey

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Did you start your wish list for Santa after Helen’s demonstration? Here’s a few resources and tips from her demo…

- Rotary tools and flexible shaft manufacturers: Dremel (https://www.dremel.com/us/en/product-categories/rotary), Foredom (https://www.foredom.net), and NSK (https://nskamericacorp.com)

- Scissors Caliper: Pat Carroll sells these on his website. Send him an email and mention Helen for US prices. https://patcarrollwoodturning.com/index.php/shop/calipers

- Carbide cutting bits & carving tools: WoodArt Products https://www.woodart-products.co.uk/4_cutters.php

- Yorkshire Grit abrasive paste: acts like liquid sandpaper and reduces the dry sanding scratches and dust. As you use it, the grinding powders break down into a finer mesh equivalent to 1000 grit. Rockler and Woodcraft

- Router Mats: use these on a jam chuck to grip the piece. Can also use to pull lid off a box if lid is too tight. Non slip pads or mats for router tables or workbenches are available from Rockler, Woodcraft, Lowe’s, Home Depot.

- Templates for drilling wire holes in box lids: use pre-cut felt craft pad circles. You can align the silver wires in the trinket lid as flowers, initials or monograms using holes drilled into the felt pads - Amazon

- Easy Inlay (Woodcraft) or Zap Flexi-Tips (Rockler): narrow spout applicator tips for CA glue bottles

- e6000 Clear Adhesive (Eclectic): waterproof clear adhesive suitable for glass & mirrors that remains flexible and expands/ contracts as wood swells - Woodcraft, Home Depot

- For the perfect circle on the chuck and the strongest grip, check the manufacturer specs or AI search. For example, the Oneway Talon chuck with #2 jaws provides the strongest bite for tenons at 1.65” and mortises (spigot) at 2”.

(Is there a good tip you picked up or tool to add to the list? Email them to webmaster@ovwg.org)

AAW November Turning Challenge Winner

Congratulations to member Bob Henrickson for winning the AAW November Turning Challenge: Wall Hangings

Bob’s entry comments: “Roughly 11"x12". Maple. India ink overall then the coloring is probably best described as 'damp brush' since there was too much paint on the brush for it to be properly 'dry brush'. Made as prep for the class I taught earlier this month.”

From Bob’s recent Wall Hanging Class:

September 2025

TURNFEST

Turnfest was the kickoff meeting of our turning year with demonstrations from eight of our members who demonstrated a skill or project.

June 2025

Annual Picnic
OVWG celebrated summer with our annual picnic and June monthly meeting on Saturday, June 21 at the Evendale Recreational Park. The contest theme for the June Picnic was to turn a vase. The vase could be as large as 8” X 8” X 12” or as small as you like with any form of embellishment. As always, there were novice, advanced & master’s divisions. A panel of judges from our masters division judged the winners for 1st, 2nd & 3rd prize and everyone could participate in voting for the best in show award.

May 2025

Seri Robinson: Spalted Wood
The May Monthly Meeting provided a day of intense spalted wood study. Seri Robinson demonstrated how to make and turn Spalted wood, its long history in art, and modern use in science. Attendees learned how to turn even the punkiest wood while minimizing tearout and avoiding stabilizers. Seri demonstrated alternative turning techniques and tool grinds to reduce tear ups or torn grain when turning spalted wood.

View the demonstrator profile and meeting details at Seri Robinson

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April 2025

Kimberly Winkle: Milk Paint

At the April Meeting, international demonstrator Kimberly Winkle demonstrated a progressive journey through woodturning and surface embellishment using both spindle and face plate turning techniques. She created a series of objects and explored surface design using milk paint and textures.

View the demonstrator profile and meeting details at Kimberly Winkle

Appreciation Turn
After attending the “Three-Legged Stool with Milk Paint” class presented by Kimberly Winkle, club member Lydia Hirsh created a stool and presented it to Buck Shiels on behalf of OVWG. Buck is the owner of the Shiels Lumber company. The wood used for attendees in the two pro classes was obtained from Shiels Lumber.

March 2025

Michael Anderson: Captured spin top

At the Marchmeeting, Michael Anderson demonstrated how to make a 4-piece “captured” spin top where the spin top and spin platform are attached yet still mobile. The process included spindle turning, bowl turning, drilling on the lathe, and using calipers to precisely size turned components. Michael also discussed aspects of form, function, and appropriate finishes.

View the demonstrator profile and meeting details at Michael Anderson

February 2025

Todd Carris: Basket Illusion

At the Februarymeeting, Todd Carris not only demonstrated the process of how to do basket illusion but took it a step further with the use of a software program to design patterns and introduced the use of a special jig to assist in the bead burning process.

View the demonstrator profile and meeting details at Todd Carris

January 2025

Roberto Ferrer: Wood, Fire, and Wire

At the January meeting, demonstrations by Roberto Ferrer featured unique, handmade wood art pieces and lathe-based sculptures.

View the demonstrator profile and meeting details at Roberto Ferrer

Show & Tell Photos

March Show & Tell

April Show & Tell

January Show & Tell

February Show & Tell