Travis

Just post them in the New Patterns section of the Pattern Library (you can't upload them to anywhere else). I'll move them later, probably to (ironically) the religious section. I may change the name to Religious & Beliefs at a later time.

I hope I understood your question correctly. But here it goes: The bottom holder is supposed to be loose. It should move forward/backward. The tension on the blade is what keeps it in place. The swivel make it so the blade doesn't snap because a scroll saw has a very slight rocking motion when it cuts. Be sure to have enough tension on the blade where it makes a nice pinging sound when plucked. If you're not sure if what you have is supposed to be that way, swing by Sears and take a look at their floor model and see if it has the same characteristics.

Just for the record, all religions and beliefs are allowed here, including atheism and skepticism. You're more than welcome to post patterns and cuttings that reflect your own beliefs. It only becomes a problem when a conversation turns into a religious debate. Just like politics, religious debates can quickly ruin friendships. I'd love to find more diversity in the patterns we offer. So here's my challenge to everybody at SSV. Design a pattern that represents either your belief or an underrepresented belief and post it to the Pattern Library. Please be respectful in your designs and comments. I look forward to seeing what y'all come up with.

Find a doctor. Your sleep problem could be an indicator of something more serious. From there, do what the doctor recommends. He'll have the best advice on how to get back to feeling normal in the safest way possible. Stay safe, my friend.

We are heading into a political season here in the US. I'm sure it's not surprise to you that politics is a seriously divisive topic. I just want to remind everybody that political discussions and debates are not allowed on SSV. Politics is the quickest way to ruin friendships we've tried so hard to create. If you want to ruin friendships, Facebook is the place you want. If you want to talk about making sawdust, SSV is the place to be. Here's a few things that ARE NOT allowed: Inflammatory patterns/cuttings Political soapboxes discussions Political hot-button topics Political Jokes/Cartoons Political Internet Memes "I can't believe..." discussions. (c'mon...you know it when you see it) Here are a few things that ARE allowed: Respectful cuttings Respectful portraits Respectful patterns (seeing a theme here?) This certainly isn't an exhaustive list, but it gives you an idea. Here are the rules regarding politics and religion found in the User Guidelines: If you have a question regarding the appropriateness of a pattern, cutting, or discussion, let me know. If you see anything that you feel is inappropriate, please flag it and a moderator will take a look. More Scrolling! A political platform I can stand by.

What are you using to design the sign? If you're using a graphics program like GIMP or Photoshop, you can just cut out your saw and overlay it onto your wood grain background. That way you don't have to worry about the background of the shop. Just get some good lighting. If you post the picture, I can mask it out and give you a transparent PNG that should overlay onto your picture.

@orangeman do you use the color straight from the food coloring bottle? Or do you mix it with water or alcohol? Do you seal in the color so it doesn't bleed into the hands (or mouth if a kid decides to chew on it)?

I agree. GIMP is your best bet for scenic designs like those found in the Pattern Library.

I'll agree. Steve's site doesn't have Malware, Adware, Spyware or anything of the sort. As far as ads; yes, he has ads. Just like SSV has ads or any other person who runs a free website. It's how we pay the bills for servers, web domains, and software licenses. If he didn't have money coming in from Google Ads, he couldn't do what he does for our community. Free doesn't come cheap.

Yah, I suspect that too, or maybe a bot. The hosting company didn't think it was a DOS attack, but I have my suspicions. I've had the same front page for several years and it didn't seem to cause any issue. The front page does have a lot of PHP calls, so if that was hit over and over, it would cause issues. I'm going to redesign the front page. It won't be as dynamic, but would be a great resource for new scrollers to SSV. I've also turned on a throttle. So if you get a message that says "Scroll Saw Village is busy, try again later." or something to that effect, let me know. It shouldn't affect anybody, unless SSV is under attack or an overzealous bot gets onto SSV.

