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Meflick said are "famous" copyright art. and that touches on the fair use exception to the copyright act. The more famous something is, the more it can fall under the fair use exception. You can use any recent politicians face and no one can do a thing. For instance, if I draw a picture of road runner finally getting sucked into a grinder by the Coyote and the road runner is squawking "Bleep, Bleep" That is meant as a joke, and is more than a mere copy, but is used along with context and additional creativity to come up with that scene. It would be fair use. and exempt. The problems are that most people do not make that little additional part that can exempt it from copyright. Porn movies get away with such farce rip offs all the time and get away with it under the fair use doctrine. Look at all the times the Simpsons made fun of "famous" songs, products or people. all fair use. An acquaintance here writes country music political farce songs. He will take a recent song that is copyrighted and change the words slightly to make some hilarious political statements. he has recorded some and sold many. There is nothing the original composer or writer can do about such satire. And my acquaintance gets an enforceable copyright on the changes he makes to the song. There is a reason why even most attorney's avoid copy right law issues. It is confusing as can be.

Not copying another's work is always a safe course. However, there is little that is really new in the world. The number of songs that were "subconsciously" copied from others is amazing. The Beatles, "My sweet Lord" is almost note for note the same as the 1960 ish hit "He's So Fine" "Your the reason God made Oklahoma" is a copy of "Rocky Top" A recent country Christmas song is a tune "borrowed" from Brian Wilson's 1960's beach boys songs. One thing that is safe is to get old catalogs and magazines to use those pictures. And when I say old, I mean over 100 years. (Technically I think 1927 may be the current fail safe date) And beware of reprints, the printing companies alter things slightly so they can prevent you from copying their copy of the old piece. Map companies often put small insignificant features on maps that do not exist in order to catch illegal copiers. I check for age and whether the company is out of business. In addition, I have reprinted articles myself from magazines of the 1950's that went belly up with no one taking over. Old hunting and fishing magazine art is getting to be a big thing and for nice 1900 to 1925 color cover reprints some art shops are getting $25 to $50 dollars a piece. The artist is long gone, the magazine is long gone, the copyright has expired and the image is up for grabs by anyone. (I amassed several packing cases of such magazines and catalogs over the past 20 years. ) I have special Christmas cards printed. I use the December covers of such old magazines. (2 of my friend have framed the fronts of the cards and have them on the wall in their dens) Many government agency.magazines forgot to renew their copy rights when they first expired. It is hard to search, but those magazines are also fair game. For instance, many state game agencies publish magazines. You still must watch for the artists' copy rights if the artist is still alive or recently passed. For instance if you find a copy of Harper's Weekly from the 1860's copy away. The other thing is to just learn to draw your own design. or learn to take pictures and use a program to print the design of that picture. There is an amusement park nearby that uses a purple dinosaur looking character as their mascot. His name is Duke, but he looks amazingly like another purple dinosaur. that was on TV for several years. I am not sure what may have happened to permit that to go on.

"Also look at cover bands, they play nothing but other peoples music and get paid for it and dont change the words or anything. They dont get in trouble and are hired by all sorts of businesses." They don't want to get caught. A lot of folks do not realize that ASCAP actually has an army of over a half million disgruntled composers and songwriters etc who will rat everybody out. Also, many bands do make a report similar to the ones by radio stations and legitimate DJ's reporting what songs are played and they do pay a small pittence to ASCAP which in turn distributes royalties.they collect. A local DJ here got nailed. A high school classmate helped write a song that became a national rock and roll song. It rose to about 15 on the charts. . it continues to be played a few thousand times a year on oldies radio and every six months or so he gets a check from ASCAP for a couple hundred dollars. Considering how many ways the royalties have to be split, I am surprised he gets that much. Most companies do not care as long as you are not selling the work. A few, right on their web pages have licensing permission to use their name, image etc for certain purposes. For instance Lions Clubs International has down loadable images of their symbol for t-short companies and hat companies who make apparel for Lions clubs. Free if used to advance the purposes of Lions. Another touchy exemption to copyright law is "fair use". Any use of a symbol or name in a way that makes fun of the company, shows it in a humorous way or even when it is part of another work, sometimes. For instance when a movie company films a scene with dozens of cars traveling a city street, Ford Chevy and Dodge are not going to scream about their logo merely showing up on a car in the movies. .Fair Use is a complicated exception and the more you read about it, the more you will be confused. When I took copyright law many decades ago, the Stieffel lamp company tried to trademark and copyright the designs of their lamps, so no one could copy the designs.. Frankly I do not recall how the case turned out. Which brings me to the third point. Don't be stupid. alter the lines slightly. swing a curve out a millimeter or two, reverse the drawing. do something (where the design is simple) so the piece can't just be held up to the light to show it is all the same. In other cases, how many drawings of rubber ducks are out there? a few hundred thousand maybe. There are probably 600 that are almost the same, except size. If you were to select one, how is any one going to prove that you copied their design as opposed to the other 500.

