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Dream Catchers (Gifts)


FrankEV

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Some of you might know how difficult it is to keep a scrolling project a secret from a better half that likes to visit you in your shop and see what you are making.  That was the case with this project.

I’m hosting a family get together in Virginia Beach the third week of July that includes my Son and his wife, my Daughter and her husband along with my Lady and myself.   It has been about 10 years since we were all together.   I’m trying to make this vacation a little special as us all being together at one time is difficult to arrange.  We live in different parts of the country, namely NC, NY and FL.

Back in early May, Danny Knappen had posted a couple of Sue May Pattern Dream Catchers  he made that caught my eye and decided I would make one for each of the ladies as a surprise, hence the need to keep the project secret from my Lady.   

Sue May has a couple of offering including a Dragonfly that is perfect for my DIL and a Hummingbird that is good for my Lady, but wanted something different for my Daughter.  I found a Butterfly pattern on-line that worked well.

I stack cut 1/4” thick solid Walnut for the circular body.  The creatures were cut from 1/4” solid Maple affixed to a hand painted 1/16” thick plywood backer material I found in Hobby Lobby.   The feathers are cut from 1/8” thick solid Walnut and Maple.  All cutting was done using Pegas #2/0 and #0 spiral blades.

 Based on the write up that came with the pattern, I decided to fancy up the cutting by adding Gold colored beads and a hanging chain, which I added after the wood work was all assembled and finished with many coats of clear Gloss Lacquer.   The feathers and beads were fixed in place with Cyanoacrylate Glue.  I spent a lot of time in the beading section of Hobby Lobby trying to find what I wanted/needed.   Deciding on what chain to use and finding tiny screw eyelets was difficult.

Cutting and assembling the various parts of the Dream Catchers, times three, was very time consuming.  Not something I would care to do on a regular basis, but I enjoyed doing it for these special gifts.

I now need to find some approximately 12” square by 2” deep boxes to bubble wrap, store and carry them in, as they are quite fragile.  I may have to resort to some Pizza boxes from my local Pizza place 🙃.  

Thanks for reading!

864707705_DreamCatcherDragonfly.thumb.jpg.99f6edec69a15a2363795218afaaba87.jpg

761371750_DreamCatcherHumingbird.thumb.jpg.88cf5a123f1aa3c012b92b80ef32b3c7.jpg

1775874791_DreamCatcherButterfly.thumb.jpg.83ba3f508838297f465cdb45db720ea0.jpg

Yep, the Butterfly got placed a tad bit off center during glue up.  I don't think it will matter to my Daughter.

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36 minutes ago, preprius said:

Very nice.  Did you have to redue any feathers. Did you break any?

I am surprised you posted the pics before the event.  

 

 

I had stack cut a bunch of the feathers, so I had extras.  And yes I did break a couple that I had to replace.  The quills are quite thin, thus fragile.  I would do something different if I was to do them again, which I'm not likely to do.  An eylet at the end of the quill would allow the fethers to be hung like Danny did, but I was looking for the fan arrangement that Sue May showed.

I had to take the pics, get the pizza boxes, bubble wrap and store away right now so she dosn't see.  I'll be careful to not let her look over my shoulder when I might have the pics up. A buck apiece for the Pizza boxes was a steal. Now they will be outa sight out of mind until the trip in July.

Not going to post on FB or both my DIL and Daughted would see them.

I'm glad to have the project put to bed.

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11 hours ago, FrankEV said:

Some of you might know how difficult it is to keep a scrolling project a secret from a better half that likes to visit you in your shop and see what you are making.  That was the case with this project.

I’m hosting a family get together in Virginia Beach the third week of July that includes my Son and his wife, my Daughter and her husband along with my Lady and myself.   It has been about 10 years since we were all together.   I’m trying to make this vacation a little special as us all being together at one time is difficult to arrange.  We live in different parts of the country, namely NC, NY and FL.

Back in early May, Danny Knappen had posted a couple of Sue May Pattern Dream Catchers  he made that caught my eye and decided I would make one for each of the ladies as a surprise, hence the need to keep the project secret from my Lady.   

Sue May has a couple of offering including a Dragonfly that is perfect for my DIL and a Hummingbird that is good for my Lady, but wanted something different for my Daughter.  I found a Butterfly pattern on-line that worked well.

I stack cut 1/4” thick solid Walnut for the circular body.  The creatures were cut from 1/4” solid Maple affixed to a hand painted 1/16” thick plywood backer material I found in Hobby Lobby.   The feathers are cut from 1/8” thick solid Walnut and Maple.  All cutting was done using Pegas #2/0 and #0 spiral blades.

 Based on the write up that came with the pattern, I decided to fancy up the cutting by adding Gold colored beads and a hanging chain, which I added after the wood work was all assembled and finished with many coats of clear Gloss Lacquer.   The feathers and beads were fixed in place with Cyanoacrylate Glue.  I spent a lot of time in the beading section of Hobby Lobby trying to find what I wanted/needed.   Deciding on what chain to use and finding tiny screw eyelets was difficult.

Cutting and assembling the various parts of the Dream Catchers, times three, was very time consuming.  Not something I would care to do on a regular basis, but I enjoyed doing it for these special gifts.

I now need to find some approximately 12” square by 2” deep boxes to bubble wrap, store and carry them in, as they are quite fragile.  I may have to resort to some Pizza boxes from my local Pizza place 🙃.  

Thanks for reading!

864707705_DreamCatcherDragonfly.thumb.jpg.99f6edec69a15a2363795218afaaba87.jpg

761371750_DreamCatcherHumingbird.thumb.jpg.88cf5a123f1aa3c012b92b80ef32b3c7.jpg

1775874791_DreamCatcherButterfly.thumb.jpg.83ba3f508838297f465cdb45db720ea0.jpg

Yep, the Butterfly got placed a tad bit off center during glue up.  I don't think it will matter to my Daughter.

 As usual, not only is your cutting skills top notch but you sure know how to bring on the color. Outstanding once more

Dick

heppnerguy

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