FrankEV

Not sure I can answer your question, but will throw something out just for your consideration. My small workshop is an 8' x 14' plastic shed and I'm capable of having quite a bit of equipment in this small space. If you are going to be living in the RV and moving from site to site, staying a while in each, you might want to consider a decent size tailer to tag along behind. I can see setting up a trailer with a small table saw, scroll saw ( My Pegas would work as it is not very heavy), a small work bench and even a small drill press. Cabintry can be installed for hand tools, wood materials, etc. All the power tools can be secured to the floor so no concerns while towing. If you plan to tow a car, you could consider a large auto carrying trailer that has enough room to also carry the power tools that could be set up for doing the wood working while staying at a RV park. A little inginuity could make this work as long as the pocketbook can handle the strain. I've seen a lot of commercial workshops on wheel (in trailers) so it is possible to do.

Great dog, the cutting .... Just kidding, cutting looks very nice! And Nugget is really cute!

Now that wood and cutting go together. Very nice work. Hemmmm! No turns if you use spiral blades. Is the Alderwood a softwood or hardwood? How easy is the cutting?

Wonderful work all. The last one with Humming birds looks very intricate. I find it hard to do repeating patterns like these. Recenlty finished some Dream Catchers that had disks with a repeating pattern. I managed and they don't look too bad, but not quite as neat and perfect as yours. Any chance you could elaborate with some details like: Wood used?, Size? Blades used? etc. Did you count the number of holes in the Humming Bird disk....looks like a lot.

Well done!

All $$$ concerns understood and very much logical. I just have two quick comments: Boxes of 12" x 24" Baltic Birch panels can be purchased on line in 1/8 and 1/4 thicknesses. Yes, not overly cheap outlay but only works out to be about $3 per sheet and affords a lot of cuttting to be done. And, BTW, it is difficult to find any quality wood at the local lumber yards. Maybe jus a little bit more costly on line, but much better choices and availability. As far a paint is concerned, you can purchase very inexpensive acrylic paints in Walmart and Hobbuy Lobby, but until you get your feet a little bit more planted in this activity, it might be a good idea to just stay with the B&W format for a while.

Welcome to RAIN...I mean Florida. You have probably mentioned it before, but what part of Florida did you relocate to?

Rodney, First let me say you did a nice job on the cutting. If by any chance you have looked at some of my work you know that I'm in favor of adding color to scroll saw work. And I also knoiw every one sees things differently, but in this case, IMHO, the color of the "Blue" you chose is not right. Much tooooo bright. It just dosen't not look like water to me. It draws the eye away for the oveall image. The entire area below, what is supposed to suggest a pond,is representing the waters surface, so to me the black, or a very dark color, reflection is more appropriate. Now, if I was wanting to color this cutting I would consider the horse itself. Using color like white or bright yellow/tan and adding a little detail like a Horses mane would make this very basic pattern into a more apealing piece. Again, this is just me, but I feel the very strong grain of the pine is not a great choice for this piece. It actually works well for the upper half, almost looking like sky, but not for the bottom half. This actvity of scrolling really has very nuch to do with the choice of wood as it is about the cutting. I'll apologise ahead of time if you feel this critique was unwarented.

Very well done.

Absolutely great cutting. Very intersting piece.

Answering the questions out of order: Only one place is the geen stem very thin due to me wandering off the line a little. I was able to hold the cut panel in my hand for painting without concern. After it is glued to the backer, yes if struck or the like, a piece could be broken off. True of any "positive" type cuts. Fine Art is delicate and should be treated as such. The light Red, light Green, Blue and white are painted on the backer. The cut piece is painted with the darker Red, Darker Green and Black. It is a good idea to prime the wood with a Acrrylic Gesso (white art primer) before painting. However, that becomes VERY difficult for the painted areas on the backer. The spaces under the cut panel is so narrow it is hard to keep from going beyond the colored area. I did not prime but did apply multiple coats of paint. Priming the wood makes the paint flow easier and lay more evenly. Finishing with a coat of lacquer tends to even things out nicely. Now to that orther idea....nah!

I found this free simple, yet elegant, B&W Wood Burning Stencil on line that I converted in Inkscape to a scroll saw pattern. The conversion was mainly the addition of bridges and resizing to suit an 11 x 17 panel. The cut panel is 1/8” BB Ply affixed to a 1/4” BB Ply backer. The cutting was relatively easy and was completed with Pegas #2/0 spiral blades. From the onset it was my intention to make this a colored piece. Both the cut panel and the backer was hand painted using Acrylic Art paints. Since the image is raised, all edges of the cut panel needed to be painted also. This is a real pain in the butt process. The painting process took quite a few hours to complete. Of course as usual the assembled panel was finished with multiple coats of Clear Spray Gloss Lacquer. The Frame, once again, is a made of 1 3/4” wide Poplar but finished a little differently this time. I used Minwax Classic Black Poly/Stain laid on heavy (3 coats) to create a high gloss finish. I think it adds a little “pop” to this piece. (I need to get a different color backdrop for my photo booth to use with black frames.) Critique of this work is always welcomed. Edit: Changed back drop in my photo booth.

