What's in it for me??

[ed4copies]

Are you a member of a local IAP chapter? Interestingly, our "steering committee" team has started 18 threads requesting your input. To date, not one additional entry has been made. I HOPE this means you are all contacting the team members by PM. But, the cynic in me doubts that.

So, I am asking those who are in local chapters to comment here!! What do YOU get out of the chapter? This will also help us to determine if the chapter system has enough merit to justify the amount of time and effort it will take to support the chapters.

To ME, the Milwaukee chapter meetings have helped me learn the CA finish, improve my tool sharpening techniques and de-mystify the polyclay process. Bear in mind, I have turned thousands of pens---so many of the meetings feature processes I already have been performing for over a decade.

So, what do the chapters offer?
What have you learned?
What demo was FAN-Tastic!!

Thanks for taking a few moments to answer---
Ed

 

[Paul in OKC]

As a minimally active pen turner in my area, I know that the meetings out at Roy's place have been fun fellowship, and as Roy has opened his shop up to show casting techniques, it is a great place to share and learn, (and eat!)

 

[Tanner]

I would love to go to one here in AZ. I don't think it happens much. I still have lots to learn.

 

[Jjartwood]

At the New England chapter meetings, I usually pick up at least one idea and wether I use it directly or as a basis for a different idea I seem to always find something cool.
The hot dogs aren't bad either.
But most important,I get to spend some fun time with people that understand what goes into the making of a pen,and when ideas are stolen by me or by someone else it's the greatest complement you can give and/or receive ( of course we do announce that we will be stealing the idea,just in case)
Mark

 

[ttpenman]

I wish I could join a club/chapter. Unfortunately, the nearest is 75 miles away and only meets at night. I did join a few years ago but the driving was a little too much as I get older. I really enjoyed going and if they met on the weekend during the day I'd attend quite a bit. It's a great club and has many active members. One of the joys of living up in the boonies.

Jeff in northern WIsconsin

 

[healeydays]

At the New England chapter meetings, I usually pick up at least one idea and wether I use it directly or as a basis for a different idea I seem to always find something cool.
The hot dogs aren't bad either.
But most important,I get to spend some fun time with people that understand what goes into the making of a pen,and when ideas are stolen by me or by someone else it's the greatest complement you can give and/or receive ( of course we do announce that we will be stealing the idea,just in case)
Mark

I would love to attend a NE chapter meeting, but it's a bit far to drive from me...

 

[ed4copies]

At the New England chapter meetings, I usually pick up at least one idea and wether I use it directly or as a basis for a different idea I seem to always find something cool.
The hot dogs aren't bad either.
But most important,I get to spend some fun time with people that understand what goes into the making of a pen,and when ideas are stolen by me or by someone else it's the greatest complement you can give and/or receive ( of course we do announce that we will be stealing the idea,just in case)
Mark

I would love to attend a NE chapter meeting, but it's a bit far to drive from me...

Do you have 3-4 other IAP members within driving distance from you?

 

[Frank Nemke sr]

I would like to find a local chapter that is not a 4 0r6 hr. drive so I could aford tho go to it. I'm in central calif. 1/2 way between LA & SF, along the coast.

 

[reddwil]

As part of the Georgia chapter, I think we have a great chapter. We get guys form all over Georgia and the ocassional visitors from SC and Alabama. We have the usual crowd and Newbies. We have demos at each meeting, everything from casting, finishing, kitless, techniques and so on. Everyone brings in there work to show off. Some guys bring in blanks to sell and trade. Rojo does a great job in keeping us all in line and ensuring the sucess of our chapter. I'm proud to be a part of our chapter, its great fellowship with some great guys and gals.

 

[Real]

I would second everything Mark (Jjartwood) said. I think most of what I learned I got from the New England Chapter meetings. Besides learning, a great bunch of people to spend time with.

Real Mercier

 

[Carl Fisher]

The Carolina chapter has been a tremendously helpful tool for me. Covering everything from casting, turning techniques, finishing, segmenting, prep work, and even touching on kitless work. It's how I learned most of my more advanced skills.

It's also a great group to just bounce ideas off of.

 

[Russianwolf]

Do you have 3-4 other IAP members within driving distance from you?

define "driving distance".

