The Turner’s Page

After buying my first lathe to round out my woodshop, I soon found that woodturning was an art unto itself, perhaps an elegant cousin of the other woodworking I had done until then. My brother asked me for a salt & pepper mill set for Christmas, and as I began to research the project, this DVD was featured on page 1 of Google's results. Judging the DVD by its cover, I liked the image, and bought it.
A dear friend was nearby when I watched this Peppermill DVD for the first time, and remarked that I was smiling during much of it. Ted's style, gentle humor, kindly presentation, and artistic way of describing shape, form, proportion, flowing curve, oneness/wholeness of the piece, just somehow made SENSE to me. I had only turned one project before watching Ted's DVD, so I didn't even know what all the tools were that he was referencing, let alone how to begin practicing using them well. I made lists of items to read up on/purchase, and assembled what I'd need to turn my first mill. Compelled by the beautiful art he was creating, I've watched the DVD now about 5 or 6 times, understanding more what he means each time, after trying out his recommendations at the lathe.
He's careful to say that his way isn't the only way--true enough--but for a beginner like myself, I'm not eager to re-invent the wheel when a truly beautiful piece is possible for me using Ted's methodology and design theory.
Another most helpful element of this DVD (and even more so in his Metal Inlay Techniques for Woodturning & Woodworking), is that he captures common mistakes as they happen on film, even slows down the film speed to show you precisely what went wrong, to help diagnose the mistake and so offer helpful advice/corrections. Most other wood turning tutorials I've seen by others, show only how a technique is done *perfectly*...after all, it's a "Master Turner" you're watching, right!? But Ted allowed on this DVD a mistake, a "catch" in action, (likely staged, but no matter), because that's precisely what's HELPFUL to the viewer. For someone who made more catches than clean cuts in the beginning, this element really won me over. He gets 5 stars right there.
By way of critique (I've done some video editing as well), in a future version of the same I may use more text-over-picture, to help describe really clearly what's going on. As an example, have the text "1 5/8 Forstner 5/8" deep" or whatever it is, overlayed in text discreetly, during the operation. I say this because I copied this DVD to my shiny ipad, and brought it right into my dusty shop to review instructions quickly while actually at the lathe. I often had to re-wind/fast forward over and again just to find where he said it's thus-and-such size bit or finish or speed or chisel type or whatever, and wished it was visually evident for the duration of the task, not only at one moment, and at that, only audibly, not visually. With dust extractors sucking and other shop noises, finding the needed info quickly proved difficult many times. To get around this, I finally outlined the entire process on paper, and by now just have most of it memorized. Perhaps a small preprinted cheat-sheet would be a welcome insert with the DVD, or as an additional electronic document within his very helpful resource section, "Ted's Goodie Box," already on the DVD.
That said, Ted's DVD has done a real service to this wood turning novice, which answered in quite large measure my many practical introductory questions, all the while infusing the tutorial with his inspiring love of art and personally developed art theory--which I believe is what makes the forms and shapes he turns so compelling.
If Ted would make a similar DVD tutorial describing more of his techniques, or forms (like his Making Candlesticks Seeing the Curves), or "practice drills" for a novice to master, or even a whole DVD on more mistakes and how to avoid (& correct!) them, I'd certainly be in line for the purchase.
"Making a Peppermill" by Ted Sokolowski is a most helpful and inspiring tutorial, and earns my highest recommendation. This DVD is every new turner's MUST BUY.
Ted is certainly worth his salt--and pepper.