Mick Hanbury 13 November 2014

Tonight Mick showed us how to decorate a lovely shaped bowl with Jo Sonjas coloured acrylic paint and how to make a couple of simple Christmas ornaments.

First, he turned the outside of the bowl, and really emphasised the importance of smooth curves, pleasing shapes, and in particular sharp tools. After a light sanding the outside was painted with black acrylic paint (Mars Black from WHSmith). Once dry, the flower pattern was applied using 3 or 4 colours, dabbed on and then 'blown' into rose shapes with an air line - using fairly low pressure. He'd fitted the end of his air line with a very narrow jet that you can get for blowing up footballs. With the low pressure and fine jet the "roses" took shape very easily. Next came the stalks, painted on with a very thin brush, and more symbolic than botanically accurate. Below are pictures, firstly "one he created earlier", so we could get an idea of what to expect, then the inside of the bowl, and finally the finished decoration. To seal the decoration it would receive several coats of lacquer.

With a little time left Mick showed us a couple of simple Christmas Tree decorations. Although simple he said these would be good items to practice our spindle turning techniques. These items were small, and to get pictures some of those below were photos of the projection screen - hence their low quality - but they do show us the stages and overall shape.

 

A description and write up of the evening will follow shortly after the demo.