Andy Coates RPT:Maker's Biography

Early attempts were restricted to hacking at pieces of wood with the lathe perched on a workmate in the garden, and were largely unsuccessful - although not considered so at the time! A planned move to Suffolk, and my role as Home Dad, provided the opportunity to develop my skills and put in the practice needed to progress rapidly. Quickly outgrowing the starter lathe, a new, and better, lathe was given to me by my partner for the Christmas of 2003. This lathe, a Perform CCBL, proved just the machine to allow me to experiment and progress quickly.

First steps with the new lathe were hampered by confined space in the six by eight shed I had bought and erected at the property we initially rented in Suffolk. This situation was remedied when we eventually found, and bought, the house we were to settle in, in a small, rural, Suffolk  village. A new workshop was designed and constructed giving me a sixteen by eight space to fill with shavings.

Two things happened very quickly: I outgrew the space and the lathe! The lack of space would have to wait for a remedy, but the lathe could be replaced. Having already dipped my foot into the Craft Market, and found the water warm and welcoming, a new lathe was ordered from Jimmy Clewes (see links page).

The new lathe, a WivaMac DB1200 Vario, arrived and was promptly built and installed. Within an hour the new lathe was already showing its worth, and I could begin to turn the pieces I had previously only dreamt about.

Moving to the Village had one direct impact to my progression; the village hall was the venue used by the Waveney  & District Woodturners Club. Having joined late in 2003 to find a group of experienced and helpful souls, willing to exchange information, tips, techniques, and support, I quickly settled into the monthly routine of club nights, demonstrations, and workshop nights.

Club nights were often taken up with demonstrations by well-established or professional Woodturners. I found these - in the main - instructional and entertaining, and they often led to experimentation in the days that followed. A monthly competition of turned work also proved important to me, as many of my pieces were judged in first place by my fellow club members, and a few being judged by the visiting professional, and at the annual Christmas dinner I went home with two trophies. After only six months of club and AWGB (see links page)  membership this was great encouragement to continue and hopefully progress even further.



2004 Cup presentation for my Yew Hollowform Vase & Ash plantstand

Special thanks are due to Colin, our Chairman (and my neighbour!), Gerald, our Vice Chairman, Ronnie, our Secretary, and Richard, our Treasurer and  “Fine Old Craftsman”, for their unfailing help and support, and last, but by no means least, to my Father-in-law, Terry, for that first inspiration and continued support. For inspiration and entertainment along the way thanks are also due to Tom Kittle of Lapwing Turnery in Dereham, Reg Ball of Turnstyle Creative  Woodturning in Diss, and Jimmy Clewes. Along with these thanks are also due to the many authors whose books - from the 1900s to the present date - have proved helpful and inspirational along the way; and to the wealth of inspiration posted on the NET by turners from around the world.

The Present:

The early trials are now behind me and I work to progress further from a firm foundation. My preference is to work with locally-sourced native British timbers; Yew, Beech, and Brown Oak being high on my list of favourites. I particularly enjoy the challenge of turning Hollowforms and large decorative platters and plaques, but find the market for these less accessible than for other pieces.

Craft and Wood events are proving successful on the whole, with only an occasional blip in the chart, and 2006 should see me at a number of more prestige events around East Anglia and the Southeast. Success at some of these might prompt attendance at events further a field.

Recently I have undertaken a number of commissions from clients and have received some lovely feedback, which is encouraging. Working on commissions is a very different process to turning to my own desires; the client has quite specific requirements and the challenge, it seems to me, is to match those requirements with my own skills and the vagaries of the medium we work in. And I have to say that the process is always a steep learning curve, but one I find I very much enjoy.

Selling my work is important for all the usual reasons, but the less usual reasons are, for me, the most important. I put a great deal of effort and thought into the objects I produce and take great pleasure in them finding favour in the eyes of a customer. There can surely be no greater compliment for a maker of any hue, than to see his work being carried away by a member of the public, having parted with their hard-earned money in exchange for a piece of wood that carries a little part of the maker with it.

