These are some of the wood feathers I make & cut for my dream catchers. They are made fro scrap hardwood from other projects, then glued together, & I plan them down to 3/32" thick.

[SCROLLSAW703]

[Scrappile]

I love them.  the multi color of the woods really makes them stand out.  Great work.

[OCtoolguy]

Thanks Brad. And I second what Paul said about the wood. Do you have a pattern or is it all freehand? Where in the world did you get the idea for "dream catchers"?

 

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Has to be the longest title I ever seen here for a new topic

[kmmcrafts]

Nice work Brad!! 

I use to make dream catchers and made my own feather out of wood but never did them from that thin of wood.. I usually did them from 1/8" hardwoods.. They use to be a hot seller for a while.. but it kind of dried up a bit.. I still have a couple of them but not on my website anymore.. Maybe the market will open back up so maybe I should put the listing live again.. been a couple years since I took them down..

Ray, there are quite a few dream catcher patterns out there.. Sue Mey scrollsawartist.com has a few.. Use to be several free designs floating around out there back in the day.. not sure they are still out there or not but..  

[JAC1961]

Those are great. I bought the new Scrollsaw magazine and want to cut the ones from their patterns.

[justdraftn]

10 hours ago, SCROLLSAW703 said:

Those are very cool!  What is the process to plane them down?
Before you cut them, after?   How?  Planer....

[Rockytime]

Your work looks great Brad! Thank you for posting.

[SCROLLSAW703]

 

 

Howdy folks,

I appreciate the compliments on my handy work. And my apologies for the title not bein' short enough for ya to read it all in one sentence, J.T. I hope ya didn't hurt nothin' by readin' all that at one sittin'.;)

the process I use, JustDraftn, is perty simple. All the scraps of hardwood I have leftover from different projects, I save and glue together in "sheets," or long pieces of all different species glued together. When it gets long enough I don't have anymore bench room, I take the run to my RAS & start cuttin' 14" - 16" lengths until I run out of material. Then I run them over the table saw and trim them down to about 11 1/2" wide. the width of my planer is 12 1/2". But 11 1/2" is wide enough for what I do with them. Then I just start runnin' them through the planner, flipping side for side, end for end each time to cut down on the snipe & planer marks until I get down to 3/32". Then I run the entire piece thru my drum sander, then sand the complete piece with 220 grit sand paper on a palm sander. Then they are ready to tape and stick patterns to. I drill 3 entry holes in each feather, there is one pattern that has to have a couple more than that. Than I cut them apart in pairs, and start cuttn'em out. Each feather takes about an hour to an hour and a half to cut. There is more detail then it looks like. I use anywhere from a #02 polar blade up to a # 1 polar blade. It just depends on how much of the detail I am after, and where on the dream catcher I'm plannin' on hangin' it. 

I have a dream catcher hangin' in the shop now that is partially done now that I am making for a close friend that recently lost her Ma, and we have a catcher hangin' above our chairs here in our living room that I made in memory of daughter when we lost her 3 years ago. It has ten feathers hangin' on it' representin' her children and grandchildren. My bride says NOBODY gets that one, but I will try and get pictures of those two on here in the next couple of days.

We spent all day in Nebraska today in the Sawbones office gettin' things started for my brides' knee replacement. So not much got accomplished here today, even in my crippled up state. But I try to keep truckin'! 

I sincerely appreciate the gratitude, comments, and the interest you folks took in my handy work. After 25+ plus years of scrollin', I was kinda beginnin' to get perty down on myself on account of nobody likin' my work, or not doin' a good enough job to suit folks, or whatever hit me. You folks have kinda lit a fire under me again that maybe I was needin'. More'n ya know! Thanks again, and keep admirin' my handy work, if ya would.;) Thank you.

Brad

Edited November 2, 2018 by SCROLLSAW703

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

No Brad I survived the reading. They all look good and the use of the color of the grain in the woods is smart. Gives them a natural look.  Need to post more of your work. 25+ years. another old sawduster. I know if when I pass and they have to do an autopsy they will find saw dust in the veins too. To me it is the most relaxing hobby and was glad I found it some 35 years ago. 

