Friday, June 26

In my class taught by Jean-François Escoulen, was Christophe, Lionel, Christophe, and myself. In the jewelry making class taught by Nathalie, was Yves, Franck, and Françoise.
Well today was our last day. It was putting the finishing touches on my trembleur, then making a cap for the top, and a base to stand it in. The simpler projects took longer than they should have, I had to adapt my stand after it was done to make it more stable, and then redo it to get it right. It took two people to get it off the lathe, and then it was done! I managed to turn a trembleur. I had understood the process just from reading about it, but it was good to have all the right tools and equipment, the wisdom of experience from someone who has turned many, and a good teacher who is able to share that knowledge.
Then it was cleanup, watching the other guys finish up their projects, only Christophe was attempting a trembleur. His also came out quite nice, a little better than mine in fact as he managed to turn his stems down to about 1.7 mm, mine are at least 2.5 mm, due to the vibration problem I had at the beginning, and the fact that I am going to have to carry mine on an airplane, while he only has a few hours drive to get home. Lionel and the other Christophe, were doing escentric turning. Jean-François is rather famous for his escentric, usually whimsical, turnings. So they didn't have one big project, but were learning the principles and skills needed for such work.
So the shop is all cleaned up, everything is back in its place, and everyone is relaxing. For a class treat we went to the village square, sat at an outdoor sidewalk café, and had someone else fox and serve our supper. Of course, in the French tradition we didn't set off  until after 8 pm, and didn't get up until after 10. One of the reasons they like sitting so long, I figured out, is that by the time the sun sets and it cools off a bit, the flies and bugs go away! I had some shrimp pasta, the others had hamburgers.
So ends this part of my adventure. I have certainly enjoyed it, and hope I have learned a lot.
See everyone soon.