A Woodturning Trip to Ireland
On October 18th and 19th I was in Tullamore (famous for Tullamore Dew), where the national symposium of the Irish Woodturners Guild took place.
For two full days the hotel was filled with lathes, wood shavings, the smell of timber and a lot of good humour. And I was invited to give three demonstrations per day.
- Self-closing hollow
- Plates in production
- Oval box with a threaded lid
The demos went well, the audience was enthusiastic, and it was wonderful to see so much passion for woodturning — but man oh man, was I nervous before leaving the Netherlands.
Everything Borrowed – Except the Nerves
Demonstrating abroad is an adventure in itself. You can’t take everything you normally use, so much of the wood and tooling is provided by the local turners. Everyone was incredibly helpful — it immediately felt like a warm, slightly obsessive family. There were more demonstrators: Art Liestman (Canada), Pierre Cornelis (France), Gregory Moreton (UK) and Seamus Cassidy (Ireland).
Once everything got going, the nerves were gone. Until just before my second demo.
I was sitting outside at a little table next to Simon Hope’s booth, scrolling on my phone. Seamus Cassidy — a brilliant Irish demonstrator — walked past and asked:
“Can I have one of your pills?”
I looked at him, puzzled. “I don’t have any pills.”
He replied, deadpan:
“Can’t be! Why are you so feckin’ calm then!?”
And that’s when… I actually did get nervous.
An evening with Art
Saturday night was the traditional gala dinner. I had just seated myself next to Art Liestman — a fantastic Canadian wood artist known for his little villages and fantasy teapots: teapots that serve no functional purpose whatsoever, but are full of colour, humour and imagination. I am now the proud owner of two little villages. :-)
His work balances somewhere between woodturning and sculpture, and he knows better than anyone how to turn wood into something poetic.
But there was another seat reserved for me — between the Treasurer and the Chair. Also lovely!
An honour, of course, though I had secretly looked forward to an evening full of teapot stories from Art…
Against the Grain
During my Self-closing hollow form demo I had a moment where the cut felt so good that I just kept going, right over the thickest part of the form, cutting against the grain. I even thought to myself: curious if anyone will mention that…
Nobody said a thing. Until afterwards. In the audience was John B. Sheehan, 101 years old, still turning. His daughter — almost 80 — came up to me after the demo and asked if I would take a photo with him. Of course! And while we looked into the camera, he quietly said:
“I saw you cutting against the grain.”
Well, that put me in my place — rightly so. Amazing how someone of that age still watches with such sharp eyes and such love for the craft.
The competition
Besides the demos, I was also asked to judge the symposium competition — an honour and a challenge, because the level of Irish turning is high.
There were beautiful entries: from traditional forms to modern turned and sculpted pieces.
The overall winner was Steve Wydell, with a stunning and technically impressive piece. Fully deserved. I used the photo of his work at the top of this blog.
And then, somewhere in between, it suddenly struck me: I was demonstrating at a symposium where people like Nick Agar, Richard Raffan, Glenn Lucas, Cindy Drozda, Michael Hosaluk and Phil Irons had demonstrated before me. Turners I admire — and suddenly my name was in that list…
It felt a bit unreal.
What a Weekend
It was a wonderful weekend. Amazing to hear how many people know and follow my YouTube videos. I saw so many phone photos of spirit owls, hollow forms and oval threaded boxes. And so often someone said:
“I learned a lot from your channel.”
And no — I did not drink any Guinness!
The only downside of such a trip is that you eventually have to go home.
After my last demo I went straight to the airport, my flight was delayed an hour, and when I arrived at Schiphol there were no transfer buses left… so I grabbed a taxi to get to my car and finally arrived home at 3:30 in the morning.
But what an experience.
A huge thank you to everyone who was there — and especially to the organisers of the Irish Woodturners Guild.
It was an honour to be part of it.