Edited November 2, 2018 by JTTHECLOCKMAN

[OCtoolguy]

2 hours ago, SCROLLSAW703 said:

 

 

Howdy folks,

I appreciate the compliments on my handy work. And my apologies for the title not bein' short enough for ya to read it all in one sentence, J.T. I hope ya didn't hurt nothin' by readin' all that at one sittin'.;)

the process I use, JustDraftn, is perty simple. All the scraps of hardwood I have leftover from different projects, I save and glue together in "sheets," or long pieces of all different species glued together. When it gets long enough I don't have anymore bench room, I take the run to my RAS & start cuttin' 14" - 16" lengths until I run out of material. Then I run them over the table saw and trim them down to about 11 1/2" wide. the width of my planer is 12 1/2". But 11 1/2" is wide enough for what I do with them. Then I just start runnin' them through the planner, flipping side for side, end for end each time to cut down on the snipe & planer marks until I get down to 3/32". Then I run the entire piece thru my drum sander, then sand the complete piece with 220 grit sand paper on a palm sander. Then they are ready to tape and stick patterns to. I drill 3 entry holes in each feather, there is one pattern that has to have a couple more than that. Than I cut them apart in pairs, and start cuttn'em out. Each feather takes about an hour to an hour and a half to cut. There is more detail then it looks like. I use anywhere from a #02 polar blade up to a # 1 polar blade. It just depends on how much of the detail I am after, and where on the dream catcher I'm plannin' on hangin' it. 

I have a dream catcher hangin' in the shop now that is partially done now that I am making for a close friend that recently lost her Ma, and we have a catcher hangin' above our chairs here in our living room that I made in memory of daughter when we lost her 3 years ago. It has ten feathers hangin' on it' representin' her children and grandchildren. My bride says NOBODY gets that one, but I will try and get pictures of those two on here in the next couple of days.

We spent all day in Nebraska today in the Sawbones office gettin' things started for my brides' knee replacement. So not much got accomplished here today, even in my crippled up state. But I try to keep truckin'! 

I sincerely appreciate the gratitude, comments, and the interest you folks took in my handy work. After 25+ plus years of scrollin', I was kinda beginnin' to get perty down on myself on account of nobody likin' my work, or not doin' a good enough job to suit folks, or whatever hit me. You folks have kinda lit a fire under me again that maybe I was needin'. More'n ya know! Thanks again, and keep admirin' my handy work, if ya would.;) Thank you.

Brad

Brad, stop getting down on yourself. You are very talented, you have a ton of great equipment and a great shop to work in. Now, all ya gotta do is get back to feeling good. Both physically and mentally. Your work speaks for itself. I am in awe of what you do. I am still in the learning stage. Very early learning stage. I appreciate YOU taking the time to read my posts and help me along. We are all here together to keep each other company and to help wherever we can. Thanks for just being you.

 

[Tomanydogs]

Brad, They look great and the colours are beautiful. That's a genuis way to use your scraps. I'm excited to see your finished dream catchers. Thanks for sharing your process.

Irene

[meflick]

Love the feathers Brad. Thanks for sharing how you use the scraps. Hope this means you are doing better and getting some shop time in. I am sorry to hear of the loss of your daughter. I can only imagine how difficult that was for your family, prayers said for your wife’# knee replacement to go well.

[justdraftn]

8 hours ago, SCROLLSAW703 said:

 

 

Howdy folks,

I appreciate the compliments on my handy work. And my apologies for the title not bein' short enough for ya to read it all in one sentence, J.T. I hope ya didn't hurt nothin' by readin' all that at one sittin'.;)

the process I use, JustDraftn, is perty simple. All the scraps of hardwood I have leftover from different projects, I save and glue together in "sheets," or long pieces of all different species glued together. When it gets long enough I don't have anymore bench room,

Brad

Brad, have you got any pics of the "sheets"?

I really like the crosses.  May have to have a go at those.

I have a bunch of feather patterns....you have inspired me to

have a look at those.

You are turning out some beautiful work.....

and I think it is great that it's from "scrap".

Looking forward to the dream catcher pics.

 

[daveww1]

nice work

[SCROLLSAW703]

 

 

Howdy folks,

I sincerely appreciate all the compliments on my handy work. They mean a lot to me. I try to keep various colors of feathers cut and on hand because it seems like what few folks come in the shop "just love those feathers!" They want a string of feathers made, or some put on thongs and hung on some creation they've dreamed up for me to cut, or a dream catcher some folks ask for when a loved one passes on.

I am always looking for new feather patterns. The patterns I do have are the ones that come with different patterns I have bought from Wooden Teddy Bear. I would like to find a couple Eagle feather patterns, a raven and owl feather pattern, and other traditional feather patterns.

I don't have any sheets to get a picture of at the moment, justdraftn, but when I get one started, and some size to it, I will get a picture of it and send it to you. Then when I get a sheet planed out and sanded, and ready for patterns, I'll send ya a picture of that as well, if that would be ok. 

Meflick, good to hear from you, Ma'am. And thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I am on the mend, I reckon. Been down in the back the last three weeks, but I am startin' to heal from that, too, I reckon. I may try out my sea legs this evening and stray over to the shop for awhile. We'll have to see how things go. 

If you get a chance, I posted a few pictures in another post of the dream catcher I made in memory of our daughter. Skip over and have a look see at it and let me know your thoughts about it. I'd appreciate hearing what you think about it!

Look after yourself!

Brad.