Ken K, a relative newcomer to the club, kindly shared his knowledge on the use of epoxy resin with added colour with a beginner friendly demo and lots of product information.

Featured Carvings and Meet the Members:

Susie R does it all, the most amazing carving skill combined with excellent painting skill makes her a master carver.

Genevieve H has been specializing in the most beautiful utensils. Her lovespoons and knives are becoming her trademark work, at least for now.

Stella is our “unofficial club mascot” and attends most meetings.  She is a low maintenance member requiring only the occasional snack and a walk. Although she likes us all Ted Woodcroft remains her human of choice.

Brad remains focussed and determined as he continues working on his red neck chess set.  He does find time though to participate in our group projects and workshop presentations. Kudos to Brad.

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President’s Message

Spring is here and summer is fast approaching, just don’t look outside because other than a bit of green grass pokin’ through it looks like winter today.

If you have been out to the club lately you have seen all the progress on the gnome project as it is almost done. Mary-Leigh, Gwen and Natasha have been pooling their artistic talents together and taking the odd suggestion from others to find just the right location for each item and securing them. A great Big thank you to them and to all those who contributed in their own way with carvings etc. Let us not forget Dave a big contributor with the wonderful staircase, houses and gnomes and Ken for putting together the main structure and topping it off with the bell tower.

Our kick off to summer party is coming with or without summer. As for the date all in attendance this week agreed that the first week in June was best for them and I believe that’s when it has been the last few years. So let’s keep it the first Tues. of June each year from now on and we will also set the Christmas party for the first Tuesday in Dec. Now everyone will know when they are so they can plan around that and of course it can be changed if something comes up like catering issues etc with as much advance notice to be given as possible with a date change.

For those in attendance this week the button was pressed to put us live on the new website I had the honour to do that and I didn’t mess it up. Must admit I was nervous as with my poor history with computers but Natasha made sure all went well. It was approximately 10 months in the works. I want to thank Natasha for being the mastermind with the tech savvy to pull it off and also big thanks to Janet and Mary-Leigh for all the work and time put in by them helping her. Natasha was given a membership with us for 2024 as a thanks and we all look forward to her joining us and showing us her other artistic talents. Welcome to our group Natasha. 

That’s all I can think of for now remember if you have any ideas for the club as to what we should do or need in the line of tools etc. You can always run it past me.

JERRY MURPHY

KEEP YOUR KNIVES SHARP AND YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE WAY

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KEN K: POURING RESIN

Most of us have been curious if not fascinated by the beautiful and versatile uses of resin that are becoming highly popular in the woodworking world. But many of us were terrified to give it a try. 

Ken very kindly volunteered to demonstrate his technique for pouring, colouring and patterning resin. Showing us some true basics, warning us of the mistakes we might make and then making some beautiful tiles before our very eyes, Ken helped to demystify the use of resin.

Ken showed us how to measure and mix resin and then apply a thin transparent coat to the entire surface to be coloured.  In this case white ceramic tiles were used. Next he showed us how to colour resin and add small amounts of several colours, one at a time to the “float coat”. He then “chased” the colours using a construction grade heat gun.  This step made the colour flow and helped to reduce bubbles as well. The colours continue to move for a full 20 hours or more so he recommends not “chasing too much.

KEN’S SUPPLY LIST  white ceramic tiles, Trustic General Casting Epoxy Parts A and B, Unicorn Spit Gel Stain and Glaze, EcoPoxy Black Colour Pigment, Metallic powder, Parchment Paper, home made epoxy measuring cup, stir sticks, rubber gloves, table cover, drop sheet

Calcarver Family Album: A Random Sampling of Life in the Calgary Carver’s Club

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With your help the newsletter will only get better!

Special thanks this month to Ted W for the wonderful lesson and article for the newsletter! Contact me here!

Mary-Leigh D.