I ran a post a bit ago, about how to construct the pivot point for the carousel. I was strolling down the strip shopping center in town and as I walked by, I looked through the window of a shop called "Tuesday Morning" they had at least a dozen different models of pyramids, so I went in to look at them. Imported from Germany. A simply 4 candle pyramid was $34.00, so I bought one to examine the construction. They also had simple candle arches (Schwiboggen) and rauchermannerchen. (little smoking figures.) an lit incense cone is placed in the hollow interior and the smoke comes out the figure's mouth. I made one of those last year on my lathe going by on-line pictures, but seeing all these in person gives me a new ambition to scroll/turn these things instead of just studying.

Not totally a scroll project, but some here are likely to know. I want to cut letters and make a set of red and white lettered signs like the old roadside burma shave signs. (for those who don't remember, there would be a series of 4 or 5 signs with a humorous poem followed by the sign "Burma Shave" For instance, "Don't pass on" " a curve or hill," " if the cops don't get you" " the mortician will" followed by a sign that said "Burma Shave") Any body recall the sign dimensions or font? IIRC the signs were about 6 inches high and two feet to thirty inches wide. I want to make a scroll saw set that at least resembles the originals. I can look up the signs on line, but there is no scale to judge the size. Thanks

One of my acquaintances was a professional artist who now mostly does freebie stuff for charities, although she still sells a bit. For anything on wood, she swears by Rustoleum oil paints. I tried the Rustoleum water base house paints and they give terrible coverage. I have been getting good results with cheap Apple barrel paints from Walmart. I wish my painting skill was better. I have tried painting bare wood, tried painting on top of wipe on poly, tried painting on top of brush on lacquer, tried painting on top of shellac sealer, even tried painting over friction polish. So far the best has been over the shellac.

try sleeping with a c-pap machine

and another: http://nbg-web01.opitec.com/img/113/521/113521be.pdf

Here are plans for a simple one that apparently went with a kit, in which some parts were cut out by the customer. https://datal.opitec.com/img/106/108/106108be.pdf

I stopped at our new Hobby Lobby today. Got some 3/32 bass wood. Every thing else is bass, except the poplar base and the two hubs. Picked up some wood glue and a glue gun too. The place is like Michaels and Harbor Freight. always running percent off coupons on line. Found a how to on line that mentioned using a finishing nail and acorn nut for the bottom pivot point.Although it did not say which way was up.

Another vote for high enough to comfortably stand at and then a chair tall enough to sit at the machine when the mood strikes me. I tend to stand for quick cut outs such as a carving blank, but sit when close attention to detail and following the line precisely are required. At 6 foot, I am not very tall, but I like the saw a bit higher than some folks. My swivel stool is bar stool height.

An elderly man who mentored me through building a long rifle, often said "Patience is the most important tool in the shop"

I have about 3/4 of the parts assembled to make a German Christmas Pyramid from scratch. For those who are unfamiliar, it is a small carousel powered when the heat from a candle rises through a windmill like turbine. Part scroll work and part lathe turned. I have some small snowmen, carolers and even a salvation army kettle and bell ringer. (not painted yet) I am puzzled about what to use for the base of the rod/axle to spin on or in. The only instruction I have seen calls for a part of a clothing snap, which I did not follow anyway. I thought about using an acorn nut turned upside down/ or perhaps an Allen screw socket. I have both 1/8 inch steel and 1/8 inch hardened brass rod to use. I can polish the end on my lathe. The only thing I have not tackled yet is the vanes for the turbine and candle holders.. I have 1/8 inch baltic birch plywood for the vanes, but I was hoping for something thinner.

Keep a stiff backer behind the plywood so it from sagging. Or lay it flat. In reality, how big a piece can your saw handle? If 16 inches, then get the sheet ripped in 16 inch pieces.

OK, I am a sucker for somethings. Tools and machinery are one of those. I already had a Hawk, a Skil, an old old Delta and an old old Duracraft. So I am at a yard sale and there is a portable craftsman, non variable, with a large motor that takes pinned blades. Even better, it comes with about a hundred new blades. very coarse tooth of course. So the lady has it marked $15.00 and as I am looking at it, she says all prices are negotiable. I went home $8 dollars poorer. I get home and I have a dozen pieces of bass and poplar already marked for cutting out for carving blanks. I looked over the saw and plugged it in. It cut lickity split through that one inch poplar like it was a band saw. In no time at all. I had those carving blanks cut out. Far faster than the Duracraft which is hooked up to a 1/3 horse motor. I have no illusions about the limitations of this latest machine. It was probably hot stuff back 30 - 40 years ago. It won't do those fancy little piercings that I have no patience for anyway, but it sure did the job on cutting those blanks.

