SWAT Beads of Courage

[Bill Boehme]

The Beads of Courage program had a great response at the SWAT symposium this year. There were over 200 pieces donated. Here are a few iPad pictures that I took. Unfortunately a lot of my pictures had too much motion blur.

 

[Bill Boehme]

And, a couple more. There were a lot of really clever ideas.

 

[hockenbery]

Bill,
From your sample the SWAT beads of Courage for 2015 looks to be as high quality and extensive as the 2014 display.
A great show for a great cause look like it might have improved on perfection!
You photos give folks who haven't seen it a glimpse of the terrific work done to brighten some child's bedside.

Thanks!
Al

 

[John Torchick]

Thanks for sharing the photos. My favorite is the Minion with the jar ring over the eye! The pieces are outstanding and very creative.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Thanks for sharing the photos. My favorite is the Minion with the jar ring over the eye! The pieces are outstanding and very creative.

Thanks for the compliment. The one with the jar lid ring was mine. My wife had the idea and gave me the ring. After that, everything else was easy ... well it was in conception ... the execution took a bit of head scratching. I decided to incorporate some common household items. The jeans were made from the back pockets and belt loops from an old discarded pair of jeans glued to the wood. The arms are the outer jacket from type NM electrical cable. I twisted some bare wires together and put them inside the outer jacket and then used size G wire nuts as "gloves". Since the wire nuts were gray, I colored them black with a Sharpie. The "hair" was made from a knob that I made for another project that didn't look quite right. I reshaped it and made a deep V shaped hole in the top. I put epoxy in the hole and then cut off some bristles from a cheap paint brush to complete the hairdo. I also used a large thick rubber gasket to make soles for the shoes.

My favorite part is the eye. I used part of the plastic packaging for a LED light bulb for the eyeball and painted it from the backside using pearlescent spray paint. The iris is made from turquoise Inlace. It has a hole in the center and a screw was used to hold the entire assembly to the body. A black plastic snap-on screw head cover was then used for the pupil of the eye.

 

[hockenbery]

Bill,
You deserve a ribbon for that one.
I hope they judges liked it.
I do!

Al

 

[Bill Boehme]

Bill,
You deserve a ribbon for that one.
I hope they judges liked it.
I do!

Al

Thanks, Al. I received several nice compliments, but I will feel happiest if it helps brighten the life of a child. A decision was made to not judge the pieces because the criteria used by the judges was what impresses a woodturner and they learned that children have their own ideas of what they like. In essence, the practice of judging was sending the wrong message to many woodturners making the boxes. I support that decision and I think that most other woodturners understand and agree with that policy change.

 

[Douglas Ladendorf]

Really nicely done Bill. Someone is going to be over the moon to have that with them!

 

[Steve Worcester]

... A decision was made to not judge the pieces because the criteria used by the judges was what impresses a woodturner and they learned that children have their own ideas of what they like. In essence, the practice of judging was sending the wrong message to many woodturners making the boxes. I support that decision and I think that most other woodturners understand and agree with that policy change.

Since Al, myself and Trent were the judges, I will say that is actually 180 degrees from how it was judged.
Yes, there were some ruled out based on quality, but mostly it was based on what we thought a child going through this would like. But I will get off the bandwagon here.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Since Al, myself and Trent were the judges, I will say that is actually 180 degrees from how it was judged.
Yes, there were some ruled out based on quality, but mostly it was based on what we thought a child going through this would like. But I will get off the bandwagon here.

I guess this is another example of how information can get garbled by the time that it trickles down to club members. While a judged competition may be important to some people, it can also discourage others if they feel that their work isn't good enough to participate. Our club has also been participating in Empty Bowls for a number of years and we try to encourage new turners by emphasizing plain simple bowls. Having attended a number of Empty Bowls events in Fort Worth, I have observed that the bowls people choose often isn't what woodturners would choose.

Since my wife was a schoolteacher, I let her guide me on this project. I am basically clueless when it comes to knowing what is currently "in" with kids.

 

[Bill Blasic]

I believe that the idea of making a Beads of Courage Box to win an award was sending the wrong message. The thought that you are making something for a child going through a terrible time is a much better reason for making a box. At least that is what I got from the explanation.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I believe that the idea of making a Beads of Courage Box to win an award was sending the wrong message. The thought that you are making something for a child going through a terrible time is a much better reason for making a box. At least that is what I got from the explanation.

