sbwertz
Member
Our turning project at Arizona Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. (ACBVI) is going strong!
We have been invited to include some of our turnings in a Southwest/Cowboy themed show running through February. All the items will be turned by the blind/visually impaired turners. We will be sending pens and the steampunk peppermills to begin with, then maybe add some other items.
Then in February, we have been invited to display our turnings for sale in the gift shop at a local Duck and Decanter! These opportunities are mind boggling to us at the center! These people do an amazing job. Some of them have made more than 15 pens, peppermills, etc. They have become confident and skillful turners. The sensitivity in their fingers is amazing!
Thanks to the unbelievable generosity of one of the IAP members, we have a large number of higher end kits. (Jr gent style, Sierra style, Cigar style, etc from various makers.) He generously donated almost a thousand dollars worth of high end kits, even including a BUNCH of his custom made PR blanks. We will be using a lot of them for the gallery and gift shop. In addition, I have bought them some high end southwest/cowboy themed kits...bolt action deer hunter, cowboy kit, southwest kit, etc.)
One of our visually impaired turners with macular degeneration has very good periphal vision, but no central vision. He is now one of our instructors. It is amazing to watch him work. He does all the detail work strictly by touch. But he is able to cut, drill, tube and turn a pen by himself! In addition, he has turned more than 30 pens for the troops.
We suffered a serious setback last month when Tom Beatty, who is the head of the crafts department and my main instructor, was suddenly hospitalized and had surgery for a brain tumor! He is doing well, is on chemo and radiation, but still comes in every day to supervise our volunteer turners. (Fortunately he lives just across the street from the Center!) He isn't turning himself yet, but we hope he will be fully active soon. We really miss him. But because of the wonderful volunteers from the local chapter of AAW, we were able to keep the turning project going in his absence.
I want to thank all of you who have contributed to our project again. Without all of you, this would never have got off the ground! I'll post pictures of the pens we are making for the gallery. We are starting to turn them next week. (I'm busily cutting, tubing, rounding and milling blanks this weekend.)
Sharon
We have been invited to include some of our turnings in a Southwest/Cowboy themed show running through February. All the items will be turned by the blind/visually impaired turners. We will be sending pens and the steampunk peppermills to begin with, then maybe add some other items.
Then in February, we have been invited to display our turnings for sale in the gift shop at a local Duck and Decanter! These opportunities are mind boggling to us at the center! These people do an amazing job. Some of them have made more than 15 pens, peppermills, etc. They have become confident and skillful turners. The sensitivity in their fingers is amazing!
Thanks to the unbelievable generosity of one of the IAP members, we have a large number of higher end kits. (Jr gent style, Sierra style, Cigar style, etc from various makers.) He generously donated almost a thousand dollars worth of high end kits, even including a BUNCH of his custom made PR blanks. We will be using a lot of them for the gallery and gift shop. In addition, I have bought them some high end southwest/cowboy themed kits...bolt action deer hunter, cowboy kit, southwest kit, etc.)
One of our visually impaired turners with macular degeneration has very good periphal vision, but no central vision. He is now one of our instructors. It is amazing to watch him work. He does all the detail work strictly by touch. But he is able to cut, drill, tube and turn a pen by himself! In addition, he has turned more than 30 pens for the troops.
We suffered a serious setback last month when Tom Beatty, who is the head of the crafts department and my main instructor, was suddenly hospitalized and had surgery for a brain tumor! He is doing well, is on chemo and radiation, but still comes in every day to supervise our volunteer turners. (Fortunately he lives just across the street from the Center!) He isn't turning himself yet, but we hope he will be fully active soon. We really miss him. But because of the wonderful volunteers from the local chapter of AAW, we were able to keep the turning project going in his absence.
I want to thank all of you who have contributed to our project again. Without all of you, this would never have got off the ground! I'll post pictures of the pens we are making for the gallery. We are starting to turn them next week. (I'm busily cutting, tubing, rounding and milling blanks this weekend.)
Sharon