I work 14 hour days with my commute during the week. Leaves little time other than the weekends to do anything. Spending 4+ hours on the road to go to a meet'n'greet won't happen very often for me. But I live in the boonies. :biggrin:

The meeting I did attend had great fellowship and I did learn something new about turning from the guys. Not a loss, and it was close to where Lillian wanted to go shopping so two birds with one stone.

I would rather see more of the Gatherings that are going on now. More organized sessions makes the drive easier to justify, even longer drives become feasible if there will be enough of interest going on.

Now, if there was a chapter within 15-30 minutes, it'd be another story all together, but there just aren't that many of us out here.

 

[ed4copies]

Thanks Mike!! That is the type of feedback that will help us "steer"!!

As for defining "driving distance", that is kind of funny. I was raised in Chicagoland suburbs. Going "downtown" was 30 miles and took 30 minutes up to 3 hours, depending on traffic. When I settled in Racine, WI, people here would be reluctant to make the trip "all the way across town" (about 5 miles from end to end and no more than 20 minutes)!! So, yes, "driving distance" is defined as the distance YOU are willing to drive for the event!

 

[Carl Fisher]

My driving distance to the monthly meeting is 83 miles at roughly 1 1/2 hour drive each way.

 

[David M]

I have been to one meeting , it was on a saterday started about 10 am , made it there around 10:30 am . Few hundred miles and about 5-1/2 hour drive one way. It is about as close as any of the other meetings , all would be around 5 - 6 hours from here - Charlotte , Lousiville , the GA. meeeting I went to .....would be nice to have something a little more local.
David

 

[plantman]

Ed; Even though the trip to and from Milwaukee is 250 miles for me, I find it quite worth the time and effort. I'm retired, so, what else do I have to do on a Sunday morning. I finaly get to meet fellow pen turners, both male and female, face to face, and see some of their fine workmanship and ideas. As far as demos go, the last one you did showing how to turn closed end pens, showed me how this was done. Even after over 10 years of pen turning, I have never tried your method. The people at the meetings are friendly, and the pen, blank exchange, and raffel are great. Also being held at Wood Crafts store, makes it easy to pick up materials for that new project while you are there. I only wish that we could get together more often than once every three months. I think if we had zip codes, we could have local meetings once a month and keep the travel down to 50 miles or so. If you had a small group, you could take turns meeting at someone's house/shop and get to see their setup also. That is the way we used to do it when we first started the woodworker's guild here. I think the zip code is a great idea. 54155-9000 Jim S

 

[panamag8or]

My local chapter forum hasn't had a new thread since last November, so...

 

[mredburn]

I havent seen all 18 threads that Im aware of. Our chapter is dwindling fast. Whether its the "no time " factor "too far to drive ' or" I have lost interest" ours never really got off the ground. Part of that may be that we had two meetings fairly well attended (20+)at the local Wood Craft store. We had to slip our meetings in between their scheduled classes so they were not consistent and then Wood Craft closed their doors. We tried meeting in different places but the attendance dropped immediately to 8 then 6 people. 2 more meetings and we were down to 4 or 5. Marshall is off to college and his future so one more for the "hit and miss" list. We still have the members on a list but participation is nil. We have a fairly large talent pool to draw from but cant seem to put it to use. Im not sure if its because the few of us remaining have extensive experience and little to gain by beginner demos, or we intimidate beginners, or we are just crotchety old farts no one likes.

 

[ed4copies]

Hey Mike!

I was asked to demo at a turning club on the other side of Wisconsin a couple weeks ago. We went, set up a table to sell things and demo'd for about 4 hours. Dawn took a couple pictures, one she posted on our FaceBook page.

From the front of the room, I spoke to the audience, no "strong demographic tendency" hit me. Then, when we got home and I saw the picture on FaceBook, (taken from the back of the room) I was immediately aware of a propensity of bald spots!!

So, we are not "old farts", we are the contributors to enriching the hobby of pen-making!! AND old! Sometimes Crotchety!

Ed

 

[76winger]

Ed,

I assume most of our chapter leaders recent past and brand new current are just busy in the many areas of their lives and haven't caught your requests. And a couple of our new officers are still pretty new to the IAP site and might not have a good feel for posting here as yet. I heard from our former chapter leader, Ron (Reg19), that he'd replied to one of your inquiries, probably the one I posted a link to in our Indianapolis chapter forum. :wink:

Anyway, I thought I'd say a few things about our Indianapolis chapter to offer up as food for thought to everyone. The chapter has some history from before I joined and I don't know much about what they did then, but from stories I've gathered it was just a small group getting together and talking about pen making and showing off some of their creations.

