Carlyn Lindsay

Carlyn is very well known for her beautiful laminated work and she showed us her process by making a spinning top that was also a box with a screw thread. Her preparation has to be millimetre perfect with precise centres for turning otherwise the veneer lines will not be equal and the result becomes very unpleasing to the eye. Carlyn sources her sycamore planks from Scotland and cuts and machines them to the sizes she needs. The first picture shows a ‘block’ in the process of being laminated with veneer layers. You will see that the next layer of veneers are at right angles to the first thus building the pattern. After shaping the box section she showed how she adds an insert of boxwood as this is perfect for thread chasing. Once the thread was cut on the spindle she used a piece of tulip wood with a hole just the right size for the thread and because the boxwood is so much harder than the tulip she used it to cut a female thread to hold the spindle for finishing. A novel alternative to a jamb chuck. To finish to box section so it could be used as a spinning top she added a small nub of ebony and turned it to a sharp dome .It spun very well. This description does not do justice the precision that Carlyn works to in producing her unique works as shown in her table display.

Click this link to see the photos of her demonstration.