Sorry for the delay in posting this. This is going to be mainly pictures. But a picture is worth a 1000 words, right?
As some of our snow bird members have returned, we had a pretty good attendance.
This was the last meeting to turn in all the bowls that were made by our members for Bowls for Hunger in Manatee county.
Our presenter was Raul Darriba from the Tampa woodworkers club. He came down as part of a speaker exchange program with the other woodworking clubs in the area. We have worked with the other clubs to form a loose association, The Florida Association of Woodworkers Clubs, to help each other with programs and other things.
Raul showed us something that I don’t believe anyone in our club had ever heard of before, straw parquetry. Parquetry is usually done with wood or veneer pieces of different colors, which go to gather to form geometric shapes. Raul has taken this in a different direction, he uses straw to make the geometry. This is the straw that grains grow on like, wheat straw. It is harvested, cut to length, put in bundles, and usually dyed. All though you can buy it undyed.
The straw is a hollow and round at this point. Reul slices it length wise and then flattens it so that it is about a 1/2″ wide. The straw has a natural luminescence when viewed at different angles.
He then glues these pieces down to a substrate using regular old Elmers glue.He made a small diamond shaped pattern right on the bench.
He showed some slides of different projects made this way . 
Here are some pictures of the show and tell:
