Needing Any Help I Can Get

[greasemonkeyredneck]

I ama always thrilled with my pattern purchases. I mean I'm like a kid in a candy store when they arrive. I can't wait to get the out of the envelope and study every detail of them. Furthermore, unbelieveably, I've never had a complaint with a pattern I ordered from any well known company, until now.

After building a chandelier from a pattern I bought from Wildwood Designs, I wanted to do another one. So, I ordered the plans for the Italiante Chandelier several months ago. You can see it here: http://www.wildwooddesigns.com/Italiant ... _P2308.cfm . I hate to complain, but these have to be the worst plans I've ever recieved. To make matters worse, I think they are somewhere along the top of the price line I have paid for patterns at $29.95.

The plans are from an old italian design. All the writing on the plans are in italian. That part was no problem. I found a free translator site on the interent and went about translating every word I could possibly find on the plans. After several long hours, I learned the thickness I'm supposed to cut some of the pieces, in mm. I learned the arrows dictate the grain direction of the wood. I think I could have figured that one out without translation. I also learned that the makers of this plan liked to write "3 times" in such places on these plans to make you assume that every part on it has to be cut three times, which is fine except that if you look on the photo of the chandelier, there are some parts that you will need one of, and some six of. Other than that, the only info my hourse spent translating was such trivial stuff such as these patterns are meant for "fun, pleasure, and business".

Most patterns I've bought in the past, especially at this price, come with instructions, and usually a few up close photos or production photos and diagrams. Not the Italiante Chandelier. Out of the five pages of plans, there are two photos. Those two photos are so distorted from photocopying that you can't even tell they are photos of a chandelier, much less pick up on any additional details I hadn't already seen on the photo from the website. I studied them well. At first I thought they had sent me photos showing me who was on that grassy knoll when Kenneddy was shot, or some other secret like that. All I had to do was figure out the photo, and I'd be famous.

OK! Enough with my griping. Before anyone tells me to send them back, I will still try to build this, even if I have to just set it aside and make it a winter project that I have to build and figure out like a cruel jigsaw puzzle.

I'm writing this post hoping someone can help. Has anyone ever built this before? If so, I need any and all photos I can get of it to help me figure out some of the details on it. I've spent uncountable hours on the internet searching and have come up with about six photos. Most of them came from Rick Hutchesons site. I've written him asking for help, but haven't recieved a response. Also, none of the photos I have found help too much. If anyone else could help, it would be greatly appreciated.

[frieke]

Hi William,

I have those plans too, and started to cutting them. It's true, there are many pages of the plans to do X3, I thought it were 371 pieces to cut out. Rick helped me with the plans, so he'll respond to you too I guess. There was one part he didn't know where to put it, I found it already.

For me it will be a two years plan lol and I place the WIP on the forum once I've done a lot more then the two biggest parts in the middle...

Maybe this will be a good point for me to restart on it, cause I like the chandelier very much!

I wish you all the luck with it, and keep in touch eh!

[frieke]

 

Here are some more pictures, hope they are usefull too! I know sopme other people made them too, I'll try to find out who they are.

[amazingkevin]

William ,you really got your hands full this time!what a exquizive project.Really belongs in the taj mahal.Or it is the taj mahal.this is right up your alley as you enjoy a challange!You may retire after this one,lol.My mouth drops open at all the detail.None of your customers will haggel on the price of this one i'm sure. money in the bank!Sorry you went through all the extra to get atarted, but it'll greatly reward you in the end.It's going to expose how talanted you really are around there and you'll be the talk of the town.More than likely you'll be in the paper there.People will come from all over just to see it.Stock up on tickets for the showing!lol.I'm going to send you 3 blue ribbons in advance to hang on it! Wow you can really pick em! Nobody can complain and jump on you and say it's not a scroll saw project!!!!!

[greasemonkeyredneck]

Frieke, thank you for the photos. I'm getting together all I can for when I start this beast. Any other help will of course be appreciated very much. Since you've got the plans, you can attest to the fact that they are very much on the confusing side. If I can just get enough pictures though to know where the parts go, I know I can do it while standing on my head. I love challenging projects like this one.

Kevin, I didn't know if you'd ever seen the other chandelier I built, so I linked a thumbnail above. That's why I want to do this one. I absolutely had a ball doing the one in the above thumbnail. If you want some better photos of it, let me know and I'll upload them. This Italiante though is supposed to be as wide as that one is tall. The finished size according to Wildwood is four feet tall and it holds 24 candles. I am trying to get help because I am determined to do it, and sooner rather than later. If you're interested, somewhere here in the village I have a work in progress of the first chandelier you can look at to see the construction. It was actually easy once it started coming together, and I suspect this one will be too. They are time consuming though. If it's anything like the first, each section has to be cut, glued, and then dried overnight for strength before you can even attempt to move on to the next section.

As for all the compliments though, thank you very much, but here in poor Mississippi, things like this take forever to sale. If I done these type projects purely for profit, I'd have sold out the shop a long time ago. The first chandelier I done has over $150 worth of material and a little over 50 hours work in it. I've had it for sale for about a year now for $300. After hearing the price, I've never had anyone show an ounce of further interest. I worked so hard on it though that I refuse to sell it any lower. If nothing else, when I do shows, it's definately a conversation starter. It's always the first thing anyone asks about, like I said, until they hear the price.

This one is just one of those things I want to build. If and when I get it done, I'll buy the plans for my next "want project". If you want to know what it is, mosy on over to Wildwood Designs and search for Dome Clock.

[Travis]

Wow. It looks like you have quite a project on your hands. I hope to see some WIP pix once you get it figured out. It looks like it will be a beautiful piece.