Upcoming Demo

Metal Spinning on a Lathe

November 2, 2025

Description

This demonstration will introduce the basics of metal spinning for woodturners that already have a basic familiarity with working on a lathe. For those not familiar with metal spinning, it is the forming of metal with specific tools while the metal blank is rotating on a lathe (not a subtractive process like machining). Spinning tools are used like simple levers, pushing against the rotating blank of metal to form it. Through the creation of a small decorative holiday ornament (a bell in this case), all of the fundamental metal spinning tools, materials, and processes will be covered.

Demonstrator Bio

James Thurman is a Professor of Metalsmithing & Jewelry at the University of North Texas’ College of Visual Arts & Design. He received his MFA in Metalsmithing from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and his BFA in Sculpture from Carnegie Mellon University. A three-time Fulbright Specialist Scholar, he worked in Istanbul, Turkey, with Kadir Has University in 2012, the Glass Furnace Foundation in 2016, and Birmingham City University in 2024. The major goal of his research and artworks is to foster creative problem-solving in everyone’s daily lives with an emphasis on environmental impact and improvement. Currently, he is serving as President of the Denton Maker Center (DMC) in Denton, TX, which he helped co-found.