I think that you summed it up very well. I had tears in my eyes several times while making my project and also when I head some of the stories that related the difficulties that these children had to face. I feel bad about the flaws that my piece had and will strive to do much better next time. Our club is considering going to a year round BOC and taking them to the local hospitals every few months. I think that our club did a total of 42 boxes, but we should do far better since we have around 175 members.

BTW, I enjoyed the opportunity to say hi while you were working at the Thompson Tool booth. You were pretty busy so we didn't get to do much more than just say hi. I was able to talk with Joe Meirhaeghe who works with Steve Sinner for quite a while during a lull time and we also learned how to pronounce each others last names.

I bought one of Steve's boring bar rigs several years ago and also a couple of is tool rests. I really like his tool rests because they allow me to drop the tool handle really low. Steve says that He, I and Trent Bosch are the only ones who turn that way. I doubt that, but I probably picked up that way of turning from Trent during one of the classes that I took from him.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I believe that the idea of making a Beads of Courage Box to win an award was sending the wrong message. The thought that you are making something for a child going through a terrible time is a much better reason for making a box. At least that is what I got from the explanation.

In the beginning it was to encourage participation. Maybe that ship has sailed.

 

[Bill Boehme]

In the beginning it was to encourage participation. Maybe that ship has sailed.

We need more people to participate. Our club encourages participation in BOC and Empty Bowls by giving one ticket for every piece turned in. Then we have a drawing for prizes at the Christmas banquet. For those who already participate, helping worthwhile causes is incentive enough, but to get more people off top dead center, the drawing is a tangible incentive that seems to work. We stay away from judging the pieces because beginners might be intimidated by that.

 

[hockenbery]

I was quite impressed with the SWAT beads of courage display in 2014.

The quality and number was impressive so something is working.

However when I think that the attendance was 900 and at least 6-700 of those attendees have the skill to make a box.
My impression was that maybe a 1/5 of the maker had two or more an I remember one couple had 6 that were extremely well done.
The numbers of BOC could have tripled if participation grew to 80%.

Every BOC box is a future treasure for a young person in a difficult time.

I don't know how you grow the numbers some chapters have had great success in supporting beads of courage and/or leads of courage
Other chapters get low participation.

Al

 

[Bill Boehme]

I was quite impressed with the SWAT beads of courage display in 2014.

The quality and number was impressive so something is working.

However when I think that the attendance was 900 and at least 6-700 of those attendees have the skill to make a box.
My impression was that maybe a 1/5 of the maker had two or more an I remember one couple had 6 that were extremely well done.
The numbers of BOC could have tripled if participation grew to 80%.

Every BOC box is a future treasure for a young person in a difficult time.

I don't know how you grow the numbers some chapters have had great success in supporting beads of courage and/or leads of courage
Other chapters get low participation.

Al

That's the $64,000 question. Right now, our chapter is growing like crazy. We have about 6 to 10 new members every meeting which means that many are beginners or not familiar with the programs that woodturners support such as BoC or Empty Bowls or other events that we participate in such as RISE. I think that our chapter's participation is better than average (about 20% of the SWAT BoC boxes were from our chapter), but we should be able to have at least twice as many members participate.

 

[Dean Center]

Our club is considering going to a year round BOC and taking them to the local hospitals every few months.

Congratulations to all the Beads participants at SWAT. You are all heroes.

Bill--the Beads of Courage program wants all the bags or bowls made to be sent to them for distribution. Not sure the reason for exercising control. We also thought about taking our bowls directly to our children's cancer hospital, but we were discouraged. Not sure if the headquarters has a mechanism for getting the bowls to a particular hospital, but if they don't we should try to talk them into it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Congratulations to all the Beads participants at SWAT. You are all heroes.

Bill--the Beads of Courage program wants all the bags or bowls made to be sent to them for distribution. Not sure the reason for exercising control. We also thought about taking our bowls directly to our children's cancer hospital, but we were discouraged. Not sure if the headquarters has a mechanism for getting the bowls to a particular hospital, but if they don't we should try to talk them into it.

I was told by the coordinator for our club that until this year, all of the BOC boxes at SWAT went to Dallas County hospitals. Where they went from there I have no idea. This year, clubs and individuals had the option to take their boxes to their local participating hospitals if they chose to do so. What you say may be correct, but I suspect that SWAT had apparently worked out alternate arrangements for getting them into the system. For individuals who are making bags or boxes, what you say makes sense. Anyway, I am only a participant and not a decision maker.

