The Rider grandchildren–Brad, Brandon, and Hayley–spent a week in Colorado in July with several hours of woodturning instruction in the shop. They started with just two tools and a practice stick in a session something like ‘How to tame your dragon [lathe]. They advanced to turning a pen from holly (it will double as a weapon against vampires) with Milo Scott. Milo engraved their designs in the pen body with his magic laser machine, and then the new turners puzzled through the assembly process. 
In the photo, Bradley turns the funnel for the inside of his upside-down salt shaker, while Dennis and Brandon review his work. The salt shakers were a challenging project. The wood Dennis selected because cherry is easy to cut turned out to be some very obstinate honey locust. They showed great effort in the quest for this very ancient artifact design, which is still common in countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
The ‘smocks’ are recycled from Whole Foods. We cut off the long sleeves, and sewed the pockets shut for safety. The kids also traded their stylish Converse sneakers for some leather shoes.