Lack of motivation

[Lazurus]

as a hobby turner only I am not bound by commercial drive, but this summer I seem to have lost my motivation to get out in the workshop, any one else suffered this was there a cure?

[burywoodturners]

I find that I work best when I have a project for some one, especially if cash is involved!
If you need inspiration to get you going, you can borrow a tip from Burywoodturners, for the last four years we have made wooden Christmas decorations for EACH (East Anglian Hospice for Children) and given the a plastic tree to hang them on.
If you are in a club put the idea to your fellow members or just make a few and take them to the charity shop of your choice.
Ron

[GBF]

I know how you feel this happens to me so I then do something differant.
Painting
Carving
Working with clay
and there are hundreds of other things and they can all be incorperated into your turning at some stage,
At the moment I am working with Glass and wood

Regards George

[Derek]

I am the opposite in as much that I want to turn but with enough bits already made I can't warrant turning anything at the moment. the only time I will is to maybe enter the club competition. So to over come the lack of turning I turn to my other love in woodwork and that is making wooden toys/models. At least the Half track I am working on at present does have some turning in it. I just have to be in the shed sometime during the day.
 

[bodrighywood]

It happens to alll of us.Best advice is as George says and try something different. Woodturning needn't be just about wood and can involve all sorts of other media as well. Do a search online for ideas from the past as well as what contemporary turners are doing. Also look at different cultures, especially the oriental ones for ideas.

Pete

[Duncan A]

Go to a good demo.
When you see what the professionals are capable of, you very quickly realise that there is an awful lot of new and interesting stuff to learn!
Duncan

[Wood spinner]

Have you made a light pull for the bathroom ?

Paper towel holder for the kitchen

Pepper grinder

Spice pots with lids ( A set all different sizes )

Pens

Plenty of projects to do , Just re start your Mo Jo 

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Lazurus, I am afraid I have never experienced what you are speaking of , I have worked with wood for most of my adult life and I turn professionally now for a living and I have to say that I cannot wait to go to work in the mornings. Sometimes I admit, I would rather not be turning hundreds of the same items but it is those times that put food on the table, once I have done that I can then play. I then make the things I want to make rather than the things I have to make.
                I would like to set you a challenge. buy or borrow a set of thread chasers and learn to chase threads by the end of the summer. or produce a small pot with a long finial that is 2mm thick at the thinnest point. Or process some bone and learn how it turns. or make a set of wooden buttons.or turn and carve a finial with leaves around it.Try casting and turning pewter. OR POSSIBLY...............try to combine all of the above into one piece.
As for losing your motivation there can only be so many reasons:-
you are an old man so you are tired. You are a young man so you are lazy. You are middle aged and not sure where in life you want to go (mid life crisis)
Your wife does not nag you enough. Your wife nags you too much. You are unsure what nagging is.
You should think of it as I do, I treat it as a day at work when the boss is away, take it easy, do what you want to do when you want to do it but most of all enjoy it.

[Bryan Milham]

I have a small but growing collection of Ceramics, when all else fails, I take one to the workshop and do my best to recreate it in wood.

It rarely works out well, ceramics don't necessarily translate into a wooden object very well, but it is an interesting journey that make you think about the way you hold or turn the wood, differently and how you can make something work better, a part slightly larger, thinner, more round etc., etc..

Something else I've started lately is to look closely at Treen. Old wood turnings from the 17th, 18th or early 19th century and try to see why it's so different to today's turning, sometimes much more detailed in the designs, sometimes much more bland. Rarely what we now consider to be an interesting or aesthetic shape, but they work, because they were made for a purpose, what we would nowadays make from plastic.

In fact I see in the latest woodturning is a reproduced treen item, the Bun Candlesticks.

[Lazurus]

Thanks for all the advice and support, there are some great ideas I will see if I can give my "Mo Jo" a kick start............

[dubturner]

This happens me on and off.  Go to demonstrations, look at woodturning videos, chat with other turners at the demos about their work and projects. The enthusiam will return but I find the thing to do is not force anything.
Good Luck
Pat

[Wood spinner]

Thanks for all the advice and support, there are some great ideas I will see if I can give my "Mo Jo" a kick start............

Have you made any new items ? for us to see ? please ? 

[Lazurus]

Well its taken all this time to get going again, it was a bit of retail therapy that got me motivated again, I purchased a sphere jig so will post some pics after the weekend when I will have time to play again.

[BrianH]

The Broadland club now meets at Martham Community Centre on the Second Thursday of each month. Good crowd who enjoy a mixture of serious stuff and leg pulling. Next month I will be out the front doing a demo I'm calling 'Practice makes Perfect'. Martham isn't too far from your stamping ground so why not come and give us a look and we will try to help kickstart your Mojo for you.

All the best

Brian

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Well its taken all this time to get going again, it was a bit of retail therapy that got me motivated again, I purchased a sphere jig so will post some pics after the weekend when I will have time to play again.

Good for you ,well done. I'm looking forward to seeing it.