 

[Raul McCai]

The Beads of Courage program had a great response at the SWAT symposium

The acronym SWAT threw me.
Don't laugh,
The "Beads of courage" theme reinforced this notion.

Imagine my surprise when I googled SWAT symposium?

Super Nice turnings by the way.

 

[Bill Boehme]

You're not the first to be do a double take on the name of the symposium. I think that we ought to take advantage of the confusion in names by selling special T-shirts at next year's 25th annual symposium. I think that basic black is always stylish. SWAT in large reflectorized white letters across the back would complete the tasteful design. It might cause a stir at the local restaurants when a large group of woodturners enters.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

You're not the first to be do a double take on the same of the symposium. I think that we ought to take advantage of the confusion in names by selling special T-shirts at next year's 25th annual symposium. I think that basic black is always stylish. SWAT in large reflectorized white letters across the back would complete the tasteful design. It might cause a stir at the local restaurants when a large group of woodturners enters.

Maybe add a bowl with crossed gouges under it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Maybe add a bowl with crossed gouges under it.

Maybe a bit too close to the Twin Peaks restaurant for that idea to gain traction.

 

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

You're not the first to be do a double take on the name of the symposium. I think that we ought to take advantage of the confusion in names by selling special T-shirts at next year's 25th annual symposium. I think that basic black is always stylish. SWAT in large reflectorized white letters across the back would complete the tasteful design. It might cause a stir at the local restaurants when a large group of woodturners enters.

as a guess - the average age of a SWAT attendee is about 65, grey hair, balding, and overweight

I wouldn't count on making too much of a stir.

 

[Raul McCai]

It might cause a stir at the local restaurants when a large group of woodturners enters.

HA HA HA Take a video~!!!

 

[Bill Boehme]

as a guess - the average age of a SWAT attendee is about 65, grey hair, balding, and overweight

I wouldn't count on making too much of a stir.

Management trembles at the thought of Senior Citizen Discount in combination with AYCE! Where do you think those turning muscles came from ... the health club?

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Getting Started

I am interested in getting Magnolia Woodturners interested in this program. Could someone give me some details such as recommended sizes and structure needs (loose fitting top). I have talked to a therapist at Blair Batson Childrens Hospital here and they started the program this year and are interested in the program.
Any information would be appreciated.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I am interested in getting Magnolia Woodturners interested in this program. Could someone give me some details such as recommended sizes and structure needs (loose fitting top). I have talked to a therapist at Blair Batson Childrens Hospital here and they started the program this year and are interested in the program.
Any information would be appreciated.

Here is some information from the Beads of Courage web site: http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

The guidelines get bent a bit since they are an early iteration made at the beginning before turners started getting creative. Don't ignore the common sense things like a lid that is light and easy to lift, no fancy finials, easy to grasp knob, a large foot (I know woodturners like to make small bases, but this is for a child and not a woodturner). Other thoughts is to think outside the box -- this is for a child so think of things that a child would like. Go to the SWAT website to get some ideas from boxes that have been made over the past five years. Emphasize that this is supposed to be a BOX with a lid and not a bowl. I've heard that some people misunderstood what they were asked to make or maybe the message wasn't conveyed correctly. I don't know for certain, but I think that the BoC folks decided to accept the bowls, but would prefer to have a lidded box of sufficient size to hold a large number of beads and the beads are quite large -- a bit bigger than a piece of Lifesaver candy.

It hardly needs to be said that woodturners always put their heart into their very best work for supporting such a meaningful cause.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Here is some information from the Beads of Courage web site: http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

The guidelines get bent a bit since they are an early iteration made at the beginning before turners started getting creative. Don't ignore the common sense things like a lid that is light and easy to lift, no fancy finials, easy to grasp knob, a large foot (I know woodturners like to make small bases, but this is for a child and not a woodturner). Other thoughts is to think outside the box -- this is for a child so think of things that a child would like. Go to the SWAT website to get some ideas from boxes that have been made over the past five years. Emphasize that this is supposed to be a BOX with a lid and not a bowl. I've heard that some people misunderstood what they were asked to make or maybe the message wasn't conveyed correctly. I don't know for certain, but I think that the BoC folks decided to accept the bowls, but would prefer to have a lidded box of sufficient size to hold a large number of beads and the beads are quite large -- a bit bigger than a piece of Lifesaver candy.