I joined up some time in 2010 or 2011 I believe and have seen our chapter grow from a dozen of us gathering in a local Rockler store (about 30 miles away from me and over 100 for some) to slightly larger group meeting in the back of Woodturningz's facility to a record breaking meeting of somewhere over 70 at our current meeting place. The current meetings are held at a fairly large gathering room in a church that has been appropriated by one of our chapter officers, Dan (not sure of is IAP name). The church has been very accommodating and we've been very grateful for their generosity and use of the facility. We don't know, but we have tossed around the idea that we might be one of the largest IAP chapters currently going.

I serve the role of photographer and have covered each meeting with lots of photos which I've posted out to my Flickr account to share with everyone by the end of meeting day. Here's a link to one of our larger meetings last April, where we had a few rooms set up for different demos, plus the big room for the main meeting & gathering: Penturners - I.A.P. Indianapolis April 2012 Meeting - a set on Flickr
There's a set for each meeting, and everyone's welcome to check any of them out if you wish.

Our meetings usually run around 2 hours and have been adorned with coffee & snacks, door prizes, pen in the hat drawing, show off your pens table, meeting held by the officers, demos and vendor tables including Mike & Linda from Indy Pen Dance as regular participants as well as Logs to Lumber on a couple occasions, Johnny CNC has made a couple and some others selling their goods at different times.

Former Chapter leader Rej19 has led the meetings and done demos on affixing stamps and photo to pens, showed various tools and their uses and showed us how he organizes tools, bushings and more. And many other things that I haven't thought about yet for this reply.

Former Secretary WoodButcher does wonderful beginner demos and has also done a sharpening demo, makes casting molds and MUCH MUCH more. Most recently he showed of the Cigar pens he's started making which is documented now in the IAP library.

EBorraga has demoed how he does wood dying, CA finishes, blending acrylics, segmenting and several other things I'm sure I've forgotten about. He also serves as a chapter officer at large since we're in Indy and he's in KY.

IPD_Mr has demoed turning acrylic (between centers if I recall corretly) and assisted Ernie on the segmenting demo. Plus he and IPD_Mrs has had tables of goodies for sale at every meeting.

Joefyffe gave us all a great demo on photography at one of the meetings, covering composition, depth of field, photographing pens and more.

rkimery demoed how he does production turning to keep up with the larger quantity of pens he sells.

Another member who's name I don't remember demoed mixing, blending and casting acrylics.

Last fall we hooked up with the local Rockler and held an event in an adjoining empty building where people were invited in to learn out to turn and turn pens for troops. We collected about 80 pens at that even, it was really a great time of fellowship with members and meeting new people. Rockler donated a lot of material for it, and Wooodbutcher put a TON of time in getting the blanks all cut and glued up for the event.

The stuff our chapter has done has come from the efforts of some great leaders, doing a lot of work to bring it all together. I applaud them for the time and effort they put into all our gatherings. I just record the events in photos and am honored to have had the privilege to be in association with them.

Going forward, we've got a new group of exited folks with a lot of new ideas to try out so we're looking forward to a great future.

Here is the new chapter leadership (I don't yet have everyone's IAP names):

Director - Matthew Heithoff (redneckmedic)
Treasurer - Dan Mechuta (???)
Demo Coordinators - Stephen Sommers and Dennis Wydau (???)
Door Prize and Vendor Coordinator - Janet Henry (???)
Email and correspondence Coordinator - Larry Pierce (lpierce)
Photographer - Dave Herrmann (76Winger)

Hopefully some of these activities I've observed with our chapter over the past few years will give others some ideas to ponder.

 

[Monty]

[FONT=&quot]Considering the size of the Greater Houston Area, it would be great if we could get more people to attend. As it stands now, we have people attending from the Pearland, Alvin, League City areas from the south, Baytown on the east, The Woodlands and Conroe in the north, and the Cypress area in the North West. This requires some members to travel an hour or more to attend meetings that are held at members homes. What I don't understand is why, and this was told to me directly, IAP members in the central part of Houston don't want to have to drive 30 minutes. I have suggested that they could host a meeting or find a suitable place but no one has wanted to take this on. [/FONT]