The Artists of the Limberlost Celebrate 5 Years

Please join us for the opening of the "Out of the Woods" art show on Friday, May 6, 5 to 8 pm at The Art Space or drop in May 6 though May 29. 

Five years ago Brian and I were making the final plans to move full-time to our cottage on Rebecca Lake when we got a call from Catherine O'Mara.  She had heard that Brian was a woodturner and invited him to join a few artists in the Limberlost area who were planning to develop a studio tour.  It has been an honour to be part of such a talented group of artists and a pleasure to welcome people into our studio.

It's on the Lathe

Today Brian begins the next steps for the Redwood platter as he centres and screws the faceplate onto the wood circle.

Attached to the lathe, Brian measures the bottom of the platter for the placement of the chuck.  The joy of burls is that each one is unique with bark and gnarly bits, but bark and woodworm can create a challenge for the turner.  It can be a thing of beauty or break apart on the lathe.  It doesn't happen often but Brian has had a burl end up as kindling.

Brian uses a roughing and finishing gouge to shape the bottom and create the recess for the chuck.  He wears a mask and has a dust-collection system to keep the dust down.



The next stage involves attaching the chuck to the bottom of the platter.  Then he can turn it around and turn the front.  The process continues........

A Redwood Platter is Created

Brian loves working with redwood.  The process of making a platter begins with choosing the wood.  Brian studies the slab to find the area with the most character.  Instead of straight growth lines found in the trunk of the tree, a burl has irregular grain, bark inclusions and a mixture of sap lines and heart wood with their light and dark colours.  With a compass, Brian scribes the circle which will become the platter.

Next the bandsaw is used to cut the burl into a circle.



Even in its raw state, you can see that this will be a beautiful piece.  Stay tuned as it is mounted on the lathe tomorrow.

A Passion for Wood

Limberlost Woodturning is a business which has developed from a passion for wood.  My name is Karen Markham and my husband, Brian Markham is a wood turner.  In 2007, we retired and we are living our dream.  We sold our house and business, quit our jobs and moved to the cottage.  We live in a log house, on a lake, in the forest.

We moved to Huntsville and Brian was invited to join a group of local artists as they started the Artists of the Limberlost Studio Tour.  The photo above is in our studio during the tour on August 14, 2010. 

We had two guest artists, Carol-Ann Michaelson who is a potter and Bob McLean who is a painter.  The display of Carol-Ann's beautiful pottery and Bob's Muskoka paintings with Brian's wood pieces, lit up the eyes of each guest as they walked into our workshop.

www.artistsofthelimberlost.ca

Brian's website is www.limberlostwoodturning.com

Carol-Ann's website is http://www.carolannmichaelson.ca/

This is the redwood root burl that we used in the Artists of the Limberlost studio tour brochure.