It hardly needs to be said that woodturners always put their heart into their very best work for supporting such a meaningful cause.

Thanks Bill. This will give us a starting point and have already connected with a children's hospital here.

 

[Bill Boehme]

At our club meeting tonight, our BoC liaison person reported that he attended a meeting with the local Beads of Courage representatives and Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth will be the hospital that we will deal with. I think that we will be getting some updated guidelines within the next few weeks. I will pass along any additional information that we get. Anyway, they said that they could use as many as 200 turned boxes if we could make that many. For any woodturner spouses who sew, there is also a need for BoC bags to hold beads.

 

[Don O. Jr.]

The web page for woodturners is

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

It does say that the boxes should not be painted, just a clear finish. We are starting a BOC program in our club and will be donating them to the local Children's Hospital. If you look at the donation form it will give you more info as well.

 

[Bill Boehme]

The web page for woodturners is

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

It does say that the boxes should not be painted, just a clear finish. We are starting a BOC program in our club and will be donating them to the local Children's Hospital. If you look at the donation form it will give you more info as well.

Yes, I had discussed that in an earlier post in this thread (see below):

Here is some information from the Beads of Courage web site: http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

The guidelines get bent a bit since they are an early iteration made at the beginning before turners started getting creative. Don't ignore the common sense things like a lid that is light and easy to lift, no fancy finials, easy to grasp knob, a large foot (I know woodturners like to make small bases, but this is for a child and not a woodturner). Other thoughts is to think outside the box -- this is for a child so think of things that a child would like. Go to the SWAT website to get some ideas from boxes that have been made over the past five years. Emphasize that this is supposed to be a BOX with a lid and not a bowl. I've heard that some people misunderstood what they were asked to make or maybe the message wasn't conveyed correctly. I don't know for certain, but I think that the BoC folks decided to accept the bowls, but would prefer to have a lidded box of sufficient size to hold a large number of beads and the beads are quite large -- a bit bigger than a piece of Lifesaver candy.

It hardly needs to be said that woodturners always put their heart into their very best work for supporting such a meaningful cause.

As I mentioned in my previous post, those guidelines look like a first iteration of establishing some guidance, but they could certainly stand to be updated since it has become apparent that the creativity of woodturners is almost unbounded and shouldn't be held back because of sometimes meaningless guidelines. The type of guidelines that do make sense would be those regarding size and usability for the child. When it comes to guidelines, think about common sense things like appropriate volume to hold the beads and can a child easily remove the lid to put beads into it and that it is not too tall or is not likely to tip it over. On the other had, things like varnish vs. paint or plain simple box vs. something more imaginative have no place in the rules.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Yes, I had discussed that in an earlier post in this thread (see below):



As I mentioned in my previous post, those guidelines look like a first iteration of establishing some guidance, but they could certainly stand to be updated since it has become apparent that the creativity of woodturners is almost unbounded and shouldn't be held back because of sometimes meaningless guidelines. The type of guidelines that do make sense would be those regarding size and usability for the child. When it comes to guidelines, think about common sense things like appropriate volume to hold the beads and can a child easily remove the lid to put beads into it and that it is not too tall or is not likely to tip it over. On the other had, things like varnish vs. paint or plain simple box vs. something more imaginative have no place in the rules.

Bill, The link to Beads page for woodturners was also in a AAW newsletter. The link for buying beads in the brochure said got to artists and then woodturners , but all that gives is the same page . There is no info I can find on how to get the beads they want on the bowls. No direct contact noted. I did register our chapter and have not heard back from BOC> Do you know of a direct contact or site info to buy beads?

 

[Mike Peace]

Here is the link to the BOC info for woodturners including buying BOC beads. http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

The AAW chapters in Georgia are hard at work making BOC boxes to donate at the Symposium in Atlanta this June. Here is a link on my Youtube channel to the first video of a three part series of Harvey Meyer doing a BOC demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G7j6KikTV4

Here is the first of a three part series of another woodturner demonstrating turning a BOC box of green wood using the bowl twice turned approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8jb8i2KDM0

Gwinnett Woodworkers will soon be posting a video on their YouTube channel of Steve Mellott's demonstration on turning a BOC box just last night.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Here is the link to the BOC info for woodturners including buying BOC beads. http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodturners.html

The AAW chapters in Georgia are hard at work making BOC boxes to donate at the Symposium in Atlanta this June. Here is a link on my Youtube channel to the first video of a three part series of Harvey Meyer doing a BOC demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G7j6KikTV4

Here is the first of a three part series of another woodturner demonstrating turning a BOC box of green wood using the bowl twice turned approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8jb8i2KDM0

Gwinnett Woodworkers will soon be posting a video on their YouTube channel of Steve Mellott's demonstration on turning a BOC box just last night.

