Yesterday at my day job as a Helpdesk Support Analyst for Delta Faucet Company, I had the pleasure of meeting several bloggers that cover varying aspects of DIY.

I and several coworkers who are makers of various items from upcycled old furniture, to musical instruments, to pens and jewelry had the opportunity to visit with them in a round table discussion and talk about the things we make and our inspirations for them. At the same time we learned several thing from them about blogging and the beneficial connections you can make through connecting with others and writing about things you have knowledge and insights about.

Some of those I had the pleasure to meet and their own blogs can be seen at the links below.

Danni Hong - www.ohhellofriendblog.com

Larry Bilotti - editor for http://www.bobvila.com/blogs/author/bilo360/

Doug Latham - http://hoosierhomemade.com

Lisa Vail - writes for http://www.jetsongreen.com

    and has her own blog at: http://www.lisavail.com

Brittni Mehlhoff - www.papernstitchblog.com

Sarah Dorsey - http://sarahmdorseydesigns.blogspot.com

Virginia Saint - http://virginiaandcharlie.blogspot.com

Amy Nowak - http://whisperwoodcottage.com

I also had the pleasure of making one of the gifts Delta presented to them during their stay. Below is the completed lineup before wrapping them up for delivery. I was also an appropriate color for the upcoming 4th of July holiday!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Delta had many other great treats and experiences for them during their stay that I wasn't a part of, but I was honored for the small part I did get to play in the event.

76Winger's photostream

76Winger's photostream on Flickr.

View my Flickr Photostream for more insights to my woodworking and penmaking.

What a way to spend a vacation

Two weeks ago I took  a weeks vacation from the day job and spent it in the workshop. It was an easy choice since I'm working to become debt free and have written off and "leave home and go someplace cool" type of vacations until I reach that goal. So what better thing to do than to engulf myself in one of my few remaining hobbies (also cut out due to cost factors). This one, as evidence from my past posts, remains because it involves woodworking (and wood turning in particular) things that I've dreamed of doing since childhood, and because the pen sales has allowed it to become a self-supporting hobby.

Anyway, I've digressed enough. During that week from August 7-13 I went gangbusters in the shop and cranked out 25 new pens to add to my offerings. some new models were added, as well as replenishing some that had pretty much sold out. Then once back to day job I spend the last two weeks of evening getting all the photos taken and write-ups written so they can be added to the Etsy store. So here, for preview ahead of the postings is the fruits of that weeks vacation. 

This work by David D Herrmann is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

What you see pictured from left-front to right rear are two Designer rollerball pens, four Designer twist ballpoint pens, six Cigar twist ballpoint pens, three Apollo Infinity pens - two are rollerball and one is a fountain pen, ten Olympian Elite rollerball pens.

But hey! Most of those don't look like wood! Well you'd be right and acrylics are a great alternative to wood for pens (and they sell well thanks to the vibrant colors!) but there's probably more wood in there that you'd think. There's three wood pens in the back and four wood pens in the front (don't let the colors alone fool you!). I had amassed a pretty good collection of non-wood materials, so this was my opportunity to put all that colorful stuff to good use.

Needless to say I think I had a pretty productive week. 

All that said, I'm now on another week of vacation and doing the same all over again. I don't see making as many as last time, but I do hope to get at least 15 done. And in the next day or so I'll be making my 200th pen! Actually if you include pen/pencil sets, I've already surpassed that number, but this will be my 200th pen (excluding sets) and I hope to make something a little more upscale and slightly modified to commemorate the occasion, so stay tuned for more as I hit the celebratory mile-marker (or would that be pen-marker (no pun intended)). 

Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

Getting better and showing it.

For the first half of the year I've been busy trying out new pen designs and exploring bowl turning more and more. But the biggest change has been the rediscovery of an former hobby in new form.

20-plus years ago, photography was a big hobby of mine to the point I had two 35mm cameras and my own darkroom set up for developing both film and prints. This year I added a Digital SLR to my toolchest so I can capture better quality photos than my 10-year-old point and shoot was capable of. I've revisited that former hobby with the intention of creating better photographic depictions of my work, but don't be surprised if few photos outside of my wood working interests don't turn up from time to time. I may have to start a second blog for the photography! But one will do me for now since my time is spent mostly turning rather than typing.

I'll be posting a few shots of my setup for photographing my work in the near future, but for now I've added a section above that links to my Flickr photostream to show off what I've been uploading and sharing with the world. Enjoy!

New items on the way and a goal to reach.

New items are coming to the Wingers Woodworks shops. Two new slimline ink pens and 6 new Olympian Rollerball pens have bee completed in the past 9 days and that many more are in the glue up stage. Now to stop, take some photos and get them listed!

The goal is to add 20 more listings to my Etsy & Ebay stores by the end of the month, so there will be plenty of options for the holiday shoppers. Let's see if I can make it!

Stay tuned for more!

Turn wood without breaking the bank!

In The Frugal Woodturner, author Ernie Conover goes over some basic information on tool selection based on your budget level and making your own tools and various chucks, faceplates and other work holders. He also covers ways of making many of your own tools and keeping them all sharp! Lots of very good photos and illustrations are included to help you along as well.

His frugal "make your own" approach shows lots of traditional and perfectly good (and cheap) options for holding and cutting wood on the lathe that won't break the budget like many of the fancy new chucks, tools and gizmos in the stores these days can.

There are some areas where I wished he'd dove into a little more detail but, after all, we're being frugal in this endeavor. Right? There's a wealth of good books on wood-turning, so the author has stuck to teaching us how to enjoy the art of turning wood on the lathe without breaking the bank in the process.

12 Natural Laws of Business

I found this interesting article that summarizes  what I've been learning through a wealth of good books (I'll have to publish that list soon as well).
12 Natural Laws of Business