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Scroll portion made on 3/4 Baltic Birch, Painted with artist oil, Lettering MDF dipped several times in Shellac, Bronze leaf and oil paint details, Background MDF panel finished with artist oil, Inter-frame reclaimed old growth pine, distressed with Shellac tinted with walnut Transtint, Outer-frame Wormy Maple distressed finished with Linseed oil. Portrait and landscape painting is another hobby on mine. I've been searching for ways to incorporate painting with my woodworking projects. This is my first attempt to paint a scrollsaw project. Give me your honest opinion on how it looks.

This double project was inspired by this Art that is exhibited on the walls of a Wayne G. Sanborn Activity Center in Deland Florida. I’ve enjoyed cutting ‘Birds-of-Prey’ patterns since I began scrolling but most of the patterns that are available were not very accurate representations and not in the perched pose I was looking for. So, although I did use images I found on-line, the patterns I developed using Inkscape are basically my work and not just a ‘trace bitmap’ copy. The patterns wound up being a ‘guide’ to the cutting as the many (I did not count, but I’m sure well over 500 in each pattern) cut-outs are very small with some smaller than the hole I drilled for the Pegas #2/0 spiral blades I used to cut the patterns. Additionally, although the patterns appeared to work on paper, I found I had to add many bridges, on the fly, to make them scrollable. Due to the delicate nature of the patterns, the closeness of the long parallel cut-outs, and the need to be very accurate in my cutting, I found I could only cut for about two hours at a time before my eyes would start to cross. As a result, it took over a week to complete each panel. As usual, the 11” x 14” patterns were cut in 5/32” thick solid core Maple Ply affixed to a 1/4" thick BB Ply backer. Using the Air Brush, the backers and panels were painted using Artist Acrylic Air Brush Paints. Backers were painted Black while the cut panels were colored using photos of real Bald Eagles and Red-shouldered Hawks as guides. Creating the various color shades necessary to be realistic is still a ‘trial-and-error’ process for me. So the painting, drying time, necessary repainting, and additional drying time was very time consuming. I think I did a decent job of adding color to this project, but I still have a lot to learn. The double frame is just a variation on my standard 1 3/4" wide rail Poplar frame that has a Black rattle can spray, prime and paint, finish. As always, comments and critiques are welcome. EDIT: I posted the patterns in Pattern Exchange.

First of all, thanks to Grampa for the Baby pattern. The second piece is another Grampa pattern from the Village Library. Both pieces will be a gift for a great friend whose wife and he just had their first baby, Stella. Both pieces were cut on 1/4-inch BB and stained with Minwax Ipswich. The backer is Pine stained with Minwax Pure Black. The frames were cut from 1X material and also stained with Ipswich. The pieces were then sprayed with several coats of Polyacrylic with light sanding between coats. I've also included the photo of Stella. She's a cutie!

I continue making fretwork patterns and cut a new one - Wolf Here is short video of making Wolf pattern

If only I had a little bit of this problem.. I tend to be the opposite of this.. so many things I want to make.. not only with the scroll saw but also the laser and cnc.. or just plain old woodworking things like cutting boards small furniture type things.. The list goes on.. and into doing other hobbies like building my car, building my jeep.. doing some upgrades to my house.. My wife currently has me remodeling / restoring our 5th wheel camper.. back in 2006 it developed a bad roof leak.. I stripped the whole roof off and rebuilt a couple of trusses and then all new decking and replaced the rubber roof.. replaced all the new roof vents etc etc. was most of a summer project and the one wall should have been done at the time but I was running out of summer weather.. now the awning is on this wall and it's always been weak in that mount area due to that roof leak back then.. so now we are working to restore the wall and remodel the inside. Too many projects and not enough time, LOL..

When I got board with my saw I started looking for alternative materials to cut. Acrylic, Steve Good has an Angel cut from it. Card stock (paper) Steve Good has a pattern for a gift box mad from it. Corian, there is an article in the Scroll saw magazine on the subject, Sandwich between 1/8” plywood I have cut a small flower in a notepad to make it uniquely mine. then a piece of a leather belt became a key fob with that same flower cut in it…. If all else fails, buy a new pattern book. (There’s a new people and pets book)

One thing that I have done a few hundred of is Steve Good name tags. Cheap easy gift and anyone with a unique name loves them. I have done them for teams. Put in # plus * plus name. Here is the link to online version https://stevedgood.com/stencil/ I prefer one you download and run on a Windows computer. It is in the blog but you have to scroll way down to bottom. The name plate maker is great for teachers.

When I'm in a rut with what I've been making I like to go to sites like Pinterest or Etsy and just search "scroll saw ideas", "scroll saw art" etc. and I usually get inspired. Sometimes to do something I see, and sometimes it just sparks a new idea.

Just signed in. I'm a rank amateur with 2 years of scrolling and some hand-carving. Learning with every project. Lots of questions. I'm feeling limited by my fairly new DW788 and looking for advice. I like close, complicated cutting and find the DW a bit hard to control. Th blade seems to flail around until I engage it in a cut which makes predicting where it will land an uncertainty. Also difficult to control on tight curves and corners. Welcoming ideas and opinions.

I'm an engineer living in San Francisco, CA, and I've taken up carving, scrollsaw and intarsia over the last couple of years. It's very nice to meet you all, I look forward to seeing your work and getting tips and advice! Glenn

Here is an Intarsia I just finished. “ The Knock “ pattern was by Bruce Worthington , 282 pieces, including the the pieces I couldn’t use , I actually made about 380 pieces.

