Jeff Powell and his daughter proudly holding the "Best of Show" and "Scrollers Choice" ribbons received at the 2010 SAW EXPO. The intarsia project is Jeff's design and it is stunning in person. I feel terrible that the picture below does not do the cutting justice. The intarsia is displayed on a beautiful natural edge wood slab. The image is of a fairy sitting on a bed of flowers with a bees nest above. Jeff's daughter was his inspiration for the fairy.
Click Image to Enlarge.
In the pictures above the judges are carefully looking over some the the projects entered in the contest. The pictures below are just a few of the beautiful work being judged. I'll post more contest pictures through out the week ahead.
I want to say a huge thank you to all the folks from SAW who put in the time to make all the EXPO attendees feel welcome and comfortable. There were not large crowds but it was steady and everyone seemed be be having a a nice time looking, talking and shopping.
The EXPO was set up in sections. The vendors had their space to demonstrate and sell their products. There was the scroll saw corral for visitors to sit down and saw a while. The scroll saw clubs had their tables and of course there was the contest area.
The snack bar area was a favorite spot to hang out and talk. I have to say that getting to meet and talk with more of you than I can count was my favorite part of the show. When I ask you guys to stop and say hi if you saw me there I had no idea what I was asking. I think I have a small idea of how a politician feels now. I must have met and shook hands with over a hundred wonderful people from all over the country. To each and every one of you I want to say thanks. You all made my day.
A few highlights of the show for me were getting to meet Judy Gale Roberts and see her intarsia in person. Her work is truly amazing and she is such a delightful person to speak with.I also had the opportunity to meet Ray Seymore from Seyco.
I met the owners of Bushton Manufacturing who took over the Hawk woodworking tool line.
Barbara from PS woods was there with all her great products.
Floyd and Carol from Ocooch Hardwoods were there selling their scroll saw ready hardwoods.
RJR studios were there with the sand-flee and more.
Janice Manuel a professional woodworker form Tennessee was there showing and selling corian lazy susans and scroll saw ready corian. I'll be doing a demonstration of cutting corian and giving a source for corian blanks.
Kathy Wise was there with her incredible intarsia projects and patterns.
Bruce Henn, a woodcarver was there showing and demonstrating his carving techniques.
All of these vendors should be on your short list of people to purchase from. These are very difficult times for small businesses to travel to events. They made the effort to be there for us at the EXPO and I for one very much appreciated it.
I spent several minutes speaking with Jim Nye from Bushton Manufacturing. Jim and his partner seemed very enthusiastic about putting the Hawk line of scroll saws at the top of the list for high end scroll saws. They had their new juniorHAWK scroll saw on display. It's a 16 inch saw with the features of the G4 and Ultra series of saws. It sells for $850. Here is a link to the Bushton web site 
I'll get more pictures from the EXPO up sometime this week and hopefully get a few video clips edited and posted also.