Sales aside I will continue to turn the pieces I like, as this is the surest way I can progress further, and this is the daily goal. Woodturning has become my passion, working the wood and working with the wood, is a constant and enduring pleasure, and one I would not trade.

So…if you’ve read this far you must surely be bored by now, so I’ll sign off and (hopefully) leave you to browse the galleries to see what I have been indulging myself with lately. I hope you enjoy your visit and call back soon. I turn every day so always have something to update the galleries with…time to actually upload the updates, however, is not always as readily available. So please bear with me.

Andy Coates

Suffolk

November 2005

Update: January 2006

2005 proved to be a very successful year one way and another. Sales at Craft events and online grew steadily throughout the year...despite a couple of notable exceptions! The website has grown enormously, although I have to own up to spending far too little time updating it, and it is regularly receiving hits from over fourteen countries around the world! I hope to build on this substantially throughout 2006.

In December our club (The Waveney & District Woodturners) held the annual dinner and presentation at the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club in Lowestoft. I was fortunate enough to be presented with two trophies! The first was the Advanced Points Trophy for cumulative points throughout the year. This derives from a monthly competition within the club. The second trophy was the Steward Cup. This is awarded for a spindle turning at the competition that takes place on the evening. Whilst my piece was a combination of spindle and faceplate turning it was considered suitable for consideration and was adjudged the winner! Not bad when the table was rushed off the day before not having had the time to prepare a piece in advance.



Trophies for 2005



My winning walnut table stand



(Picture and text copied from the Lowestoft Journal)

I'd be the bemused looking character on the right!

My Father-In-Law, Terry, on the left, collected the Darby cup for his candelabra in the evening's competition, and Daniel Barber collected the Chairman's Bowl for cumulative points throughout the year on the novice table.

2006 will see Daniel promoted to the Advanced table where he belongs.

So that was 2005. I hope 2006 is at the very least as good a year as the last, but will be working hard to improve on it in every respect. The Club's AGM competition  in January set me off to a good start when I came first with a brown oak, textured, ebonised, and gold leaf decorated platter.



 

Update: March 2006

29th March

Today I received confirmation form the Clerk to The Worshipful Company of Turners of London that I have been invited to be included on the Register of Professional Turners. I cannot imagine a reason why anyone would decline such an invitation, and I most certainly will not decline it! I consider it a great honour and privilege, and am thrilled to be included on the list. When I scan the list of current members it reads like a Who's Who of turning in the UK, and I find this quite daunting. I hope I can live up to it! I know I will try to.

After turning for only three years I also consider this something of a personal best, and it makes the previous three years of trials and errors all worthwhile. Now back to the workshop...I have a higher bar to address in the future!



Andy Coates RPT

Suffolk

March 2006

 

Update: June 29th 2006

On June 28th I received confirmation that I have been appointed the Public Relations Officer for the AWGB. I am thrilled to have been chosen and hope to do justice to the position. My thanks go to the Executive Committee for the opportunity.

Update: November 16th 2006

In August of this year I undertook my first demonstration at a Woodturning Club other than my own, and started what has quickly become a series of such demonstrations. I enjoyed giving this first demonstration at the West Suffolk Woodturning Club, and after receiving much encouragement from Bill Care, decided to continue giving Club Demonstrations. So far this year I have picked up a further three, which isn't bad when you consider that most clubs have their schedule pre-booked, and have enjoyed giving them very much. The feedback so far has been very positive (but give me time!), and I hope to build on this in 2007. I have already have a full-day demonstration booked for 2007 (see events page) and three evening demonstrations.

It has been great fun meeting other woodturners from different areas, and getting a chance to see the work being done across the region. My thanks go to Fred Wright and Bill Care for the original encouragement.

If you wish to contact me about a Club demonstration please use the email address or telephone number on the home page.

Update: January 5th 2008

Featured in the "Meet Your Maker" section of the January 2008 issue of The London Magazine. See the Blog page for January 5th 2008 for details, or visit The London Magazine and view the article on the Meet Your Maker archive page.

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