Travis

Well, I can offer some general advice. If you have anything specific in mind, perhaps we can give you a better answer. I think you should decide what your time is worth to you. Are you happy making $15/hr? $30/hr? Then based on that, figure out what it would cost to make your widget figuring in your time and material costs (material + 20%). When you come up with a number, compare it to what others sell similar items for locally. If others are selling it for more, raise your prices. If they're selling it for less, decide if you'd be willing to take less. If not, see if you can reduce your time or cost to get the widget price closer to the market price. There are many times where it just isn't worth your time to make that particular item. But there are many other items that you can make that has a nice profit margin. Naturally custom work will cost more than items that can be "mass produced." Making several of one item is usually more time efficient than making them one at a time. If you do portrait style cuttings, be sure to stack cut your items so you get 3 or 4 copies. Other items, make jigs where possible to speed up production. Also keep an eye out on how to reduce material costs and any expendables. And lastly, know who your customer is. Flea market folks won't pay $35 for a free standing puzzle, but a patron of an art museum would. Be sure to research your customers and what others are doing. Find someone who is doing well and copy them (their method, not their patterns). No need to re-invent the wheel. Anyway, that's my two cents. If you have any specific questions, let us know. I bet we can all brainstorm some ideas.

Hi Jeff. Welcome to the Village. We're glad you found us. Lots of friendly and talented folks here. I think you'll fit right in. We'd love to see some of your work. You can set up a User Gallery (you can find a [tut]tutorial here[/tut]) and show off a little. I work with a Craftsman 16" too. I think you'll love the DeWalt, though. It's a very popular saw. I'd like to upgrade too, but there are other tools higher on my wish-list. Anyway, welcome aboard. Jump in and have some fun.

Hi Frankie. Welcome to the Village. We're glad you found us. Steve has a lot of great patterns on his site. Between Steve's site and SSV, we'll keep you busy for quite some time. I look forward to seeing some of your work. You can set up a User Gallery (you can find a [tut]tutorial here[/tut]) and show off a little. Anyway, welcome aboard. Jump on in and have some fun!

Hi Mike. Welcome to the Village. I'm glad you found us. We'd love to see some of your work. You can set up a User Gallery (you can find a [tut]tutorial here[/tut]) and show off a little. I know I find it inspiring to see other's work. I'm glad you're enjoying the GIMP class. We'll be starting a class on Inkscape on Sept 1st. So keep an eye out for that too. Anyway, welcome aboard. Jump in and have some fun!

Hi Dan. Welcome to the Village. We're glad you found us. It sounds like your new situation is perfect for scrolling. Its nice to have an area specifically for woodworking/scrolling. That way you can spread out and not be too concerned with the "mess" because you can just shut the door. Anyway, welcome aboard. We can't wait to see some of your work. Jump on in and have some fun!

I'm assuming you're looking to buy from a traditional brick & mortar store rather than mail order? I know I usually order my Windfield Collection online, and I buy my Flying Dutchman from Mike's Workshop. The blades hardly cost anything for shipping. I could see paying shipping on Windfield Collection is kinda a pain. You could check to see if there's a Woodcraft store. They might have something.

Plus eggs won't stick to it.

Here are 3 versions for ya with different cropping. Enjoy.

With such small pieces, I'm not sure how safely you can cut them. Table saw is really meant for larger stock. I think the blade will pinch the wood too much and kick back, mostly because it's too hard to control the wood as you push it through the blade. Plus, the kerf of your table saw blade will shave off 1/8", which is a conciderable amount with 1/2" board. I'd see if you know anybody who has a bandsaw to cut it for you, or find a project that works well with 1/2" and 3/4". Wish I could offer advice, but the idea of cutting those small pieces with the table saw sketches me out.

Those turned out great! I love the red accents. Really makes it pop. Nicely done!

I like the idea of shallow trays/drawers to keep intarsia. That's pretty clever. I would like to have a roll of craft paper I can roll out to protect the surface from paint/glue/spills. I think that would be pretty cool.

No worries. It was just an oversight on this end. Underdog was a cartoon here in the states. Don't remember much about it other than watching it all of the time. The cutting looks awesome. You did a nice job on it regardless.

Boy, those turned out sharp. I really like the bird cuttings. You did an amazing job on all of them, though. Nicely done! http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/gallery ... ?cat=12518

That turned out really nice. You did a great job on it. I use to love watching that show when I was a kid. I don't think the Underdog picture was intended as a pattern. It was used in a name association game we played awhile back. Since Underdog is a copyrighted character, I'm removing the picture that was used in the game since it can be confused as a pattern. I'll be leaving your cutting, since it was cut for yourself and falls under fair use. However, I removed Christina's name from the description and Pattern Designer field. Sorry for the confusion. I should have caught that much earlier.

Trivets and Coasters fall under Utilitarian. Word Art has its own category. I was thinking toys, but that falls under Children's. Hrmmm....

Hi Butch. Welcome to the Village. We're glad you found us. Congrats on the recent retirement. That should give you plenty of time to play with your scroll saw! We'd love to see some of your work. You can set up a User Gallery (you can find a [tut]tutorial here[/tut]) and show off a little. We love seeing other's work. Very inspiring. Anyway, welcome aboard. Jump on in and have some fun!

You could try your local home improvement store. Often they'll have plexiglass in clear or other colors. Craft stores will have window/stainglass paint that you can color too. You could contact a local signmaker too and see if they'd sell to you. Or better yet, ask for their scraps.

Here's another ornament pattern that specifically says "Thank You" Here's one from ilovetosaw.

I've added two new categories to the Pattern Library. We now have Puzzles and Intarsia. I'm looking for 1 more category to make things line up nice. Any thoughts?

Hi Larry. Welcome to the Village. We're glad you found us. There are lots of talented and friendly folks here. I think you'll fit right in. We'd love to see some of your work. You can set up a User's Gallery (you can find a [tut]tutorial here[/tut]) and show off a little. This video shows you how to use the User Gallery/Pattern Library BB Code to put in your posts so you can share your uploads. Anyway, jump on in and have some fun. There's lots of stuff to look at.

That turned out really cool. You did a great job on it. Be sure to put a copy in your User's Gallery too.

That turned out awesome. You're right, no need for framing at all. It has a very contemporary look, too. Nicely done. Be sure to put a copy in your User's Gallery too.

Those turned out wonderful. The firefigher cross is so cool. Hopefully it will result in some commission work for ya. Wonderful cuttings allroung. Good job!

Those all turned out great! The colored flowers caught my eye. Those look like a lot of fun to make. Wonderful cuttings all around. Nicely done!

These may or may not work. The original idea was to send a Iraq or Afghanistan ornament with a message on the back. But Project Rudolf may need them a bit more generic. However, they would be good for sending to a specific soldier (someone in your family, or a friend).