Featuring John Williams

Photos by Zoe Alexander

I want to tell you a secret of wood turning. This the most important rule of wood turning and if you ever make a bowl on a lathe you need to heed this: never ever let the inside diameter exceed the outside diameter.

I've been doing wood and carpentry my entire life, and carpentry in my family goes back three generations. My interest in wood really started with my father, who was always building furniture for my mother. He was one of the Greatest Generation, a marine who had been based in Hawaii during the war -- thankfully not when it got bombed. His whole mentality was "I don't need to call a repairman, I can fix it myself." He instilled that in me. My grandfather also taught me a little bit about woodturning because he had a lathe. While I was growing up in Atlanta, my grandfather and his lathe was all the way up in New York. So after my grandpa taught me how to turn I didn't have a lathe until he passed away and left the lathe to my dad.

At about that time I learned about the work of the Molthrops, another carpentry family. They're a three-generation family of architects and woodworkers based at Georgia Tech, and they helped popularize woodturning from an industrial endeavor into an art media. I bought a piece from Philip Molthrop, a very expensive piece, and I wrote him to say "hey, you know, I've admired your work and I've gotten into wood turning because of what I see y'all doing." It turned out that Phil and I had gone to rival high schools, graduated in the same year, and that we had some mutual friends.

Phil taught me one of the Molthrop family tricks, which is applying a smooth epoxy finish to the wood. At the time, nobody else really did that except for them. I did a video on my YouTube channel about how I do the epoxy and I got questions from all around the country. So I may have taught a bunch more folks how to do it.

I met another mentor of mine, Rudy Lopez, through the American Association of Woodturners when I joined a local chapter. I was only just starting, and Rudy had pity on me and came over to spend some time with me. I've called on him several times asking "what about this, what about that?" Basically, I got a lot of lessons on the cheap. The first show I ever did was a local church event, a little sidewalk kind of thing. I had a really funky setup, and everything less than a hundred bucks, but people picked things up and told me "I like this!"

I barely got into Gasparilla in 2014. I applied though the form on their website and I was immediately rejected. The following day they sent me an email saying I needed to apply under "emerging artists," and I got in that way. The next year I was admitted as a regular artist, and I did Gasparilla for about six years in total. From there I branched out to Winter Park and a bunch of other shows.

*A turned vase on display in John Williams' home*

Today I've made over 800 pieces, it's flabbergasting to think back on it, and I usually have about 100 pieces in inventory at a time. Some things sell, some things don't, and sometimes I can totally blow it like anybody. I work with bright red camphor, an invasive and ethically harvested wood, along with woodturning mainstays like starry Norfolk Island Pine, Ambrosia Maple, and spalted Flame Box Elder.

Today I've made over 800 pieces, it's flabbergasting to think back on it, and I usually have about 100 pieces in inventory at a time. Some things sell, some things don't, and sometimes I can totally blow it like anybody. I work with bright red camphor, an invasive and ethically harvested wood, along with woodturning mainstays like starry Norfolk Island Pine, Ambrosia Maple, and spalted Flame Box Elder.

I also make these two-tone cedar goblets, which generally get a lot of attention. I've always sold them in pairs. I mean, I list them for sale individually but when somebody picks one up I tell them "I really don't recommend buying just one because I don't want you drinking alone," and it works!

To sum up, I'm 76 years old and I'm just happy I can still do this. I'm grateful that I get to do something I enjoy and make a little money with. When I turn a piece and the knot pattern comes out just as I hoped I'll be out in the yard yahooing and high fiving myself, because I can't plan what the wood grain will do. I'm just exposing God's work.

My Family's Tradition of Carpentry

Putting Yourself on the Pedestal

Fort Myers Beach Art Association Named This Year’s One Wall Grant Recipient