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Thank you. It started out Fun!, then went into a little self doubt, then back to Fun! as I realised it might just be OK The next one is the ship - she will float just fine matey, aarr! Cheers Keith

er .. er .. aha!: I am an aristocratic Pirate - top class Whiskey for me Cheers Keith

Retirement helps a lot Thanks Travis. Cheers Keith

Lol - actually I prefer Whiskey I have some spirals coming next week that should (with practice) make the rope ladders things easier to cut. Already have the pattern attached and 40 of the holes drilled. That will do for a start - if I attempt to drill too many at once I will get bored and rush myself into a mistake. Keep a keen lookout now ... arr! Cheers Keith

Wow! There is one on Ebay going for double that - well done

Thanks all - those comments have increased my confidence No problem Sue - I enjoy the Fun! patterns. Will now have a go at your Pirate Ship. That looks a little harder but I am hoping to sail through it - arrr, pass the rum me heartys.... Cheers Keith

Aaaar! This was a haaard one fer me, Jim lad. Enjoyed this one from a set by ShadyLady. Didnt think it was going to turn out right at one point but I got over my stage fright and struggled on... Thanks Sue - good pattern and I learnt a lot from attempting it

I liked the process. I printed a spare copy of the pattern and used it to lay out the pieces in the correct position as I cut them. I also numbered each piece on the reverse as I cut it just in case I knocked everything over! (I have senior moments) I then sanded each part by hand. That way I had, for me, more control over the process and could control where the dust went. I didnt shape any pieces for this project as I was using 6mm birch ply and didnt want the pieces too thin at the edges. So I just rounded over the edges but tried not to make the rounding too pronounced. I enjoyed doing that - very tactile I then sealed the wood with a Humbrol matt spray varnish. Then I set up my airbrush and did all the pieces except the "belly" of the bird and the tree trunk. The belly and the trunk I did by brush to leave a rougher finish compared to the feathers etc. I enjoyed doing that also. The next stage was to edge stick the pieces together. This I did in 2 sections - the bird together in one section and the trunk as a seperate one. I used a normal wood glue for this. I then cut a 3mm shim for the bird and stuck that to the back. This bought the bird in front of the tree trunk and the feet fitted lovely into the cutout in the trunk when both pieces were stuck to the final backing. The last stage was to varnish the project - finished. It is, I should think, easier than Intarsia as it is all cut from one piece and therefore the chances of a good fit are very good. I would like a go at the more involved Intarsia but we have the "UK exotic wood problem" here. Not to worry - the process was enjoyable and I will certainly do another again after I have completed shadyladys' Treasure Chest pattern. It was a learning process and that was good Cheers Keith

Thank you Christina I did enjoy doing this as it involved acrylics and a little airbrushing. I can also see how I can also incorporate pyrography into this hobby/artform too. Why didnt I discover the scrollsaw years ago .... Give it a try. The pattern is a free one from:- http://www.scrollsawsegmentation.com Scroll to the bottom of the page. You can either reduce the wood thickness for the tree trunk or, as I did, shim up the rest of the object instead. The beauty of segmentation is that you can cut it all from one piece of wood. Using a fine blade (I used grade 2) makes it very easy to get a tight fit when the object is put together. Cheers Keith

Well thanks all - I was a little proud of it but wanted experienced opinion. Thanks again for that. Thanks for the tip Barry - wonderful how we sometimes overlook simple problem answers like that isnt it? - - thank you.

Very good picture. So thats what spirals are for - the jaggly bits .. thanks for that bit of info, every little bit helps Spirals sent for.

Hi I have had a go at a segmentation piece. I am trying all aspects of this hobby in order to find the genre/style that I find most interesting. Anyhow - he she is:- Constructive critisism is welcomed - nay wanted I dont bite or get upset at anything on the internet so fire away please. I do realise that I need to make the backing board a little smaller ... Thanks Keith Now lets see if the image displays ....

The cheapest and most approachable I have found is:- http://www.jandasupplies.co.uk/ They are a family business and take Paypal. As per other suppliers they only supply in 4 inch widths. Once I get into this hobby/artform I will enquire if they would make up custom orders. Other suppliers:- http://www.alwayshobbies.com/ and http://www.craft-products.com/ There are timber suppliers but they only offer large quantities that would take me another lifetime to get through! I have tried local timber yards but the quality is usually "building" quality which is not suitable for the hobby. MDF is available of course but with no visible grain it might as well be cardboard as it has to be painted. It also appears to blunt the blades a lot quicker and I only use it for prototype practising.

Thank you Now 3 efforts in the gallery and I am having a shot at the Nuthatch but have to colour it as wood here isnt easy to get.

Hi. I have been lurking for a few days, trawling through the threads and have learnt quite a bit from them - thanks I am retired and, loving the smell of fresh cut wood, have bought myself a scrollsaw to help fill my time with. I am certainly enjoying it and the time flies away ... The only problem here in the UK is that tracking down suitable wood is difficult. Hobby shops are few and far between so am having to use the internet for my shopping. Not to worry - all part ofthe game. I have uploaded my first 2 efforts to my gallery. Both are from Patterns by Steve Good. Really glad I found that site - it has also helped a lot. Going through all the patterns on this site gives me a headache - there are so many to choose from .. Now - back to my varnish for my latest little project .. cheers, Keith.

That is very neatly cut. Looks like something I could attempt - especially now I have something to compare my effort to