You did a great job. Very nice cutting. Using solid wood for a sign like that is always a winner, although I would have probably chosen to use a thinner material for the cut panel, but that is only me.

Well done and absolutly beautiful. The silver did not photograph very well mainly because of the competing background...a dark background would have made the silver stand out. Now If I was making this lovely keepsake, I would have painted the rose red, the leaves green and the rings gold.

If you own a vertical belt bench sander you can make your circles just about as perfect as possible. The cut panel should be affixed to the backer either permanently, or with double stick tape, before cutting the disk. I cut out the disk making sure I cut on the OUTSIDE of the line. Slow and carefully but not worrying if the cut is real smooth. the cut line needs to remain visable all the way arount the disk. Then, using the table on the vertical belt sander to get a true vertial edge, you can carefully and gently sand away the waste until the line is just removed evenly all around. Actually this is easier than it sounds, However, the trick is to keep the disk moving/rotating while the sander takes the material off slowly.

Very Well Done! If, for the backer, you had used a darker wood or stainded it darker there would have be a little more contrast to make it visually pop a little more.

Bragging Rights is the most poular forum to show work that you are proud of and want people to see and comment on. It is a simple task to start a new topic, add a title, write some info about the work, drag a JPG file(s)of the work into the post where it says "Drag files Here", and submit the post. Now, what you write can be simple of detailed. Yes, a lot of us like to know things like the "why, what, where, when and who" details or the things like "wood, blades used, finish, who made for, etc.". The camera images of the work you post should be well done, framed square so the image is not distorted, taken close up to fill the frame and/or cropped. The photo should be taken in front of an uncluttered, clean, plain backdrop. These rules are not gospel but just common sense. Hope this helps. Edit: you can also creat a album of you pics in "Users Gallery"

Most of what I have posted in Bragging Rights, unless specifically noted that I cut it for someone special like "Alucard" that i did for my Grandson, all of my pieces are either on disply or are shown in a portfolio of glossy 8x10 prints on the table in my area. Right now I have about 18 framed pieces hanging as well as a few boxes. I just added the Seahorse lamp I made a few weeks ago. I rotate pieces so the disply does not become stagnent. For my framed pieces I base my prices on complexity and what I deem to be a high desirable piece. The posted prices vary from one to two dollars per square inch of panel size. The curator of the gallery keeps telling me my prices should be higher. However, I 'm happy with this price range and makes my work a little beit more affordable for many of those who frequent the Gallery.

In a prevous post, about two months back, I mentioned I had been accepted to join a local Fine Art Artist Cooperative where I could disply and offer my work for sale. Of course there is a fee to rent the space, but there is no commision taken from any sales other than any credit card sale charges. The Coop takes care of taking sales tax so every thing is simple. Each month the first Saturday of the month is Art Walk night where a lot of locals, as well as tourest, visit the various Art venues in the area, indulge in a little wine and snacks, and maybe buy some Art. Tonight was the third Art Walk Saturday since I joined the Gallery and it is was very well attended. And tonight, I sold two more pieces for a total of five pieces in just a few days more than two months. With these sales, I have covered my first four months rent plus and anything sold hereafter will be on the profit side. More importantly to me is the comments and praise I get from those who take the time to look at my work. Those who actually stop and look at my disply spend a good deal of time scrutenizing the pieces and are amazed at the cratmanship and artistry. Certainly not everyone buys, but compared to the time they spend looking at the fine paintings and other art, they tend to linger at my display for quite a while. When I'm there to answer questions, the positive feedback I get is just awsume. One of the pieces I sold tonight brings with it the potential for some commisioned pieces for this couples home that they have up north. Ask me if I feel good. I'm sure you can guess what my answer wouild be!

My array of Beach/Nautical/Ttropical cuttings is quite extensive. Some are from way back when I had first started up to my more recent work. Most of my latest work is intended to apeal to the Beach Community here along the Atlantic Coast of Central Florida. A lot of what we call beach side home owners love to decorate their high cost homes with a lot of beachy things. This first piece was one of my very early attempts at creating a pattern and then adding color to the finished piece. This last one hangs in my living room and we call it our aquariumn:

Back at you and to all!

I edited the original post to show pics with the hinges. The morticing was not quite as neat as I would have liked, but it worked and is not tooo noticable.

Sneaky...you will be updating this post yearly, I presume.

Glad you answered the What is it question so I did not have to look stupid. Looks great.

Congradulations on a terrific milestone and a great daily reminder. Lets plan on you having to cut many more!