Something Very Christmas

As I mentioned in my last post, my next one would be something very very Christmas. This pattern is from Scroll Saw Woodworking and crafts holiday edition 2003. I kind of stumbled on it while I was looking for the name train project featured in the last post. This nativity scene is a special pattern by John Morgan. Each figure is made up of interlocking puzzle pieces. You can't really tell that from the picture.
Hardest part of this project was not the cutting but the careful painting of each piece. It took me far longer than I thought it would and I am not very confident in doing it. But it came out fairly well I think.
While making this set I thought about how frantic this season is. The crowds, the traffic, the weather the rush to get things done, the preparation for Christmas day.
We need to be reminded of what this day means. Suddenly Christmas morning arrives and everything slows to a stop and there is truly peace on earth, at least our part of it. This nativity scene reminds us that this is the birth of all we believe in , all we hope for and live for, our families, our friends.
May you all find the joy and the peace of this season amongst the hustle and bustle, the hype and hyperbole. MERRY CHRISTMAS from Terry's Scroll Shoppe.

All Aboard!

Well here it is all finished. The Terry Train. Of course you can make them in any kid's name which makes this a great gift for a toddler or a nifty dresser top decoration for the new baby's room. You can paint the letters any colors you want. I chose green and white. If you know me
you know why. I call the the "Capital One Bowl Express".

Picking a price point for these for orders is kind of tricky. It has to be based on a per piece rate because names are different lengths. The average length is about five letters plus the engine and caboose makes 7. About $2.50 per is what I figured. Making this one $17.50. OOOHH that smarts. But the expenses include the wood, wheels, cup hooks for coupling, and paint. Now you can start figuring in the labor and I'm working cheap!

Thing is, names used to be so simple like Mike, Alan, Dave, Ken. Now a days its Alexander,
Brandon, Conner, Chelsae, Melissa, Caitlyn...you get the idea. Those would be some pretty expensive trains. Now if you're an Ian, Tom, Or Joe, you can save a lot of bucks. So think about that when you name your kids, Mortimer and Ethelred!

Hardest part of this was the painting. I stink at it. I tried spay paint and it came out terrible except for the engine and caboose which, as you can see are just one color. For the letters the bottom is yellow to represent the car the letter sits on. Painting the letters is hard because you need to get the insides covered and the paint runs. Still I managed to get it done. It's....nice........ NOT THRILLING.... but....nice (Dom DeLuise, History of the World Pt I).

By the way the creator of the pattern for this project is John A Nelson and it is from the 2003 edition of "Scroll Saw Woodworking and Crafts" Holiday issue. (yes I keep and save them all!)

Well, the next project is already in progress. All I'll say at this time is that it is something very, very, Christmas.. Probably won't get it done this weekend because I'm going to be busy with my other enterprise...arena announcing at sporting events. Look for another post early next week.

Busy Weekend in Ye Olde Scroll Shoppe

First completely free weekend I've had in I don't know when. No extracurriculars this weekend.
No basketball, No hockey, No announcing, No place I had to be. So I decided it was a good
weekend to spend entirely in the shop. Displayed above are some of the projects from the weekend.
I have already told you the story of the item at the top of the board..."Live Life Laugh Often" so let me tell you about the others. The "Merry Christmas 2010" ornament with the nativity scene was ordered by one of my friends at my day job. She wanted two of them and I already had one so I cut this one out on Saturday.
The key chain you see hanging next to it is done with a new technique to me that I learned on-line. I down loaded a program that produces patterns for oval shaped key chains with the letters cut into the wood. I then put a backer of a different color wood on it and filled the letters with polymer modeling clay. It comes in a wide variety of colors. I chose red for an at work Friend that wanted eight of them to honor his late father in-law. After packing the clay into the letter cut outs I baked them for half an hour in the oven and then sanded off the excess. A wipe down with Watco Danish Oil gives them a beautiful finish.
The cars are something I have just recently gotten interested in. The body's are cut from your basic contrstuction type 2x4 and the fenders are from scrap wood. The wheels are just a standard craft store product and 1/4 inch dowels serve as the axles. Funny story about the smaller more modern looking car. To cut the body I affix a pattern to the 2x4 using krylon Easy Tack spay on glue. It is a temporary bond and easy to remove. For the finish I decided on Krylon Clear Glaze, a kind of lacquer that gives it a nice gloss. Well...Krylon Easy Tack and Krylon Clear Glaze come in very similar looking cans! You can see what's coming here, can't you? After coating my little hot rod till I had a nice shine on it I stepped back to admire my work and looked down at the can in my hand. I suddenly realized I had just covered by beloved project in GLUE!!!!!! I grabbed in (sticking to my fingers) and raced to the other room where I poured a can of mineral spirits into a pan and proceeded to give it a bath. Fortunately it worked and everything is fine now. Boy, was I mad!!!
There is one unfinished project you see here. It is my name train. Tomorrow axles and wheels will be added to each piece and they will all be painted different colors. It will serve as a decoration for my desk at work as we try to win the decorating contest for the holidays. I'll post a new picture when it's done. See ya then.

You Are Only As Good As You Take the Time to Be

Cut this one out in the shoppe tonight. It is a lovely piece of word art from a pattern by scroll saw artist and pattern designer Sue May. I've sold quite a few of these so when a friend at my

day job ask me to make one for her to give as a "Secret Santa" gift I was pleased to oblige.

So I came home and copied the pattern and pieced it together (to big to fit on one sheet) and

affixed it to a 1/4 inch piece of baltic birch plywood.

As I looked over the pattern I thought "Gee, this is pretty simple. Nice big interior cutouts, long sweeping gentle curves, no real delicate work, I should be able to knock this out in about 15 minutes". BUZZZZZ!!!! WRONG!!!

I started with the interior cuts as I always do and began to zip through them. Suddenly I began to notice that my curves were looking flat on one side. Some spots that should be straight were turning out rather crooked. I finished cutting it out in about 45 minutes and peeled the pattern off it and began to look it over. IT WAS AWFULL!!!! The tops of the "L's" had flat spots all over them, the big "O"(mind out of the gutter please!) looked like a flat tire and the "f" in often looked like a crooked tree limb. Well this won't do. I can't give her this. So after supper I decided to cut another one. Hey, mu reputation is on the line when I let my blade wander so far off the line, so it is back to fundamentals.

When cutting big sweeping curves that bend into short tight ones like the "L's" in Live and Life it is important to let the blade do the work and not "push" your work into the blade. You must keep light finger pressure on the piece and just guide it through the blade and do not stop to re-orient the blade to the line. When you do that you get those flat spots. You take it SLOW and steer the wood through the curve just like you would your car. Steer too slow and your blade will wander to the outside of the curve. Too fast and the blades cuts to the inside of the curve.

It takes a lot of practice, and I've had a lot of practice but for some reason tonight I thought I could just zip through it and get away with it. I'm too embarrassed to even show you that first attempt. I did keep it right in front of me as I cut the second one just to remind me where I messed it up. Another I did was to cut the second one sitting on a stool. I tried the first one standing up and with some of the cuts being extraordinarily long my back just can't take it anymore.

But, in conclusion, no matter how good you think you are (and I think this includes everything you attempt to do in life) you are only as good as you take the time to be.