Travis

Welcome to the Village, Dale. I've been wanting to try puzzles too. Last week I tried gluing up a few Christmas cards. It didn't go so well...LOL. I used acrylic poly to apply the image to the board, and they just curled up and bubbled. I got the idea from this video. I think it'll just take some playing to see if I can get it to work. Hrmmmm.... I checked out your website. You do some really nice work. I'd imagine your inventory goes pretty quickly. I especially like your tray puzzles. My son would get a kick out of the construction tray puzzle. Anyway, welcome aboard! Jump on in and have some fun!

Hi Unkbeel. Welcome to the hobby! You'll have a great time with it. So many cool things you can do with such a simple tool, you'll be amazed. All of our patterns are designed by our talented members. Typically, instruction does not accompany the patterns. Since this is a relatively new website (Jan 1st, 2009), we haven't created a how-to basics section yet (I'm embarrassed to say ). We're hoping to get that put together in the near future, however. Until then, we'd be happy to answer any specific questions you might have. Here's a quick rundown on how to do a portrait pattern. Print the pattern out on paper. Use spray adhesive on the back of the pattern. When it's tacky to the touch, apply it to the wood. Use clear packing tape to cover the pattern. The tape adds strength to the paper pattern and also lubricates the saw blade. Then we drill entry holes through the wood so we can cut the interior spaces. Cut the small areas out first, then move to the larger areas. If you do it the other way around, you might break some of the delicate parts. The large areas act like a support for the small delicate areas. Then we sand off the fuzzies on the back of the wood, being very careful with the delicate fretwork. Add your finish of choice. The most common is clear acrylic spray. Then we add a backer for contrast. People often use either plywood painted black or black felt. Then frame it up, and show off to your friends! This page from Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts has some very basic info. It probably won't answer all of your questions, but it does have some good info. Also, check out this video series. Frank from Frank's Workshop shows you the entire process of cutting out a portrait style cutting. Very cool to watch and I think it might answer a lot of your questions as well. Anyway, if you have any questions, please ask. Everybody here's super friendly and very helpful.

Wow! What an amazing gift! I can't even imagine how much time that took. Those are some lucky kids and I'm sure they'll cherish those forever. Talk about a labor of love. Good job Chris!

Boy, those turned out sharp! I've seen one of his patterns in a magazine and I've been wanting to get his book. I'm really itching to try one. I think they look really cool. What kind of wood do you normally use? How many shades of stain do you keep on hand? Very nice work. Good job!

I've been trying really hard to stay on a schedule for the GIMP Class, and up until now it has been going pretty smoothly. Unfortunately I had some real life issues that came up this weekend that I had to deal with. So this weeks class (at least lesson 7) will be delayed. I'm hoping to get back on track with lessons coming out on Wed, Thurs, and Fri. But if worse comes to worse, some of the lessons might spill over to next week. My apologies to those looking forward to today's lesson.

Hi Diane. Welcome to the Village. I recognize your avatar from scrollsawer too. I haven't been able to lurk there since this site launched, though. I'm glad you decided to join us. Lots of friendly and talented folks here too. We all have a great time. Jump on in and have some fun!

All work is worthy! So share away! You're our second member from South Africa in a week. Terrence is a retired police officer from SA. Not sure what part, though. Its really neat that folks across the world can gather together and share a common interest. Anyway, I'm glad you found this new hobby and found us! There are so many things you can do with such a simple tool, it really is amazing. Welcome to the Village. We're glad to have you on board. Jump in and have some fun!

Welcome to the Village, Deborah! We're glad to have you on board. I think you'll have a great time here. Lots of friendly and talented folks here. We'd love to see some of your work. You can create a User's Gallery and show off a little (you can find a tutorial here). Anyway, jump on in and have some fun!

Those turned out great! I really like the welcome sign and th horseshoe pattern. Very cool. Thanks for sharing with us!

Those are really cool. Very nice use of scrap lumber! Nicely done!

That looks great! I like all the extra room around the saw too. I'm always hurting for space to put more junk on. I'm glad you got it worked out. If you're going to be hurting, its nice to have something you love to take your mind off the pain...at least for a bit.

Absolutely beautiful. I'd leave it exactly as is. Good job, Blame. The customer will be thrilled!

A touch of super glue (CA glue) will fix anything that breaks off pretty well. Just keep an eye out for where the piece lands.

That's a great idea. I guess there's times when I want to switch between different blade sizes in a project. This might be a good way for me to keep the blades within reach. Thanks for the tip!

That turned out really cool! You did a great job on it. You should set up a User Gallery to show off your work (you can find a tutorial here). We love seeing pictures. Very inspirational. Nicely done!

Welcome, Art. We're glad to have you on board! Scrolling is a great way to pass the time and do somthing creative at the same time. It really amazes me how many things you can accomplish with such a simple tool. I get a huge kick out of it. There's lots of great patterns in the Pattern Library to keep you busy for quite awhile. If you'd like to try your hand at designing your own, we have a pattern making class in the Village University forum. Anyway, I think you'll have a great time here. Lots of friendly and talented folks here. You'll fit right in. Welcome to the Village!

If you're looking to cut some decorative type objects (like the vase), be sure to check out Steve Good's blog Scroll Saw Workshop. He has tons of that kind of patterns and they're all free. That site will keep you busy for quite some time. You can find his blog at ttp://www.stevedgood.com/web/catalog.html

That's awesome! I love the combination of compound cutting with the turning! Very clever idea. Do you do your cutting first, then the turning? Amazing work. I really love that pen! Good job!

Wow. That turned out wonderful! Looks like a lot of delicate lines, too. You did a great job on it. Thanks for sharing!

Welcome to the Village, Rich. Lucky for you we have plenty of patterns to keep you busy for quite some time! Scrolling is a great way to pass the time. We'd love to see some of your work, scrollsawn or not. We have a lot of different woodcrafters here from wood turners, to pyrographers, to furniture makers. So jump on in and have some fun. We're glad to have you on board!

That's awesome, Blame! Thanks for helping him out!

Hi Grumpy. Welcome to the Village. I think you'll h ave a great time here. Lots of friendly folks and talented too! Jump on in and have some fun! We're glad to have you on board!

Hi Bulldogg. Welcome to the Village. We're glad to have you on board. Lots of friendly and talented folks here. You'll fit right in. You can set up a User Gallery to show off some of your work (you can find a tutorial here). Jump on in and have some fun!

Hi Barry. Welcome to the Village. We're glad to have you on board. It's always nice to have another pattern designer around. Hopefully you'll be able to share your talent with us. We have several tutorials on pattern making. You can find them in the Pattern Maker's Lounge. They're also posted in Scroll Saw Goodies, and available from iTunes too! Hopefully you'll find something you can use. Anyway, jump on in and have some fun!

Welcome to the Village, Rippy! We're glad to have you on board. I completely understand this statement! LOL...I've never done intarsia before, so I thought I'd start a project that has 265 pieces in it! I'm having a great time with it, though. I'm not an accurate cutter either, but I'm OK with it. I'm really enjoying using woods I don't normally have access to. I have been using a #5 for most of my cutting. I seem to have better control with it on the thicker wood. But the wood I'm using probably doesn't go much beyond 5/8". Anyway, we'd love to see some of your work. You can set up a User Gallery to show off a little (you can find a tutorial here). Jump on in and have some fun!