What influences you?

[hughie]

Heres a thought , we produce much of what do by our experiences, what works what doesnt and to some extent others as well.
I have a some what checkered past with considerable travel involved to many different parts of the world over several years. Plus a few notable men and women in the craft and across couple of crafts and cultures. This effects what I do and think to this day.

So what motivates, influences you ?

[BMKal]

Probably Youtube in my case. Certainly not my work / education background. I have recently retired from the mining industry, in which I worked as a metallurgist / processing engineer. I have never been an "office" person and liked to get out in the field and get my hands dirty. As such, I learned to be able to overhaul pumps / engines etc and to weld, which I enjoy doing.
My imagination for woodwork and metalwork projects at home comes from watching others on Youtube - the one single person who inspired me to buy a lathe and get into wood turning was Brendan Stemp - I watched as much of his video content that I could find, and ended up buying a couple of things from him. Would love to have met the man personally, but we're on opposite sides of the country. Other ideas I have had came from watching various other people on Youtube, including pen turners and people who work with epoxy resin, and from Facebook pages and forum posts such as on this one. I learned fairly quickly about the variety of great timbers that we have in Australia, and particularly in the part of the country that I live in, and I try to find good examples of as many of these timbers that I can and make something to highlight their features.

I have a 4WD (I'm a bit of a Land Rover nut) and camping gear, and love to hook up the trailer and load a couple of chainsaws and go bush camping looking for interesting timber. I used to collect our own firewood, but these days I'm getting too old for that and have installed gas heating - camping trips are now about timber for woodwork, a fresh feed of yabbies, and occasionally a trip to the coast east of Esperance for a bit of beach fishing.

[Old Croc]

I have a 4WD (I'm a bit of a Land Rover nut)
Yep, not much hope for you then😋
Back on topic. I am not a consistent Turner, too many other projects get in the way. For a while now I have been doing charity work in the shed, mainly boxes and urns for cremation ashes.
This is my latest one for for my girlfriends mother's ashes. They are being spread between family members so this is my smaller version.
Qld Maple, approx 125mm high and 105 diameter.
But I have lots of ideas to get done yet.
BTW, a photographer I am not.
Rgds,
Crocy.

[The Spin Doctor]

I don't do much artistic vase/plate stuff. Most I've ever met over the decades could barely pay for the wood in that endevour. Closest I got to such work was making urns for funeral homes. But, this may surprise you, it was all dodgy back door dealings. Only paid in cash, no invoices. They were, at least in Canada, all owned by one of two companies, and the parent company didn't like them buying outside their range - which was crap... So they used to buy mine on the sly.

And true craft work is more about being a competent craftsman and an excellent sale person. I sucked at the latter, terribly. Very early on I realised that and quickly pivoted to production, reproduction and utilitarian turning and am mostly influenced by anything older than about 1875.

[NeilS]

The early influences on my woodturning were mainly technical. I wanted to make something that worked and the aesthetic design aspect was a secondary consideration. For example, as a kid some 60 years ago I wanted to make a yo-yo out of wood and turned that on a converted treadle sewing machine. A little bit later in 1970 I wanted to make a spinning wheel for my wife and found a plan for that in Popular Mechanics. Here she is with it in 1970…


519576


It was not until I began to study art during my initial teacher training and then after that in my course at art college (National Art School, East Sydney) that the design aspects became the primary focus of my art and craft. I continued to use wood in sculpture, but pottery became my main focus for a decade.

The main influences on my ceramics were the mid-century moderns like Lucy Rie (https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/lucie-rie-pioneer-potter) and craft movement potters like Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada (http://mingeifilm.martygrossfilms.com/the-project/the-founders/). Clay has no life in itself and the potter has to bring a form to life in an otherwise inanimate material. The forms that pots take come from the mind and muscle memory of the potter. The apprenticeship is long and there are no shortcuts to mastering the craft.

I know from talking with Richard Raffan that his bowl designs were influenced by the potters down in Devon, near to where he first worked, including those associated with the Leach Pottery there.

So, it is probably not surprising that some of my turned pieces in wood reflect that same aesthetic that I developed as a potter. But, unlike clay, wood does have a life of its own beyond the living tree. My approach to form in woodturning is probably best summed up by the following statement that I put on the ticket that goes with every piece to the gallery...


Beautiful pieces of wood that guide me
in what form they might take in their
new life beyond the living tree


You can probably see that I have also been influenced by the woodworker George Nakashima (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Nakashima) and his book, The Soul of a Tree.

For me it's more like a dialogue between myself and the wood than me imposing a form on a piece of wood. I spend a lot of time looking at a log before I start to cut it up and then with each resulting blank before putting it on the bandsaw/lathe. I may have an initial idea where the piece is taking me, but that usually changes as the turning and the dialogue with the piece of wood progresses.

I enjoy the process and hope the wood and the recipients of my pieces do likewise. I attempt to make my pieces more of a celebration of the inner life of the tree than any demonstration of my technical prowess or design skills.

I do search for the form that works best within each piece of wood, however, I have also acquired a large repertoire of forms that work well in themselves that I have acquired from countless hours of drawing directly from nature, something that I began at art school, and also studying what works well in other craft forms. Recognising a form that works well as it emerges from the blank often comes out of that repertoire of forms that I have internalised. I don't set out to impose that form on the piece of wood, but recognise it, like an old friend, when I find it.

I can’t say that I have been influenced very much by other woodturners having been self taught and doing it before most others that might have had an influence on me. One of the few books that I have on woodturning is Peter Child’s 1971 The Craftsman Woodturner. That had useful information on tools and techniques for back then, but the design aspect was sadly lacking, IMO. Richard Raffan’s publications that came later were far better for anyone who was starting out then.

I have very much enjoyed seeing the work of others via the www over the last thirty years and also the interaction that is now possible on forums like this, although I’m not sure that it has had a significant influence on what I make.

So, I guess that means that any mistakes or unsatisfactory pieces I make are all down to myself!

[hughie]

In my early days I made all the metal parts for spinning wheels, later in wood turning I used to refer to a couple of pottery books that were discussing form and shape. Small world :)
But most of my influence in the early years I gleaned from my travelling exploits. I spent over 10years in Mining industry in many countries on a couple or more continents. Lived in Singapore and travelled extensively through South East Asia and still go back there when the opportunity arises. Spent some time in the islands of Melanesia, Polynesia and a brief time in Micronesia courtesy to a lost airliner. :D Through this time I always took a strong interest in the various cultures and crafts. Later on in London I took to making stainless jewellery, managed ok but couldnt feed myself on it. :U

As to wood turners, carvers, sculptors etc it was William Hunter that inspired me to get back into carving, as I was originally a wood carver in the Polynesian style. People like Bin Pho, Max Brosi, Rude Osolnik, Richard Raffan, Hans Weissflog and Ron Flemming They all have had an influence on my path.

[NeilS]

Impressive biog there Hughie.

Had I known about his work at the time I have no doubt that Rude Osolnik's work would have had a big influence on me during my formative years. I admire his body of work very much and his pioneering contribution to artistic woodturning.

BTW, Max Brosi (https://www.woodturningcruise.com/en/demonstrator.php?id=52) will be one of the demonstrators on the 2023 Woodturning Cruise (https://www.woodturningcruise.com/en/demonstrator.php?id=52).