Name: Bonnie Kaye Campbell (started putting the middle name in after moving south, it seems to be 'expected')

How young are you?
I celebrated the 25th anniversary of my 21'st birthday this year.

Physical description:
Hmmm, how about chubby and just a tad frumpy. If I have to dress up I can. But my usual attire contributes to my 'frumpy' description. I'm usually running around in sweat pants and t-shirts.

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Where is home?
I've lived in Natchez, Mississippi for 7 years now. But 'home' would be our cabin in Church Hill, if we ever get a house built out there. I'm originally from Minneapolis, lived there 18 years. Then married in Oregon and lived there 18 years. On my second husband now . I have almost gotten used to these hot summers down here.

Family information:
I've been married to my husband for 7 years now. We met online in a chat program. Things just blossomed from there. Unfortunately his health isn't very good now, but we get by. I've got a daughter that's married and living in Oregon. My husband Jon has 4 kids, and 6 grandchildren.

Do you have a website? If so, what's the URL?
My website isn't very exciting. I try keeping it simple so it isn't too much of a pain to load up for dial-uppers…..

Hey! Don't knock it, there be good stuff there.

Vocation:
I've done a lot of odd jobs in my time. Anything from animal sitting (chickens, dogs, cats and birds) to house cleaning, janitorial work, digging garlic to pickin' worms. And all the other odd jobs people can afford to get some fool to do Right now my job is taking care of my husband and making sure he’s happy

Shop Overview:
I have two lathes, a PSI midi and a (dare I say it?) Palmgren. I started with just hubby’s old table saw as peripheral, then added a small band saw, a bench top sander and a small drill press and a big dust collector. Of course they all work how and when they feel like. I know I have gremlins in my shop that dare me to expect machinery to work! I picked the PSI lathe because it seemed the most affordable at the time. I talked hubby into ordering it for my birthday a couple years ago. I told him how cheap of a hobby it would be. And I only needed a small lathe at the time because I started out making turkey calls. The shop is the storage room on the house. So it has it's own outside access. Also it had no electricity or heating/cooling. So hubby had it wired and put in a heat/ac pump.

Bonnie wasn’t too generous with photo submissions for this interview, so I’ve taken the liberty swiping some from near and far for your edification and will scatter them throughout this posting. To wit:

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How many turning tools do you have? Store bought; home made; favorites?
I think I have about 22 turning tools (another skew on it's way!). I've bought two of the cheap PSI midi sets and my brother sent me a big set he found at a garage sale (brand unknown). I really like the PSI size for most of the things I do. My favorite tools right now are my skews and round nosed scraper. Yeah, I probably use them wrong, but as long as I get satisfactory results I'm happy, for now.

How long have you been turning, and what got you started in the first place?
I've been turning for about a year and a half - actual time. Would have been the full two years I had the lathe, but not long after getting the lathe I slipped outside. So was in a brace and on crutches for about four months. Wow! Was that a pain. I would go sit and look at the lathe once in awhile, dreaming of all my future masterpieces Not that they've happened since, but I can always hope! I started turning because of getting a turkey my first season hunting them. I belonged to a hunting forum where guys were making custom pot calls. After I got my turkey using a store bought call I decided I could make a call too. So, with a lot of patient help from the guys online they had me cranking out turkey calls before long. It was a good time to get in to making the calls. It paid for all my tools, the wiring job and heat/ac.

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Pecan Praline (I guess that's why I moved south lol)

MMMmmm Pralines n’cream.

What do you enjoy most about turning?
I really enjoy how fast the process can be. And I'm always amazed at the grain in woods that don't look like they'd be interesting at all in the raw state.

What do you enjoy the least about turning?
That would HAVE to be sharpening the chisels. Well, cleaning up the mess comes in a very close second. Right now I just use my belt sander on my chisels (hence the cheap chisels).

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Do you belong to a turning club?
No, there aren't any around here. But some day I'd love to sneak over to Travis' place and peek in his shop window! His work is just awesome.

How come you don't live in Wyoming?
Now who wants to live in a state without trees?!?!? I did see a bush once when we traveled through there…..

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Hold one. Time to put in a new typewriter ribbon.