There was a gorgeous rainbow over the woodshop - perhaps it portended what a great meeting we had in store for September. Everyone settled in as we discussed a few things on the agenda - the Christmas party project,
and a few show-and-tell pieces that members brought in to share.
Neal made it a point of saying that he has given up working on cars, and moved into carving. From what we saw, he made a great decision; his work is delicate and gorgeous.
John brought in a few bowls that he was giving to Lupe, who discussed her new online business adventure - the Artisan Wood Market. Her plans include featuring work by many local artists, and then branching into marketing these wares to local buyers. She has a talented and diverse group of woodworkers within our group, that's for sure.
These bowls will join a growing inventory of pieces, both large and small, that will hopefully sell well during the holiday season.
Our featured speakers were Cindy and Marylou, who started LazerLadies in North Las Vegas and offer full service layering engraving services.
After eight years in the Air Force, MaryLou was inspired to start a full service company after seeing a need for military gifts, trophies and mementos in our town. Along with their "secret weapon" - Papa (AKA, their father Ramon), these sisters offer laser engraving, screen printing, embroidery and custom woodworking, selling their wares worldwide.
They brought a variety of their products, explaining that their four Epilog laser engravers create a variety of military pieces, serving a much needed niche in the military community.
About 90% of their sales come from the Department of Defense, and the fact that their company is veteran owned and operated is a huge advantage when working with the military community.
And although they started with the idea of serving this community, they've branched out into many more areas, creating personalized pieces for the general community including schools and corporations.
This jet was way cool!
And the detail on this piece was amazing.
Papa came up with this sweet little wooden base which holds a lasered flask and two shot glasses. It's precisely custom gifts like this that give the LazerLadies a great reputation for being able to come up with the perfect gift for anyone, regardless of their interests or status.
This coin holder opens up to reveal a (lasered!) bio for the recipient,
and one of his military coins.
And YES....
they can even do baseball bats!
The main purpose of having them as our featured guests was to introduce their services to our woodworking community, and as our meeting came to a close, we all checked out Lupe's latest creation - her massive "Mola" Bookcase made of Cherry.
As always, she wowed us with her impressive furniture making, but what made this piece particularly special was how she personalized it with laser engraved panels in the lower doors.
Inspired by Panamanian Mola quilted designs,
she hired the LazerLadies to engrave her door panels.
As Lupe explained in a detailed write-up of her piece, "Molas are pieces of embroidered artwork made by the Kuna Indians of Panama. These depict themes from nature - mostly animals and plants. I picked two elements that would look graceful on the doors: a fish and a sea turtle."
Our Sin City Woodworkers group has been around going on eight years, and Lupe is certainly one of our more inspired and motivated members. And this meeting embodied what we're all about - sharing talents and techniques, and networking with other woodworkers. A big thanks to Cindy and Marylou (and Lupe too!) for bringing this all together.
