About the Contest

The Summer 2006 AAW Forum woodturning contest results are in. Congratulations to Chris Andrew, the first place contest winner. This was the 6th turning contest held on the AAW forums. The theme of the contest was Embellished Platters" inline with Neil Scobie's Summer 2006 AW Journal article. The contests winners were:

First place: Chris Andrew
Second Place: Petteri Leppikallio
Third Place: Ed Kelle

Click on each of the winner's names for a view of their Embellished Platter creation.

The AAW would like to thank Neil Scobie and Marilyn Campbell for judging this contest.

There were 10 entries in the contest. The Summer 2006 contest details and rules are listed here. Photos of the entries are listed here. And, comments from the judges view on each of the winning pieces can be found here.

If you want to enter the next contest, watch for the contest announcement in the AAW forums.

 

 

About Chris Andrew - in his own words:

I started woodturning in 1995.  My first lathe was purchased with a promise to my wife that I would make her a rocking chair modeled after one she purchased at a garage sale.  Eleven years later I have a big Oneway lathe, a nice new shop, and lots of lathe tools and turning gizmos…but still no rocking chair!  What happened?  I blame it on the American Association of Woodturners.  I got hooked on woodturning from the beginning and was hungry for knowledge about tools, techniques and materials.  In the summer of 1995, only a few short months after purchasing my first lathe, I went off to Davis, California seeking turning knowledge and wisdom at the AAW Symposium.  What I found there was an entire universe of woodturning and woodturners that has educated and inspired me ever since.

Trees dominate the western Oregon landscape I live in.  There are magnificent bigleaf maples providing cool shade in the Willamette Valley, scented myrtlewood groves along the southern Oregon coast, and twisted madrones reaching for the sun on the warmer Coast Range slopes.  Beautiful in their living form, these trees also provide lasting beauty in their wood.  Each piece of wood is unique, telling the story of the tree from which it came.  Size, shape, color, texture, density, grain patterns, and even smell are part of that story and help me determine what form a particular piece of wood will take.  I strive to produce turned pieces from this wonderful material that people want to use, to hold, and simply, to admire.

Although I’ve turned a lot of wood in the past eleven years I find the possibilities still endless.  The real challenge is to have enough time to try all the things that I want to do.  New ideas fly at me from every direction.  Symposiums fill my head with new techniques and design ideas.  The incredible talent at the local woodturning clubs inspires me.  The AAW Journal is a rich source of knowledge and ideas, as are the various online woodturning sites, including the AAW website.  And that brings me to the platter I made for the AAW Forum contest.

I saw the AAW Forum contest as a fun way to challenge me to create a piece that could incorporate several techniques I’ve recently been exploring.  To begin with, I haven’t turned many platters, so that alone was a bit of a challenge.  I also decided that I would like to use multiple center techniques using only a vacuum chuck for holding the wood on the lathe.  The dot texturing was applied as a method to frame the piece and also highlight the off-center technique.  Adding an exciting dimension to the other challenges was the knowledge that the finished platter would be judged by woodturners I hold in high regard, and compared against entries by very capable, talented and creative turners.  I couldn’t be more pleased and honored by the results.

As for that rocking chair…it’s on the list of things to do.  One of these days I’ll surprise my wife and actually get it done.  I hope she won’t mind that it’s turned on multiple centers, dyed, bleached, burned, branded, carved, textured and otherwise embellished with techniques I have yet to learn!