OMG, that was painful. Basically what happened, someone or a group of someones pinged SSV's front page over and over. What that does is causes a lot of CPU resources to be consumed at one time. If done to excess, it will crash the server. So my hosting company locked the website. As you all know, they weren't all that responsive to my support ticket. I eventually got them on the phone. I ended up upgrading the server package, so hopefully we won't run into this problem any longer. Once the new server was set up, the system had to reset and needed to be tested, which also took a long time. I had to optimize the front page and strip it down. I'm not an engineer, so a lot of this stuff is way over my head. But I got something to work enough to meet their standards. I'll be redesigning the front page in the next few weeks. If this happens again, the next solution is for SSV to move to a dedicated server. It sounds like a good idea, except the cost of the server would increase my operating expense by about 800%. I rely on Google Ads and premium memberships to pay for the site. Unfortunately, I've seen the Google Ad money dwindle quite substantially over the last year or so. I think it's mostly due to AdBlocker, which really hurt little sites like SSV. So I certainly couldn't afford an 800% increase. So let's hope this solution does the trick. Ugg. Technology sucks. But at least we're back online and can talk about making sawdust again. On a side note, did you know SSV has a Facebook page? This is a fun place to see new projects and patterns. It is also a great place to find the latest news on SSV. I tried to keep everybody up to date on the status of SSV there when our system was down. So if you're looking for the latest news, be sure to Like our page at: https://www.facebook.com/scrollsawvillage

Howdy all. This is a fun little project I just finished up. This is based on Captain America: Civil War movie that came out (which was awesome, BTW). I made this on my weekly live stream from my shop. Basically, I wanted to make a Captain America shield and the Iron Man mask as wall art. I decided to create it in an old folk art style called Lath Art. Lath art is best known in the New England states. Artists would take strips of lath (from lath and plaster walls) or recycle old lobster traps to make pictures. They would use the direction of the strips to imply details, perspective, and movement. It’s similar to segmentation as you are only using 1 species of wood. But it’s also similar to intarsia because you are using grain direction and cutting out sections to fit together. But the image is usually flat without use of carving (but there are exceptions). It's also known to be pretty rustic and usually has rural or nautical themes. Anyway, I have always admired this kind of folk art, so I thought I’d take a stab at it. I cut my strips of lath from 2x4. I kept everything rough sawn. I also roughed up the edges of the lath. I create sheets of lath by gluing it to craft paper. I colored the pieces with craft paint. The metallic areas, I used silver and gold leaf to add a bit of shine. Then to distress the piece, I sanded away the paint in the high spots. Then I covered the whole thing in a medium colored stain and wiped it away. It gives the illusion of 70+ years of dirt and grime (Captain America is from the 40’s). Once the stain dried, I added a paste wax for protection and to give it a dull luster. It also makes it feel nice in the hands. It was a fun learning experience. I really liked the process and I’m going to experiment with more lath art in the very near future. This was made during my Live stream. Each Sunday at 1pm PST, I stream for about 3 hours from my workshop. You can hang out and chat, ask questions, and watch me work. I’ve seen a few SSV members stop in and say hi. I love chatting and hanging out. It’s not always scroll saw stuff, but I do a lot with the scroll saw, depending on the project. I’ve already done a Deadpool scroll saw portrait on the stream, which was a lot of fun too. I hope you stop by. You can find my live stream here. If you miss the live version, I think the replay video is available for about 2 weeks.

I've used something similar at the office and it seems to work OK. It didn't crank out the AC as much as I thought it would, but maybe that was the unit I had. But I think it would work well for a small shop. I'm not sure if I'd want to be tripping over it, though. I'd sacrifice a little shelf area and put a window unit in instead. You don't even have to put in a window, just poke a hole and size it to fit and keep it in all year round. They even have AC/Heater units, which would be nice during the colder months. But for a simple turnkey system, this looks like a good option.

This is what I use. I use PVC pipe with an end cap. It holds the blades pretty well, except when you spill them.

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. He was a wonderful person and was one of SSV's first advertisers. Super nice guy and so helpful. It sounds like he was surrounded by loved ones.

Howdy all. I was contacted by a writer at Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts. They're looking for some scrollers for their 2016 Holiday issue. What they're looking for is people who have designed and cut their own Thanksgiving, Christmas or winter themed projects. It can be home decor or gifts ideas. You won't need to publish the pattern, but they would like a large photo of the finished project. I think the theme they're trying to do is showcase scrollers who design and make their own custom projects. If you fit the bill, PM me. It's a lot of fun to make it to the magazine. The article needs to be wrapped up in the next 2 weeks. So get a hold of me right away if you are interested.

Actually, an easier way to write a review: Click Here. Next to the star ratings under SSV Supporter, there's a link you can click to write a review. That's much easier that way.

