Once a year for the past 20 years, the members of Gulf Coast Woodturners Association come to Montgomery County Fairgrounds, Conroe TX for a weekend of retreat. Here is the link at GCWA website.

They attend classes taught by other members on topics of their interests, visit with other members, and enjoy the food for the weekend. This year, the event is on March 9 through 11. Ninety members gathered for the retreat.

I have been to this event a few times. For this year, I have 2 items on my schedule, teaching Advanced Pen Making on Saturday morning, and attending Production Bowl class in the afternoon.

Four members came to my pen making class. They are all experienced pen makers. I skip many basic operations, and challenge the makers to carry out the process with high precision and attentions to details. Everyone comes out of the class with a strikingly-looking fountain pen to show for. You can see the pen I designed for this class on my Woodturning page.

In the afternoon, I tested a procedure for making production bowls. It is about quantity here, and not gallery quality. I carved out 5 bowls in about 2 hours. The bowls are donated to Annual Empty Bowls Houston, a charity event raising money for the Houston Food Bank. You can find more information at this link.

I had a great time through the weekend.