Who would use a wood burner to make 5,722 lines on a piece of wood and call it "fun"? Oh, and all those lines were also inked in various colors, so that the finished carved bowl looks like a basket.

All fun."I don't know how long it took, and when I'm working on something I'm not thinking about how long it takes," said Joan Lech of Lehighton. Her works will be featured during a monthlong show at the Kettle Creek Environmental Center, Stroudsburg, with the opening from 9-11 a.m. Sept. 9. "I do it for the fun and the love of it. I love nature."In 1988 Lech, who has a degree in art education, signed up for a woodcarving class at Lehigh Carbon Community College. Students learned to carve a chickadee."I've always loved to watch and photograph birds," she said. "And I like working with my hands."About five years ago, Lech also began turning wood, making bowls and vases, using tools such as a lathe, scroll saw and band saw. She also continued using a micro-grinder and various knives for carving. Soon she found that some of her favorite projects combined several skills, such as turning, carving, wood burning and painting - such as a piece of wood she turned into an egg shape, and then finished by burning 21 different feathers onto its surface and then painting them.Most often, she carves using either basswood or butternut wood, and also Kentucky coffee wood. She and her husband, Joe, are known to travel widely, where they always have their eyes peeled for choice pieces of wood including catawba, sassafras, maple, cherry and oak."The farther west and north you go, the thicker the bark," she said. "The thicker the bark, the better the piece is for carving."Whether she's working with a chunk of a tree trunk or bark, the wood must be allowed to dry first, which sometimes takes about two years. And even then, when a piece has been turned until its sides or width is about an inch, Lech will let it dry another six months."Then as long as it hasn't cracked or warped, I'll finish it," Lech said. "And I find that taking that time away from it will sometimes lead me to see it in a different way.""I might leave a piece out someplace, where I'll walk past it, look at it, and for some reason I'll feel that something's not there, not quite right," she added. "And then I'll pick it back up - it might be two or three years later - and work on it like it's all new."For instance, Lech loves hummingbirds, and had carved and painted a piece of wood into a ruby-throated hummingbird which she intended to make into a pin. Ten years later, she turned a piece of maple into a vase, and also used wood burning and painting, and embedded small beads to create what she calls "embellishments" on the outside of the vase. But to her the piece seemed to be missing something. She added the hummingbird.Lech belongs to several clubs with members who also enjoy carving or turning, such as the Lehigh Valley Chippers, Lehigh Valley Turners and the Women in Turning."When I first started turning, I was the only women amongst about 50 guys," she said. "But in more recent times, more and more women are getting into it and finding out how much fun and rewarding it is."The Lechs' basement space is filled with wood in various stages of drying and project work. Joan likes it that way - she can turn or carve or paint, depending on what most appeals to her at the moment."Part of the money from any piece that sells during the show will go to help the Kettle Creek Environmental Center," Lech said. "I love nature - and so do the folks at the center - so I'm glad to do it and excited about my first show."For more info:Go to Facebook to visit the Women in Turning page.Go to

www.lehighvalleywoodturners.com. LVW is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the continued advancement of the art of wood turning. The group's purpose is to provide continuing education and information to anyone who has an interest in wood turning. LVW is a member of the American Association of Woodturners. Meetings are held on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Woodcraft Store, Lehigh Street, Allentown.WoodturningWoodturning is the craft of using the wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a simple mechanism which can generate a variety of forms. The operator is known as a turner, and the skills needed to use the tools were traditionally known as turnery. In pre-industrial England, these skills were sufficiently difficult to be known as "the misterie" of the turner's guild.Items made on the lathe include tool handles, candlesticks, egg cups, knobs, lamps, rolling pins, cylindrical boxes, Christmas ornaments, bodkins, knitting needles, needle cases, thimbles, pens, chessmen, spinning tops; legs, spindles and pegs for furniture; balusters and newel posts for architecture; baseball bats, hollow forms such as woodwind musical instruments, urns, sculptures; bowls, platters and chair seats.A skilled turner can produce a wide variety of objects with five or six simple tools. The tools can be reshaped easily for the task at hand. 21st-century turners restore furniture, continue folk-art traditions, produce custom architectural work, and create fine craft for galleries. Woodturning appeals to people who like to work with their hands, find pleasure in problem-solving, or enjoy the tactile and visual qualities of wood.