My name is Skip Nodler. I'm a wood turner living near Fairbanks, Alaska. I set up this web page in the summer of 2000. It has grown since I first made the home page. It now includes pages for new and old art work of mine, art work of friends and family, and interesting things and sites that people have sent me. Please feel free to send an e-mail and tell me what you think of it.

Click here to see new inventory. Update 04/23/05

Click here to see my Gallery of work that I have done in the past.

Ice Jam

Ice Jam plays music at "College Coffeehouse" just about every Wednesday night. It's located in the little mall at the corner of College and University Ave in Fairbanks Alaska. We now have our own sound system and have started playing for events like Weddings and Contra Dances. Click on the picture and or Ice Jam to take you to the band page. 06/30/05

Tanana Mud

Our CD can also be purchased online at,cdbaby.com

You can also E-mail me at skipn@huges.net

I've started doing pencil sketching. I'm having great fun!The fisrt page was getting too full so I started a second, so people could choose if they want to go on. Update 11/04/03

MortalsThis page holds mostly my earlier drawings.

Elven Portraits

This drawing page will contain some nudity. I hope it's tastefully done. These drawing will be more than just portraits. Fantasy Page

Decided to start a page of my photos of Alaska. Bit of a diferent view than from the tourist bureau. My Alaska

Pictures of our trip to the Alaska Folk Festval. Juneau

My shop is mostly powered by 12 volt DC electricity that I store in batteries and generate with solar panels. I do live in Alaska and although it doesn't get as dark here in the winter as many people believe, I do have to run a generator for a couple hours a day from November through January. P.S. Life has changed a little. In Nov. of 2000 we got hooked up to the grid. My shop is still 12 volt and I'm going to keep that way. I'll use the grid like I did the generator as backup.

Update 4/24/02: I bought myself a 24" Vicmark lathe for Christmas. I've started turning green wood and experimenting with natural edge bowls. Unfortunately the motor is too big for my 12 volt system. My Sears bandsaw, drill press, grinder and light still use DC for the power source. The local woods available here are Paper Birch, Aspen, Cottonwood and Spruce. All other woods are imported.

Locally I can be found, Saturdays at the Tanana Valley Farmers Market (Fairbanks) where I share a booth with my favorite potter, Marty Baldridge, throughout the summer.

Now to the fun parts. I like looking at what other turners are doing so here's some of what I'm doing. Click on the small pictures and it should take you to a larger one.

I like doing bells. My favorite woods are Yellow Cedar and Paper Birch. I used to try to get them very, very thin but that made it hard to use the wood burning pens. Now I'm more interested in nice form and finishes. I still try to get the thickness down to a 1/16". With Cedar and Birch, if the shop is kept dim and a light is placed to shine inside the bell, you can gauge the thickness by the glow coming through the wood. I use the point of a skew chisel to mark the parallel lines around the bell. The loose rings are made and parted off with a 1/2" carvers skew. The eyelets are the little barbed eyelets some fly fisherman use to fasten the thick fly line to the light leader line. The base is made with Walnut, some Flame Birch and Moose Bone.

My sister, Fran Bundtzen, does the birds that are on some of my boxes. She uses a wood burning pen for light texture and acrylic paints for color. I do the borders.

If you missed clicking on Fran Bundtzen, do so. I've got pictures of her carvings ready to view.

Here are some end grain boxes. These are great fun to do. Fran did the cranberries.

---

Ring laminated bowls take more time to do, but can have a nice look. The bowl on the left is made of local brich. It can be a little tedious making a good joint with birch to birch. The light colored wood absorbs the glue so it's always somewhat visable. A bad joining really shows.

The bowl on the right is a ring laminated bowl with Purple Heart and Birch. I like how the dark wood puts a frame and accent to the lighter Birch. It's a little easier joining the Purple Heart to Birch. The dark wood masks any glue absorbtion by the lighter birch.

---

I don't make very many of these bowls. This one is made from Cocobolo. The twist lock lid is time consuming but very satisfying though I have to let the bowl sit for a year and keep refining the fit of the lid as the wood relaxes into it's final form. The idea sprang from an article in American Woodturner on antique bowls at Sturbridge Village. I'm not sure you can see what I did in my picture any better than I could from theirs. As I get time and learn more on how to do web pages I'll try for some illistrations.

---

Tops! What great fun. They get a workout at my table at the Farmer's Market. I think the grownups like them better than the kids.

I started a new page forTops and Things. Update 1/23/01