Sometimes You Win,, Sometimes you lose. Long and When I reread,, very boring..

[Scrappile]

One on my bucket list was to try some segmentation... Over a year ago I purchased this  book off ebay:

Very good book and I recommend it if you want to try segmenting.  Or, if you already do segmenting it has some neat patterns and it appears to me it is hard to find patterns that are just (could not spell specifically. But, with each try, I got finally close enough that spell check at least knew what I was trying to spell!)  for segmenting.

I picked this pattern to try, cut it out and then set it aside become I got sidetracked on some another project...  (The older I get the more the mind wonders!!)

Got the cutting out a couple weeks ago, recut what little parts I could not find and decided to finish it... I quickly learned,, that I know very little about staining.. First thing I learned is the there is a huge difference in the same color by different brands of stains...  Golden Oak, by Wadco is not even near the same as Golden Oak by Minwax or Varathane. They are all different.. And applying and blending stains is as difficult as painting a picture...   But I preceded, cut a sample board of the same wood I cut the eagle out of and made me a "color board" that showed what color the stain would be for each brand I had..  This is very important to take the time to do... It will save a lot of frustration and time... 

So... I proceeded,, and this if my first attempt at the pattern/picture...

Okay,,, not the. best,,, but this is a practice run,,, I used Basswood because it is the whitest wood I have,, but it is not the best for staining... and I am far from the best at staining.. combine my lack of knowledge and experience well it sorta resembles the picture.. HOWEVER,, the more I looked at it, I could not figure out what kind of eagle it is suppose to be... Before starting, I thought it was a cool head of a American Bald Eagle (ABE, I do not want to spell that all out each time so for now on it is "ABE".. the more I worked on it, the more I thought,,, an ABE has an all white head... This sorta, to me represents a cross between ABE and a Golden Eagle... What has old ABE been up to??    Also this pattern calls for the use of Black Walnut and Golden Oak stain only... where did they get Black Oak stain the has a reddish tint to it??   So I looked at a bunch of pictures of ABE heads and I only saw white feathers and yellow beak, yellow in the eye saround the pupils,,, and very dark peering pupils..  so I decided, this is a test, and will make it a, in my opinion ABE head... I got out my white paint.. and ended up with this:

Now,,, okay a little more ABE.  But!! looks so phony!!!  Something is not right.!!

So there you are... This is what happens when I decide to try something that is new to me... But this is really more fun than being overly serious and I scroll for fun... If you actually read all of this, you will be as bored as I am,, SO get back on your own scroll saw and create your own masterpieces like this ,,, maybe not..  Like this.. I do not know what happens next..  Maybe open a bottle of, of ,, of Slane...  HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A GREAT DAY!!!

Edited October 29, 2021 by Scrappile

[preprius]

Ok, nice story.  ABE went to the feather dresser and got a make over.  Much better.

I think the flatness makes it look, your word, phony.  Other wise it look much better.  Add some spacers for the peak of the beak, sand edges to match other levels.  Sink the eyes down, ok make the head thicker. Make some texture grooves on the flat pieces to look like more feather layers.  Then ABE will be more shapely.   More curves will make it look better. 

ABE need a trip to the  wood surgeon.

 

Mark Eason

Me.

[Scrappile]

Thanks for the great input... You inspire me to work further!!

[Dan]

7 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

Thanks for the great input... You inspire me to work further!!

Um, don't you mean "have more fun"? 

I like the look of the first try. It seems to have more interest. The eyes seem off on the last one. Maybe a little touch up, like Mark suggested. I wish I had more time to do more scrolling, just too much life in the way. 

[Scrappile]

15 minutes ago, Dan said:

Um, don't you mean "have more fun"? 

I like the look of the first try. It seems to have more interest. The eyes seem off on the last one. Maybe a little touch up, like Mark suggested. I wish I had more time to do more scrolling, just too much life in the way. 

I'm thinking,,, I am not the artist I would love to be... I can, as I have stated before.. I can cut out the black and leave the white, or visa versa on a pattern.. but really bringing a picture to "life", I am lacking... I am not therefore an artist.. I so wish.. I have not added "depth" by raising pieces/sections as the pattern suggests.. I did not feel I was not even close enough to worry that part.  Thanks, Dan for you input....

[Tomanydogs]

I like what you did. It’s hard to really know what to raise and lower and it’s not really explained. I did the howling wolf from the book called “The Pattern Companion Scroll Saw” written by Boelmen, Shirts and Spielman. If you like this kind of scrolling I also have the book “Animal Potraits in Wood” by Neal Moore. In this book he tells you what should be raised and lowered and by how much. I find that easier then trying to figure it out on my own. 

[Charlie E]

Nothing is ever as simple as it seems. I've not tried segmentation but can tell from your post I'd have a lot to learn. I like the first version you did.