Butterflies . . .

[Joe W.]

Here's a Steve Good pattern I started to cut out over a year ago.
I cut out about about 50 of the 250  holes and then many of life's distractions got in the way (plus I lost interest in it).
This weekend I was looking forward to attending a Farmers' Market, but it got rained out - we got 3+ inches in a 24 hour period.
So that freed up time to do something else.  Spotted this in the garage and had a good l-o-n-g visit with the scroll saw.
Now to finish it up with a little light sanding, staining, and mounting.

1/8" Baltic Birch, stacked and used # 1 and #3 Pegas MGT blades.
I like it but I think it will be a while before I tackle something like it again.

[Ron Johnson]

3 hours ago, Joe W. said:

Here's a Steve Good pattern I started to cut out over a year ago.
I cut out about about 50 of the 250  holes and then many of life's distractions got in the way (plus I lost interest in it).
This weekend I was looking forward to attending a Farmers' Market, but it got rained out - we got 3+ inches in a 24 hour period.
So that freed up time to do something else.  Spotted this in the garage and had a good l-o-n-g visit with the scroll saw.
Now to finish it up with a little light sanding, staining, and mounting.

1/8" Baltic Birch, stacked and used # 1 and #3 Pegas MGT blades.
I like it but I think it will be a while before I tackle something like it again.

Very well cut Joe. Your scroll saw must have missed you. 

[FrankEV]

Beautiful, very well done.

I may just have to find that SG pattern.  250 is  small number of holes for me.  And, it looks like they need a colorful backer.

 

 

[daveww1]

terrific job

[Scrappile]

very nice scroll job.

[Joe W.]

8 hours ago, FrankEV said:

And, it looks like they need a colorful backer

Yes, and that's the thing  - color - I fret about the most (pun intended).
I'm fairly certain I want one of the butterflies to be a natural color/finish - will likely do Danish oil.
The backers on the other hand I'm still up in the air about.  Definitely a darker color, but how dark? Ah yes, that's the question.
Will sleep on it for another night and see what dreams may come. 
 

[Dak0ta52]

That looks like it would be a fun pattern. I'm like Frank, give me lots of fretwork and I'm happy. You did a great job on these and I'd like to see how you finish them out.

[rjweb]

Joe, that is excellent cutting, RJ

[wombatie]

It was certainly time well spent.  Fabulous work, well done.

Marg

[FrankEV]

16 hours ago, Joe W. said:

Yes, and that's the thing  - color - I fret about the most (pun intended).
I'm fairly certain I want one of the butterflies to be a natural color/finish - will likely do Danish oil.
The backers on the other hand I'm still up in the air about.  Definitely a darker color, but how dark? Ah yes, that's the question.
Will sleep on it for another night and see what dreams may come. 
 

OK, I did a little review of Steves project.  If you cut these directly from his pattern, they are close to being 10" +/- wide.  I did not realize how large they are and, beleive it or not, when I looked at your cutting and Steeves Pics, my eyes (brain) did not see the "Flower" pattern in the Wings. I just saw another well cut intricate Butterfly.  

After I realized what Steve had designed and you made, I really feel that you need to do something to HIGHLIGHT the pattern to make it visually stand out or it is just another Butterfly. 

I'm assuming you are not planning to raise the cut panel off the backer like steve suggested, then yes, the light wood cutting needs a dark background. I would probably mask off the area on the backer where the Butterfly will be attached and spray paint the surounding area with a dark color (any dark color you like would work).  I might suggest you consider making the backer 11x14 so you could mount it in a nice stock size store bought frame (or make your own) when complete.

In the pattern I NOW see Flowers, Leafs and Stems.  If it was me, I would chose three or four colors (simple acrylic craft paint from Wallmart will work fine)  Green for the leafs, brown or black for the stems and any color you might like (Red, Yellow, Pink, Blue, etc) for the flower petals.  The cut-out in the center of the flowers could be a contrasting 4th color if you want to take that far (something like Blue Petals with a Yellow center).

Then, using paper copies of the pattern I would cut away the areas of common color on each  to create stencils.  When cutting, cut the areas  slightly larger that then the lines  of the pattern to make sure the ares under the panel get full coverage.  Use each stencil to paint the three colors being careful to register the stencils to match the cut panel. Allow dry time between each color.  After you are happy you have got all the open areas painted, just glue the butterfly to the backer as you normally would.

You could apply your finish to the cut panel before attaching to the backer, but I would not.   I would now just apply a coat of Clear Gloss Lacquer or Polyacrylic to the entire assembled panel and mount in a nice frame.

Note: When you use paper stencils, you need to be careful not to let paint get under the paper by applying the paint by dabbing with a stubble type brush and not by bruching the paint towards the paper.

If you try these suggestions , please let us see the end result.  I'm sure it will be outstanding.

 

[goldfish]

Nice cutting. I feel your pain on the holes always a royal pain keep having to dis mount the blade.

[rdatelle]

Joe, those look great,

[MarieC]

Wow, those are beautiful!   Nice work!

[Joe W.]

On 9/26/2023 at 6:41 AM, FrankEV said:

If you try these suggestions , please let us see the end result.  I'm sure it will be outstanding.

Frank,  Thank you much for your thoughts and suggestions.
Since I have two of these, I'll try your ideas on one of them. 

[Joe W.]

On 9/27/2023 at 4:36 PM, goldfish said:

Nice cutting. I feel your pain on the holes always a royal pain keep having to dis mount the blade.

Thank you.  The closer I got to being done, the slower I went.  Especially on the smaller areas.  
I seem to have a propensity to make a mistake somewhere towards the end of whatever I'm doing, and so I was really taking my time with this pattern.
Even now, when I'm handling them, I'm being very aware of my movements and intentions.

[Joe W.]

Update:  I took the easy way out and mounted one of the butterflies on this old cabinet door, raising it 1/2 inch off the back of it, using a wood dowel.
Now to see if someone likes it as much as I do.


 

[barb.j.enders]

Late to the conversation.  You could always use coloured paper, lightly taped, behind the cuts to test colours.

[Joe W.]

2 hours ago, barb.j.enders said:

you could always use colored paper, lightly taped, behind the cuts to test colors.

Hi Barb,
Yes, I/we thought of that and I'm going to try using colors on the 2nd one.
I have a Scan n Cut machine that will cut out a stencil of the pattern and then I'll use that to fill in the colors on a backer, overlapping just a tad to ensure a complete fill-in.