Beautiful pieces Frank. I admire your patience and skill in cutting such intricate detail. Your air brush painting continues to enhance your projects.

Our late dog Pippin's image was scrolled today... That's four dogs done and three more to go.. Thanks again "grandpa" for the pattern...

We have pictures on display all over the house and these scrolled images will be a welcome addition.

They look great, RJ

They look great, RJ

Awesome job all the way around. Cutting, painting, and framing. All top-notch!

Those are very well done.

Great portraits and I like remembering the dogs that have shared our lives. They add a lot. It would be fun to have a remembrance wall somewhere in the house.

Well done Jimmy they look great.... Paul

Great job thanks for bringing the pattern to life... paul

Yep, from sombody who has been adding color to my work for a while now, damn nice!!!!!!!! This may have been you first for a scroll saw project, but your painting skills are very apparent.

You can also go to Facebook and join each of the scroll saw groups there. Each group has patterns they share and you will more than likely find something.

one of my favorite characters. He had the best lines. For your project it looks great.

Hi Ron: That's just sic!!! Looks great, well done Fab4

Very good I like it.

Honestly? Pretty damn good!

First, welcome to the forum. I'm Glad to have you join us and hope we can help you. From what you describe I feel it is a blade tension problem. Before you start the saw and after you set the tension on, do you get a nice ping when you pluck the blade? It should be like a high "C" note, I think they say. Blade failing and no real control when cutting could well be, not enough tension. DeWalts are good saws, many have them, I had one years ago and it treated me well. If you can and have a means take a video while running it. That could really help to determine the problem.

thanks, but also i ment for my name to be me and my scroll saw but my mom would not let me so when you here me and my buddy, buddy is my way of saying scroll saw, this is my acount i got my scrollsaw for my birthday. its not a father and son its just the son. sorry for the confusion!!!

The pattern is by Russ Beard. It has 576 internal cut. I used 15 blades. It took approx. 24 hours cutting time over approx 10 - 12 week. I had 3 weeks off for Covid, did a couple of items for customers and had various appointment also in that 10 - 12 weeks. I used 1.5mm bamboo x 2. I think I was a quarter of the way up from the bottom when I regretted ever starting it but now I'm glad that I did it. My main reason for cutting this is for my Grandson who did his ancestry DNA and found that he had 3% Viking in him which he gets from me. He was over the moon to discover this so I thought it appropriate to cut this for him and one for me. Marg

New ideas, if I remember your buddy is young. To keep his interest try to tap into his imagination. Cartoons he watches. Disney characters? What toys does he have. Can you add a toy something to enhance other toys? Toy story movies are based on old toys from us old guys era. what would story story be 30 years from now? What would the Woody character play with now? Have you seen people and pets scrollsaw theme? Simple and cute. Olympics are coming up, maybe do some events with the same type of people. Search for bandsaw boxes. Those will get your wood imagination going. Scrollsaw boxes are better than bandsaw boxes. For outside of the box, not for youngsters , the tattoo artistry is another way to get ideas. My dad would make up stories about road signs "Falling rock". It was an Indian looking for his horse named "Falling rock". He had side stories about life lessons. Make up a character, have your buddy name it and draw it. Then run it through the scroll saw.

thanks!

that sounds like a great idea! Thank you!!!

My new 3d geometric project - Dodecahedron. It was fun to make and interesting to assemble. Such projects requre accurate cuts for fitting elements, but you always can use a glue if your cut is not perfect. Video of making Pattern

Just finished this. 11 x 14 x 1/8 Baltic Birch ply Pattern and cutting by me.

A good place to start would be Steve Good's website, https://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/ . He posts a daily pattern there and has a huge catalog of 1000s of other patterns, all free to download. Lots of beginner stuff, but a fair amount of intermediate to advanced patterns as well. There is also a nice library of patterns on this site as well.

Just finished this one. I cut it out of Purple Heart. I think it turned out good considering it was the first time I used this wood. One think I learned, it seemed to be really hard on blades. Used more blades than I usually do on a project this size. I wish I would have kept track, I am curious just how many I used.

My wife has been visiting family out of state and the chores and animals around home have kept me busy. I've also been quite busy cutting commissions. This one belonged to a member of the dog training club the wife is a member. Unfortunately, the cutie went to doggie heaven recently and my wife wanted me to do a piece for her friend. This is cut on 1/4 inch BB stained Ipswich. The backer is lauan stained pure black. The frame is cut from a 1X10 and also stained Ipswich. Both piece and frame are finished with several coats of Polyacrylic with sanding between coats. The wife is on her way home and hopefully I'll be able to get back enjoying the art and comments from my friends here in the Village.

My latest Intarsia piece. Done for the PAM (project a month) in the Facebook group Just Intarisa. Kathy Wise donated the pattern. Woods used: Spanish Cedar, Rainbow poplar, Walnut, Cherry, Aspen Wenge. The eye highlight is a pencil crayon sharpened and pushed in the hole. Finish is 2 coats of Osmo Satin with a coat of Walrus Oil over top. 25 pieces.

recently I have found new things to do and work on, I am trying to find something to do with a scroll saw but its not working i was wondering if you could give me ideas for enjoyable things on a scroll saw it would be very helpful. sorry that i have not been posting.