Master Class with Mark Hancock

I arrived about 30mins before the 10 am start, got myself a cup of tea and a biscuit, and set myself up at a table to one side at the back, so I had somewhere for my pad and camera. Lots of chat and final bits and pieces being sorted out before the start. As usual everything was taken care of to ensure a good smooth running class, all thanks to the usual hard working team which is the backbone of the club. I got my raffle tickets just in time for Ken to introduce our demonstrator for the day Mark Hancock.

I set my paper work out in order to record the days proceedings in a format that would be easy to mould into this report. It was from this point on it all went to pieces. First of all Mark gave us three photo albums to pass around while he explained briefly his style changes over the years and how he came to think the way he does at present. His means of inspiration showed us just how narrow-minded most of us are. So I made various notes further down the page away from my organised-headed sections. As with most professional turners Mark made a point of saying, "I'll show you how I do it but you may find it easier another way and that's ok," and that we were to ask questions as we go.

Mark enjoys his master classes because it's a way of imparting knowledge to turners and aspiring us to think beyond basic turning. Things like base, rim, inside, outside, thickness and not necessarily upright, cut part of it away, sit it on another piece. We had about a half an hour of very enlightening thinking that was very new to most of us. My organised-headed sections on my A4 pad by this time were lost in all the hastily scribbled notes never to been seen again.

We where shown what Mark called a leaf; it was a vase in Sycamore with the tall rim cut away to look like a leaf. It was a beautiful piece, beautifully finished. This is what he was going to turn today, on the lathe was a log of Sycamore about 15" long and 7" diameter. It is best from the trunk and not the branch for this piece and usually still very green, about 1 month old. (He gets very wet when turning these) There was a lot of detail explained with many questions and answers, on a number of occasions he referred back to a question asked previously and he asked us a good many which made us think.

With details about scrapers and gouges, Mark showed us how he turns the basic shape and hollowing out. By this time lunch was ready, this was up to the usual high standards and thanks go to Don and his wife and family. During lunch guys took the opportunity to look closely at the tools and albums and generally chat about the demonstration. After lunch the vase was finished and we where shown how to mark out and cut the shape, various methods of cutting were used and as before there was a lot of detailed explanation.

The finished item was passed around accompanied by a warm round of applause. The last part of the class was spent showing us how to think differently and used his own finished pieces to explain it. Mark showed us some extraordinary diverse uses of what is usually a plain turned object. This was a master class that will for ever be an inspiration to me whenever I'm turning, not only for the turned piece but as mark pointed out, where it is displayed is very important as well. I have purposely left out all the detail of the class; the article would be far to long and difficult to keep you on track with specifics. If you haven't yet experienced a master class with Mark then you should.

There wasn't a table set up full of finished works all shiny and detailed from Mark, he waited until the end to introduced us to things one at a time so he could give intimate details of how it evolved. He is obviously very passionate about his work. Ken thanked Mark for his exciting master class and we showed our appreciation. The raffle was drawn; (I got two tickets come up this time Derek.) I took the finished items to one side for photos as the other guys set to cleaning up the hall. I then helped clear away the dustsheets and put chairs away. In the space of about 10 minutes the hall was clear as if we hadn't been there, as usual it all goes too quick but what a day. There were the usual goodbyes and there goes a brilliant master class.

Boots, May 2005


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