To renew, you should be able to: Click your name in the upper right corner. Choose Client Area Click Purchases Click "SSV Supporter" On the right, it should say "Renew Now" next to SSV Supporter. Give it another go. I checked your account and it looks like your membership is good through July 13th. So if it doesn't renew, maybe that's the reason. PM me if you're still having trouble and I'll see what else I can figure out.

Thanks everybody for your support! You are awesome! If you're a SSV Patron, could you do me a favor and add a testimonial? I think that will help our friends decide if supporting this amazing community is right for them. It takes a few clicks, but it's easy to do: Click your name in the upper right corner. Choose Client Area Click Purchases Select SSV Supporter On the right, it should say "Write A Review" Thanks again for your amazing support!

For blade breakage, I'm going to take a guess. Some spiral blades twist the entire blade. So the spots that get clamped in the holder also have a twist. When you tighten it up, sometimes it catches the edge of the blade instead of the side. This will kink the blade weaken the metal at that spot. You'll know that this is the case if the blade keeps breaking where the clamp screw is. I know I've had trouble with this in the past. The trick is to tighten slowly, making sure the blade twists so that you're clamping the side of the blade. Some people will use pliers to straighten out the end of the blade. Others will use a small hammer to straighten out the ends. You can also purchase flat ended spiral blades that will take out that frustration. You should be able to cut in all directions. However, there is more stress when going side to side. When a blade cuts, there is a slight forward/backward rocking motion. Putting side pressure adds another axis and additional stress. So if you cut side to side, just take your time and let the blade cut for you. You want to avoid flexing the blade side to side as much as you can. Here's a piece of advice I give new scrollers. I'd learn to cut with flat blades first, then do spirals. Flat blades will have more precise control. Plus it's easier to cut straight lines, long sweeping curves, and sharp corners. Once you're comfortable with flat blades, try spirals again. I only use spirals on portraits or projects that have a organic/wavy lines. If you start with spirals first, it's hard to go back and learn flat blades because you've been "spoiled" with the option in cutting all 4 directions. That's my 2 cents, for what it's worth. LOL

That looks great! I think you're well on your way. Welcome to the sickness...errr...hobby!

Howdy All. Our hosting fees and license fees are coming due in the next couple of weeks. As you know, SSV doesn't have the luxury of a large publishing company to flip the bill. Instead, we rely on community support. If you'd like to become an SSV Supporter, this is a great time to do it. SSV is always free, and certainly isn't required to be a member here. But if you choose to become an SSV Patron, you do get a few extra perks: No Ads* Special Supporter badge below your avatar 500 Stored Personal Messages 500 Stored Notifications Unlimited Albums (normal members get 10) Unlimited Images Per Album (normal members get 100) Up to 25 Blogs (normal members get 5) Customize Profile Background Warm fuzzy feeling, knowing you are supporting your favorite scrolling community. *does not apply to internal banner ads or ads in the Old Gallery. Thanks to ALL of the SSV Members, whether you're a SSV Patron or not. Without you, SSV wouldn't be as awesome as it is. It's so cool to have so many friends that share the same passions. If you are already SSV Patron, thank you so much for your support. You're awesome! It really means a lot to me and the scrolling community. Without your generous support, SSV couldn't keep the lights on.

I based the portrait on the movie poster. Here is what he should look like:

My wife and I saw the Deadpool movie a few weeks back. We really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd make a Deadpool portrait. This was also the first project I did on my live stream. It was a lot of fun to cut out. Normally, I don't color my portraits. But this one cried out for some color. Since I stack cut a few of them, I decided to experiment with stain. I used an ebony stain and a red sienna stain from Minwax. The first one, I had trouble controlling the stain. It would bleed out into areas I didn't want. So, for the secone one, I used a woodburner to outline the areas of color I wanted to corral. That worked really well. The colors didn't bleed and I had much better control.

I used to have a Cricut. It was a lot of fun. I used to use SirCutsALot program for making my own designs (along with Inkscape). Then Cricut sued them and shut down the 3rd party design support, which I assume is so they can sell more overpriced cartridges. Then I boxed it up and been sitting in the closet since. Every once in awhile, I think about buying a new cutter, as long as I can design my own stuff. I'm sure things have changed now where that is a possibility. Lot of fun. I'd like to do some vinyl cutting to add to my projects.