August 15, 2016 Annual summer outing to Pekka's Wood Working shop.

 

Welcome to the Wood Working shop of Pekka Olson 

Pekka has been a member of our guild for a number of years. He is a talented woodworker who went to Finland to learn Finnish Carving techniques. Which he has brought back to the US to share by doing carving demo's and teaching carving workshops. 

Pekka wants to weave using wood or plants as the weft in his weaving's. He is just getting started with his weaving.

This year he has a Spring Pole Lathe that he made in a workshop in Grand Maris MN. 

This October he is going back for a class on turning bowls on his New Lathe.

As you can see we recruited a few husbands to join us at Pekka's show and tell. They really enjoyed meeting Pekka and the visit to his work shop for the unveiling of the Spring Pole Lathe. Some of the Guys jumped right in and gave the lathe a try. They made it look easy. I think I even saw some smiles.

questions answered about this Lathe

 

Spring Pole Lathe in Action

 

Tom tries out the Spring Pole Lathe

 The men had to check out the Saw mill while we had our guild show and tell.

The Saw Mill

 Some of Pekka's fine handicrafts were looked over by our group. They really make some nice gifts for your Finnish friends and relatives.

One of the new creations in Pekka's hand

Finnish Cross

A little of this a little of that made by Pekka

Bird Demo 

Pekka also did a demo for our group of carving his winged bird from a chunk of fresh cedar. Along with the carving he tells a little Finnish folk story about the bird. At last a Bird with many wings is passed around the group.

 I wish I could remember all the Finnish names for these birds and his other creations. He will be offering a class the Porkies Folk School in October 15 th . It will be a fun class and you will make the shaved tree seen above in the basket.

and at last a Bird with many wings

Show and Tell

Jean is fresh back from Convergence she brought in some of the felted work she did while in Milwaukee. the first is the battery powered scarf with little lights when the snap is closed over the battery pack. conductive thread is sewn into the finished scarf to connect the battery to the lights. I don't think Jean needs a lighted scarf with that smile.

check out the glowing red light!

 Jean also had a couple of samples of Soy Silk felted on tulle with painter medium brushed on and let dry. After which removing the tulle for a sheer fiber piece.

Clare shared her felted wool fleece with us and Carol tried to give her some creative ways to use this bag of fleece.

Clare also brought a skirt that she made from fabric she wove with a cotton warp and a wool weft. The fabric is beautiful and the skirt is a pretty cleaver original pattern.                                                             

I shared my bag of Bison yarn that I bought in  MI on our way back from Holland. The story was worth the cost. 

 

 Pekka's wife Gail who is a knitter! prepared a dessert and beverage for us  

 Gail is also quite a gardener and she showed us her garden and her favorite flowers.

love this plant. she will share the seeds in fall!

too beautiful !

Indigo

Our next meeting will be our Marsin Retreat in Houghton on September 17 and 18 th . 9:00 am to 5:00 pm both days.
watch for more details in our emails, facebook and flyers that will be out as we are opening the Retreat to new members for the mere cost of $15 membership and a dish to pass.
Dawn will be teaching the birch bark star class at 2:00 pm on Saturday September 17 and Debra will be teaching a beading class on Sunday at 1:30 pm. We will have looms set up for you to try out a variety of weaving and demo's of Drop Spindle spinning.
Come out and join us for an hour or the day and see if weaving is something you might like to learn.