Scroll Saw Artistry

I have been so busy trying to keep Etsy shop stocked, that I have neglected this blog. So I think I will start writing 'day in the shop' posts detailing what I am working on from day to day. Today, was a busy day. I was at the Oregon coast with the family, but headed back to the Willamette Valley (AKA Hillsboro), because I had two Etsy orders to ship via USPS. Except, despite the pickup notification, USPS did not pick up the packages! Ugh. =( I did get a lot done though. I finished up sanding and finishing two signs for people I work with, Ankit and An. An, because her name is so short, got a sign face with Pink Ivory. Pink Ivory has an interesting history, where at one time only members of the royal Zulu family were allowed to posses it. Non royals that possessed it, are rumored to be punished by death. Pink Ivory is so precious and dense, that sometimes it used to make jewelry. The only other time I used Pink Ivory, was to make a sign or 'name tag' for someone else wi...

After about two weeks playing with a scroll saw, I decided make my first attempt at a compound object. Compound scroll saw projects try to create a 3-day object from wood. The size of these objects are limited, because a scroll saw can only cut through a certain thickness without burning the wood. How thick depends on the type of wood, specifically how dense it is. I tried to cut through and inch and a half of oak when I first starting scroll sawing, and it turned into a mess. I still have that piece of wood in a box somewere in the shop. This is what a compound Christmas ornament looks like, before I cut it. This is a picture of my first compound cut I made that little guy over 10 years ago, and he hung around my shop until a few weeks ago when I threw him into to someone's Etsy order as a freebie. When cutting a 3d or compound object, instead of pulling all your cuts off, after each one, you re-tape the object back together tightly so the object says in one relatively solid p...

After my first experience with the scroll saw, I ditched the blades that came with the saw, I purchased some new scroll blades. This time I used some Bosch blades, and made my very first sign. It was for my son and was maybe a freshman in high school.  My first sign It looks like I may have still used pine wood, though that is an oak board the letters are on. And the cutting on the letters is definitely improving, but the detail is still not there.  But cutting on the S When you look at it on the wall... it doesn't look too bad... but me, I look right to the details, and the details here show a lot of opportunity for improvement.  Fast forward 10+ plus years, and this is the S I expect: Go (Hillsboro High School) Spartans! This is the type of detail I shoot for now with an S Better S So how from bad S to better S? Keep reading for more of the journey.

Why Scroll Saw? About 10 years ago, I decided I needed a new hobby. One of the places I found in my search, was the Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts forums. I looked through the amazing things people were creating with a scroll saw, and in piqued my interest.  What drew me to scroll saw work most, was the detailed work you could do with it.  When I drew as a kid, my drawings were all very detailed. It also took me many weeks to finish just one drawing to do my obsession with detail.  Unfinished drawing from high school I wanted something that would allow to create small woodworking projects, with high detail. Space was also a factor as I only had one side of the garage to work with. I continued to research options for about six months (I don’t make decisions quickly), and finally committed to buying a DeWalt 788 scroll saw.  My first scroll saw I found some beginner patterns in the Big Book of Scroll Saw Woodworking, bought some pine wood from Lowes, and then gave...