Shadow Butterfly

Cut this beauty out this past weekend. The pattern is by Steve Good. I cut the butterfly and then mounted it on a 1/2 inch small piece of wood and added that to a plywood backer and a pine base. The neat thing about it are the shadows it casts depending on the angle of the light.
This one is a prototype for future efforts. I would like to make a variety of them in different

woods like cedar which has some great grain patterns, oak, or cherry. I also need to make a few at a time because the cutting time on the butterfly is about three hours and I need to get the cost per unit down where people can afford to buy them.

Butterflies symbolize different things to different people. Some see them as a symbol of renewal and rebirth since they begin as a pupa and hatch from a cocoon into something totally

changed and a thousand times more beautiful than they were before.

The woman who sits next to me at work told me the story of why butterflies are special to her. She said: When they got to the cemetery for her father's internment There were dozens of beautiful butterflies at the grave side and even though it was a sad occasion it sort of symbolized to her what he would now become. Something new and beautiful and reborn. Kind of touched me. Hope it does you too.

Finally! A New Post!

So where have I been for the last three weeks. Well the lack of posts here doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Quite the opposite, actually. Hadn't been in the shop for about 2 weeks because of illness and now am trying to catch up. I have so many projects I want to do but I keep getting orders from my wonderful co-workers. Made the above piece from a pattern in the latest edition of Creative Woodworks and Crafts and took it into work and got an instant order from the lady that sits next to me. Have also had a lot of orders for the "Live Laugh Love"

word art and orders for the simple coat racks I sold last winter. I got orders for five of them in one week! Needless to say, if I can find the time to spend in the shop it will translate into orders.

This week I am concentrating on Easter things: Bunnies, chickies, eggs, and then there are the religious items as well. I have a number of beautiful crosses that I hope to sell and a really nice portrait of the cross and the scripture "Why seek ye the living among the dead. He is not here.

He is risen." Have had the pattern for a number of years and just haven't cut it.

I have also gotten a lot of good wood toy patterns lately, cars, trucks , farm implements. All very simple cuts from 2x4 stock but very popular. Will try to post some pictures when they are done.

The illness story. In the spring I have a tendency to get this upper respiratory virus and this year I got it worse than ever. For two weeks I was coughing hard enough to break my back (though I didn't). Had to stay out of the shop all that time. Got some antibiotics from my doctor and I am finally fighting my way out of it.

Spring has finally come to Michigan. It was almost 80 degrees today and yesterday was pretty nice as well. Pam and I went for our first bike ride of the spring on Saturday. I have a new bike and I really like it. And the way the price of gas is going I may be riding it to work soon. (I am serious about that).

Thanks for sticking with me. I have no idea who's reading this stuff, but keep checking back in.

Experimenting With Word Art

Been trying some different techniques with word art lately. I decided that cutting them from a board and leaving them unpainted looked a little boring so I've been trying a spray painting technique I eluded to in some prior post. I am less than pleased with the results.

To recap: I start by sanding and painting the board on both sides and then laying down blue painters tape on both sides. Then I attach the pattern and cut it out and before removing the pattern and the painters tape I spray paint the inside of the letters. Then remove the tape and pattern.

The first "Live Laugh Love" I did in black and gold came out great. I got three orders for it instantly. One wanted black and silver so I did one of those.

As I said, the first one came out great but subsequent ones not so much. Somehow I am getting a little leakage around the edges. I have tried touching them up with a paint pen but it looks pretty obvious if you look at it closely. Which brings me to my next point. When it sits on a shelf or desk the touch ups are not that noticeable. Still when I am asking folks to pay for something I want it to be perfect and it is not. I'll keep trying though until I find what works.

My friends at work have been keeping me pretty busy lately. I have filled three orders for the hearts with the couples names and wedding dates in them. I have a feeling that more will be coming. Have a couple of custom design projects as well. All this is keeping me from getting to some spring scroll saw projects I want to do. Butterflies are huge sellers and I have patterns for several variations. Just received another issue of "Creative Woodworks and Crafts" and they have some patterns for tiny little bird houses. Some people collect bird houses so those might go big.

I have done some more work on my website. I have the home page pretty much done and ready to publish. Lot of work to do on content yet. There will be a link to this blog and I hope to have a page to post some videos on as well. Need to book up on that first.

Sorry it's been so long between posts. Remember, lots of work, hockey season in playoffs, spring is almost here and I just bought a new bicycle. Time to start livin life again. Sounds like another word art possibility doesn't it?

Update: What's been goin on?

Been a couple of weeks since the last post. You probably remember this picture of the heart I made for my friend Andrew at work. Well after he showed it around a little I immediately got orders for two more and I finished and delivered them and got firm orders for two more and tentative orders for two more! At this rate I'll be running out of 3/8 inch oak pretty soon. The good part is I'll have money to buy more!

You may remember in our last visit I was bemoaning the fact that I ruined one piece when I over cut the letters in one of the names causing the middle of it to drop out. I called it designer firewood. Well, my wife saved it from the burn pile by suggesting I just cut out the heart shape around the name leaving an opening that you could fill with a picture. She always seems to see the angle that I miss. Now I have another way to sell this lovely heart.

