The much anticipated visit by Mick Hanbury happened last week and even the weather, which has been very unkind recently, decided to be kind to us and allow the workshop to be extended out into the fresh air.
Mick had been booked to do a one day workshop for four of us on painting and finishing so we all turned up with items ready to go or as close as possible to allow us to get the most out of the day.
Mick started with a quick run through of the basic technique and then for the rest of the day it was hands on and forget the rules, Mick encourages everyone to experiment and to learn what works for them rather than simply following rules that other people have come up with.
Some turning was done, refining shapes/forms, Mick teaching some new gouge techniques and refining some existing ones - I even picked up a new grind on one gouge which works really well and will be adopted as standard from now on.
I don't think that I have quite converted him to Tormek though!
On the whole the day was about experimenting and trying, the results speak for themselves and everyone had a good day playing with paint and texture.
Oh and Mick was re-united with Vicky (the Vicmarc VL300 he once owned) who is now a resident in the workshop.
The day has generated lots of ideas and all of us were left buzzing with enthusiasm, I may even have to buy a new notebook to allow me scribble all of these ideas down.
You can expect a repeat performance in the near future!
