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Woodturning. A great hobby that pays for itself. This topic is not so far OT, as many of us are here, because of our "hands on" talents, so I thought that maybe it would share an idea for a new twist. I started just over a year ago, and this is about 10 to 12 hours of play that occupied this weekend. They will easily sell for over 300.00 for the pair(much more in other areas). Most hobbies cost me about that much. One of the few hobbies that I have done that pays back bigtime. I don't believe I have found a "release" that is so self fulfilling. It does require quite a bit of practice, but it is fun from the first moment that you start and only gets more exciting. The results that you recieve, from something you find laying in the streets to a finished artform is awesome. I buy nothing except supplies for sanding and polishing. The wood is from trees around town that are being taken out, from firewood piles, storm breaks, and ice breaks. We have several each year, and a friend and I take out with chainsaws like the duckhunters do with their shotguns, to bag our limit. We also trade wood with people all over the world, for a wider variety of stock. The whole thing really surprised me, as I had never looked as it as an artform. These two are made from bradford pear taken down in a recent tornado, and have been slightly enhanced with acrylic color. (rim of bowl, navy),,,, (peach airbushed feather on the top third of the vase.) You can learn it all at a woodturning workshop available in most larger cities, and a lot of info is available on the net. Bronzeo
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That is just so cool! I am thinking of getting back into water color painting. But that woodturning looks like great fun! I wonder......evergreens might not work so well?
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Jack..I am surprised there weren't more replies to this post.
Personally, the hobby I have that "pays" is exactly what I do for a living. I started off "playing golf" on a Commodore 64 a few years back, graduated to a PC and fell in love with CorelDraw2..The stuff that amazing program would do!!!!! It was a "hobby" and a lot of fun for an old guy like me, who went to high school when slide rules were not allowed because they made calculations too "easy", to have an "actual computer" at his disposal.
One thing led to another and I bought a cutter.
These days I "play" at making signs, earn a very nice income, and enjoy every second of it. What more could a person want in a hobby?
------------------ Dave Grundy AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@quadro.net www.quadro.net/~shirley
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I'm with Dave as what I do is as much a hobby for my enjoyment as for a living.
My next venture will be building a model ralroad from scratch- only this will be 18" gage and will circle the house and Giggle Ridge (about 700 feet of track). I'll get to play engineer and charge folks who want to come play with me when they ride. We estimate we will give about 40-50 thousand rides a year to our guests, all the while playing with our hobby. Sure beats working!
-dan
------------------ Dan Sawatzky Sawatzky's Imagination Corporation Cultus Lake , British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.ca
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Hobbies????? seems like this is all I have......Check out my web site...I do a lot of painting.....building....designing....and my latest project is Automotive Furniture ('55 Chevy Chair) Wet Bars et. Shep' PS sign my guest page, and give me some feed back http://artbyshep.homestead.com/index.html
------------------ Arvil Shep' Shepherd Art by Shep Oak Island, NC shep@ec.rr.com http://artbyshep.homestead.com/index.html
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When I'm not rambling at the mouth here or around this spodunk little town I do beaded things for "fun"... actually since I can't afford "retail therapy" I keep my wandering mind "occupied" with this stuff... and it pays too! I get orders every Christmas and on spirodic Special Occasions.
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