My website plans have kind of stalled for now. I have a home page designed but not sure I like the look of it. I can't seem to get the pictures I want to use sized correctly. I have pictures of my saw and a few of my best cuttings to show off but can't get the photos down to a thumbnail size. I like to get them down to about 2x2 inches. If you know how to do that let me know in the comments section.

This weekend is free for me so far so I will be doing some cutting for sure but I really want to make some progress on the web site so I may spend most of it right here in my little office working on that. Hope to have something to show you soon.

My Second Box

Cut this one out last weekend from a Steve Good pattern. The nifty thing about it is that the top is held in place by magnets and it swings open and shut from either end. I made just a tiny mistake in that I drilled one of the holes for the magnet in the top too deep and the one in the bottom not deep enough but it turns out to be okay because it pivots like a post now. This little box is 1 inch deep. It is made from 1/4 inch oak for the top and bottom an 1 inch thick maple for the walls. It can be used for any number of things, paper clips, push pins, change, wrapped candy (you wouldn't put loose candy in there because of the finish), jewelry, your watch, just use your imagination. I will use it as an "eye catcher" on my desk at work to draw attention to whatever else I may have there to sell. On my bazaar table this one will go for $20.00. I like these a lot and will be making some more out of different kinds of woods in the future. I picked up a number of different 1 inch thick boards the last time I visited my favorite wood store.

I'm actually sitting here kind of depressed tonight. I was working on a custom order I got from a friend at work and I got just barely into it and was trying to cut out some small letters in her name and slipped and ruined it. Now I have a nice chunk of what we in the scrolling community call "designer firewood" Fortunately I do have another board I can use and I will just have to start all over. Bummer though. That is why I decided to photograph one of my successes and post it here on the blog.

Things are gradually slowing down. The basketball and hockey seasons are winding down so pretty soon I will have a lot more time to devote to scroll sawing. There are so many things I want to cut and just have not had the time to devote to them. But this weekend looks free and clear so far and I hope to have a lot of great things to show you next week. Unless, of course, I make more designer firewood.

A Valentines Day Sentiment

Have had a lot of requests for this little piece of word art but never got around to designing a pattern and then the other day I thumbing through a 2009 issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking and Crafts and BAM! there it was. This pattern was designed by Toni Burghout. Thank you Toni. You saved me a lot of time and (no doubt) frustration.

For the painting of this piece I used a similar technique to what I did with "Hearts in Love".
I started with a piece of poplar and painted it a glossy black. Then I covered both sides with painters tape, attached the pattern and sawed it out. Then before removing the tape I spray painted the inside gold and there you have it.

This is one of the most popular phrases for word art. People like to have it around to remind them to Live life to the fullest, Laugh because it feels so good, and never take Love for granted.

Last week was another hectic week for me. I was busy every night last week and none of it had anything to do with scroll sawing. It was basketball, hockey and a particularly painful committee meeting. All of it related to announcing. While I'd like to be in the shop these evenings I need to make hay on the announcing business while the sun shines. This week looks a little better.

I delivered the fretwork heart with the names and wedding date to Andrew last Monday and by the time he was through showing it around I had three more orders for it plus an order for a
couple of key chains and a kids coat rack! Looks like I have my work to cut out for me (as opposed to having my work cut our for me).

I'm working on another fretwork box right now that I hope to have done this week although this week is almost as bad for non scroll saw events as last. Then I'll get to those orders.
Pictures coming. Stay tuned (just can't get away from broadcasting ).

An Enjoyable Project for a Friend

A friend of mine at work asked me to design something for his up coming marriage and this is the result. I took a pattern for the Holiday edition of Scroll Saw Woodworking and Crafts and

enlarged it so I could fit the names and wedding date on it and cut it from a 3/8 thick piece of

oak . The finished project measures about 11 inches across and about 10 inches high at the peak of the arcs. I dipped it in Watco Danish Oil and then put two coats of Watco spray lacquer on it to seal it. I'm confident he's going to like it and I'm sure I'll get orders for more. Where to find the wood is another matter. I got this one at Johnson's Workbench in Charlotte (pronounced shar LOTT for you non Michigan folks) which is about 100 miles from here. Needless to say at $3.20 a gallon for gas I don't go running down there very often.

Enlarging the pattern and cutting our the heart was pretty easy. Designing and cutting the names and dates was another matter. I use Inkscape to design word art. It is a vector drawing program and I am learning to use it for more and more things. I have cut many free standing words, names and sayings where the letters sit on a base. Cutting letters INTO a piece of wood

is quite a different matter. When you do this you quickly realize that anything with a closed loop (e,o,p,d ect) requires another design technique called bridges to keep the center of the letter from falling out . There is a way to do this in Inkscape and there are some excellent tutorials on line to help you out. Unfortunately I am a slow learner and after watching the video about 25 times I finally got the hang of it and now it is quite fun.

Well that is the story of the Andrew & Andrea plaque (can you spot the letters I had to modify?)

Got a very busy week and, unfortunately, none of it involves scroll sawing so it will probably be another week between posts. Check back in from time to time and be sure to add comments if you have any. I love to read them.