Mike I have looked at the new BOC page at least 10 times and the only link on there to buy the beads is the BOC homepage=>artists=>Information for woodturners..........and that leads back to the first link you posted. If you know the specific buying page please send , but the page above does not have that info that I can find.I have registered.....no contact......Just yesterday found the contact link and only got an automated contact back. Look again and see if you see what I do not see. I even looked at the shop tab....no go.

 

[Tony Rozendaal]

Try these links - the first should lead to the second. I did this last week and had to use a google search to find these pages.

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodworkers.htm

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/catalog.htm?item=231

Mike I have looked at the new BOC page at least 10 times and the only link on there to buy the beads is the BOC homepage=>artists=>Information for woodturners..........and that leads back to the first link you posted. If you know the specific buying page please send , but the page above does not have that info that I can find.I have registered.....no contact......Just yesterday found the contact link and only got an automated contact back. Look again and see if you see what I do not see. I even looked at the shop tab....no go.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Try these links - the first should lead to the second. I did this last week and had to use a google search to find these pages.

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/pages/woodworkers.htm

http://www.beadsofcourage.org/catalog.htm?item=231

Thanks Tony That did it . Now bookmarked.

 

[hockenbery]

Sherry and I plan to to have some boxes for Atlanta.

The website requests to have. "Beads of courage" should appear on the lid.
We were told the same in a presentation to our club a while ago.

Sherry is working on a design to use letter beads a colorful beads epoxied into a groove.
I am working on this design here is prototype practice lid.

 

[John K Jordan]

BOC guidelines

The website requests to have "Beads of courage" should appear on the lid.

Here are the "latest" guidelines, Jan 27 from Steve Mellott, our Beads of Courage coordinator from the Georgia Woodturners......

--------------------------------------------------
Wow – the Beads of Courage initiative has really taken off! To date, I’ve had 18 clubs request 482 beads. And it is not just in the southeastern United States – woodturners throughout the nation have begun to support this program.

In response to this overwhelming support, the Beads of Courage program has released the following new guidelines regarding boxes. If you have already made boxes that don’t comply with the guidelines, don’t worry – they will still take the boxes. Just try to ensure that all new boxes fit within the guidelines.

· Beads of Courage members may receive thousands of beads. It is desirable for your boxes to hold all of them. As a result, turned or rectangular boxes need to be large. Large is better! Recommended interior dimensions for turned boxes are 6†diameter (5†minimum), 5†height (4†minimum). Recommended interior dimensions for flatwork boxes are 4†x 6†x 4.â€

· Box bases should be wide enough so the box is stable and does not tip over easily. Lids should be easy for small or ill children to remove or lift. Any finials should be easy for a small child to grasp and not too elaborate so they don’t break. Avoid excessively elaborate designs that may easily break or be damaged.

· Finishing of boxes is extremely important! Beads of Courage members who receive these boxes are susceptible to germs/infections/molds. Bowls that have not been properly sealed can harbor mold. Please take the time to ensure you are using a safe finishing process that does not contain toxic materials. Also, do not use finishes like linseed oil that take a long time to off gas.

· All kinds of wood are beautiful! Please refrain from painting Beads of Courage boxes. Instead, highlight the beauty of the wood with clear varnish or stain, and/or burning.

· Embed the Beads of Courage logo bead in the design of the box. If this is not possible, burn or letter Beads of Courage onto the lid or side of the box. Complete a Beads of Courage artist card and place it in the completed box.

· It is nice if you can personalize your donation. Marking your name or initials, type(s) of wood, and date on the box bottom is one way. It is also nice to enclose a personal note of encouragement, business, card, etc. inside the box.

And once again, thanks for your support.

Steve Mellott
--------------------------------------------------

I've just finished my first BOC box/lidded bowl. I'll try to post a picture of it soon.
JKJ