Review: Emma Cook (“The Tiny Turner”) Demo – Sunday 18th September 2022

We enjoyed a full day with Emma Cook who demonstrated a small decorated bowl, a resin pendant, an illuminated snowman, and a resin sphere.

Small Bowl with Carved and Decorated Rim

Emma used a sycamore blank 4″x4″x3″. The blank was initially rounded between Steb centres before mounting on a chuck. The outer shape was turned and the inside hollowed. Two vees were marked on the bowl to identify the area to be carved.

Emma carved a band using a size 3 carving chisel. Black gesso was then applied to the carved band and allowed to dry.

While the gesso was drying Emma proceeded to demonstrate a turned pendant. Returning to the bowl, Emma applied Polyvine Acrylic size to the carved band and decorated with Let’s Resin Cameleon Flakes using a makeup brush. The vees were decorated with glued-in 2mm leather strips.

Pendant

Emma used a resin and burl blank 2″x2″x1/2″.

Emma turned the blank between Steb centres as other centres can penetrate the blank. One side was turned and finished and then attached to a glue chuck with double-sided tape. The second side was then turned and finished. Emma buffed the pendant using a Chestnut buffing wheel. Using a small drill held in a pin vice, a hole was made near to the edge of the pendant to enable an ice-pick bail to be fitted. The bail was then attached and an 18″ length of 2mm leather was threaded. Finally, clasps were glued to the ends of the leather strip.

Illuminated Snowman

The body of the snowman is a fillable glass bauble with led battery lights, available from Emma’s website.

For the base, Emma used an ash blank 5″x5″x2″. The bottom of the base has a recess for the battery compartment. A hole is drilled through the centre of the base to allow the wiring to go through. The top of the base has a recess for attaching the bauble. The base was decorated using Chestnut Ebonising lacquer and gilt cream.

For the snowman’s head, Emma turned an ash blank 2″x2″x4″. The head requires a domed recess to attach to the glass bauble.

The snowman’s hat was turned from walnut 2″x2″x4″.

The nose was turned from a wood scrap and glued into a hole in the head.

The battery pack was attached to the base, the wire threaded through the hole and the led lights inserted into the bauble. The bauble was then glued to the base and head. When the glue has dried the hat can be glued to the head (doing it sooner might cause the head to slip before the glue is dried).

Resin Sphere

The sphere was turned between cone centres using a 2″x2″x2.25″ resin blank.