Well, I can honestly say, this weekend's Midwest Penturner's Gathering was easily the best gathering I have attended in many years. The demonstrations, and lectures were amazing. I took pages and pages of notes. Vendors brought all sorts of pen-related merchandise - if you did not buy anything, you must have everything you will ever need, because the variety of tools, woods, blanks, dyes, etc. was incredible.
Back to the Demos: My only gripe is that I had to choose which ones I wanted to attend, since there were two going at all times, so I was unable to attend a couple I would have liked to seen. That said, the demos I did attend were exceptional. Great topics, great presenters.
There were many door prizes from generous donors (many vendors donated a great deal of their products). Everyone who attended received a goodie bag that includes a bag of blanks from WoodTurningz. I was fortunate enough to win one of the door prizes: A bag of blanks from Northwood Figured Wood - the blanks are gorgeous.
Lastly, I was extremely fortunate to have won one of the raffled items - A large box containing an unbelievable amount of Casting supplies, from Underhill Casting Solutions, thanks to John Underhill. This prize has so much stuff in it, it will take me a week just to sort it all out. I have never seen so much stuff in one box. I am going to have sooooo much fun!
I would like to thank Mark Dreyer, John Underhill, Jeff Brown, Mark James, Ed Brown, and many others who helped put together this weekend's events. It is very clear a lot of hard work went into this, and it was well worth it!
I am definitely planning to attend next year!