Went to two craft shows in the past three weeks, between the both, there were three folks with scroll work, except the edges were all dark as if charred. All laser cut. I saw no sales of their "work" which was little satisfaction. Last time I saw real scroll work for sale, the owner was doing a brisk business and the things cut were tree slices so a bit hard to use a laser. anyway. Fancy German style Schwibogen are going for $12.00 at Christmas Tree Shops because they are all mass produced laser cut in China.

copyright and licensing is one of the most ridiculously complicated subjects out there. Yes you buy the magazine and bought the right to use the patterns, but does the licensing agreement permit you to transfer to another owner. As for copying, If I photocopy the pattern to glue the copy to the wood for cutting, have I illegally copied the pattern? Does it give you the right to make the wooden object 5,000 times for commercial sale purposes? How would you do that without making copies. The Studio owning the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" let it's copyright expire, so every TV station in the US was playing that movie ad nauseum, thinking they were free of royalties, but along comes the person who licensed the script for the movie and says, But my script is still copyrighted, PAY UP. and suddenly It's a wonderful Life is broadcast perhaps once a holiday season. It may come down to the licensing agreement between the artist and the magazine as to who has the right to make the pattern. Just as some warranties apply only to the original purchaser, the license to use the pattern from the magazine could extend contractually just to the original magazine purchaser. What the true, technically correct answer may be could be buried in a clause in a contract in a long stored away file at the magazine's office. The practical answer is that the artists and magazines cannot afford the legal fees to investigate and go after every person whose work looks like it may have been copied from the magazine pattern. Right now it is too early before caffeine for me to find my specs and skim through the fine print of the magazines on the shelf. But I suspect, each magazine has a clause buried somewhere in the publication delineating the extent to which using the patterns is permissible.

careful with the rubber stamp, when used one the side of grain, the ink can and does bleed out along the grain. A layer of finish first may help. We got thin plywood discs for kids to make their own ornaments, but the rubber stamps and markers bled out along the grain leaving everything blurry and sloppy looking. Been wanting to get a branding unit. I just do not understand why they are so expensive. I had one years ago that I made myself. It worked, but was not as fine or as professional looking as I would like. ( Several hours grinding with a dremel tool)

Some how I ended up with open office on my computer. I hate it. Makes letters and everything more difficult. Envelopes especially Worse< I have absolutely no idea how it got on the computer. I already have word.

I recently picked up three radial arm saw bases for $10 each. It was easy to put casters on the feet. However the legs being stamped sheet metal do flex some. So I am putting some 1x6's across the legs to both brace the legs and hold a shelf under neath. Once the shelf is added they are rock solid. I just put my bench drill press and grinder on the same stand. Next the belt sander and miter saw will go on another. I don't have a decent dust collector system yet, so when I do something dusty, I can wheel the tool out the door and just stand up wind of the tool as I work. Since my shop is not yet in it's home. It makes using the tools and shifting them around so much easier.

I turn small wooden ornaments that are sold to raise money for my Local Lion's clubs' vision and other programs. This year, I am making 5 different style tree ornaments. I would like to make a two dimensional tree shaped display/stand to hang the ornaments on. Any body have an idea or seen such a pattern. I am only looking for something about 16 inches high. I could draw a pattern freehand. But then it would look like I drew the pattern freehand.

A remote holder? just another place for the folks around here not to put things back to. Did one have a remote that had a loop molded into it near the bottom. I used a really tough piece of bright yellow rope and tied the remote to the couch. No lost remote!

the internet has changed so much. Our local paper would have folded but for it's on-line subscriptions for people who read it on-line. Frankly, I stopped reading most out door magazines 40 years ago, because they were all ads and little content. Classified ad revenue for many publications has been reduced to almost zero by Craigs list and ebay. . I still enjoy some magazines, but Not every issue is worth the money for a subscription, so I buy them on news stands when they are of interest. Nothing will ever replace the peace of curling up in an overstuffed chair with a real book. At one time, I subscribed to about a dozen magazines. Now just one and that is from a small organization that does not offer it's magazine on line.

I just got home an hour ago, from picking up cut offs at my local saw mill. 3x3 and 3x5 pieces of Oak and Poplar some a foot long. What is too checked or cracked to turn, goes in the pile for the smoker grill or for the firewood pile at my local Lions Club's park. Tomorrow, he is cutting a pile of Eastern red cedar.

Many years ago, I could purchase powdered dyes used by some Eastern countries to dye Easter eggs. The powder was like a fine saw dust and came in an envelope about like what banks use for currency. The dye was mixed with a half gallon of water and a cup of vinegar. I used it once on some wooden silohuettes of animals I had cut out for my son to shoot with rubber bands. The color was deep and uniform. It did raise the grain, but the color was quite deep and vivid. When dry it looked a little powdery, but when i rubbed the pieces of wood with Linspeed the colors got very deep and shiny. Now I never used it on anything but clear pine and I did soak the pieces for ten minutes. I have not been able to find those dyes in 20 years. I have tried Greek and Russian ethnic grocery stores to no avail. .