FrankEV

This 1/8”X9”X17” BB cut panel affixed to a 1/4”X11”X19” backer is another ZM Creations Illustration I converted to a scroll saw pattern. The cutting was done using Pegas #2/0 and #0 Spiral Blades. I actually finished the cutting a few weeks ago and set it aside because I was unsure how I was going to finish it. The ZM Creations Illustrations are somewhat simplistic but very colorful making them suitable for conversion to a scroll saw pattern with coloring in mind. This particular Illustration was interesting but I was not happy with just a colored Illustration on a white (or in this case a natural wood color) background. I felt it needed the water and sky to be in color also but wasn’t sure how to handle the border of the cut panel. When I finally decided to do the painting I decided to leave the cut panel border natural and make the backer border black. I sprayed the panel before removing the liner/pattern. Please I took a lot of liberties in the painting colors. The painting of the cutout areas on the backer panel was done using Acrylic Art Paints and the cut panel was colored using rattle can spray paints. I like the Krylon Fusion All-In-One products as there are a lot of colors available. I’m learning to do wet on wet spraying to get some blended/shaded colors. Once again the Frame is a simple 1 3/4” Poplar frame. The wood had a fairly clear grain so I just used the wood pre-stain treatment and finished with an application of Minwax Classic Oak Polyurethane/Stain. This was the original Illustration.

While I was finishing up my Double Trouble project a while ago, my Lady (Robin) had seen a magazine with pictures of beautiful ladies fans on the cover and ask me if I could do a cutting of a fan. The fans in the picture were very ornate and they were not suitable for making a pattern, so I went hunting for fan patterns. I found four on the Sue May web site. I did not feel only one fan would make a nice presentation so I decided to do all four and present them as a group. Yes four individual patterns but over 500 holes in total. One panel was done in one 3-4 hour cutting session using both Pegas #0 Spiral and #2/0 MGT R Blades. Four days total. All cuttings and backers were cut from 1/8” BB Ply, painted with various colors of Krylon Fusion All-In-One rattle can spray paints to “sort-of” match the colors shown in the Sue May Patterns. I use 1/4” Birch plywood to create a colored 18” x 24” full backer that the individual fan panels were affixed to. This full backer was set loose into a custom made frame cut from pre-primed Brick Mold available from Lowes. When the better half asks for something you just got to drop everything get it done as soon as possible. When she is happy, I’m happy. Now I can go back to my projects.

Very nice. I've cut that Hummingbird (Steve's) pattern which he uses in many of his patterns.

I like very much. Should be a great conversation piece. Boy am I dumb...brain fart! Read your post over and over. Could not figure where a tensioning piece was on the cutting. Light bulb finally lit up after rereading again and realized you were talking about your saw, dahhh.

Again nice cutting. Same comment as in my reply to your post "Curiosity".

Nice looking project. I have seen this pattern and considered cutting it a few times. Would be nice to get some details with a posted pic. Panel material, backer, blade used, finishes, etc.?

Spirals require a lot of practice, but once the eye/hand coordination is mastered they are a lot easiier to use for patterns like this one with a lot of small cutouts. I hate having to spin my panel. Small spirals leave quite "visually" sharp points. Stack cutting almost 1" thickness with straight blades is going to make the cutting very difficult. Your blade holes must be perfectly perpendicular to the panel or the lower panels will not be a true duplicate of the top panel. Blade tension and slow cutting is critical or cuts will not be perfectly true. Also because you need a larger blade for the thick stack, the small cuts are much more difficult, even if you use spirals. And, JFYI, I do not stack cut portraits type panels as I consider each piece I do as a "one-of-a-kind". I'm not into production.

Cuttings look great, but our opinions don't matter. What matters is what did they think about being emortalized in wood?

My Condolences from somebody who has been there...lost my wife 10 years ago. But a big welcome back to the Village from the East Coast of Central Florida. I'm rather a newbie as I only joined about a year ago. Lots of the gang have been around a long time but there are a lot of other newbies as well. You will get to know us bye and bye. So fire up the saw and show us what you can do.

Very nice. Three pic's...three crosses? They look the same but different.

They are ALL absolutely beautiful. The cuting and finishing just wonderful.

JUst one word: Beautiful!

Majestic Eagles! A very favorite subject of mine and many others. You did very well on a very nice pattern (which I also have in my "to do" file). The HL frame finishes perfectly. Question: Is there any difference between what you call "laminated Russian BB" and what is commonly called "BB Plywood"?

Maple is a great contrasting compliment to any dark wood, especially Walnut. Yes it can be exspensive but if you are only going to use it to make inlays you can get a lot out of one board. https://ocoochhardwoods.com/ is a good source. BTW, nice work.

Excelent job. Great Idea for storing the puzzle.

WOW! What a great job. Great cutting and presentation. Love the cues and rack of balls in the center.

I'll say very nice and different! Nice paintwork. I was wondering about the plywood for an outdoor project until I read that you were coating it in epoxy. That should make it withstand up to the elements nicely. You might want to think of a real sign post to hang it on. Those plant hangers tend to bend or loosen up in the ground with the wind blowing on what ever is hanging on them.

From what can be seen in the photo the cutting looks real good. Having never tried to cut a puzzle, I'm curious. What is your cutting procedure? One piece at a time or row by row? Do you tape the rows together as you go?

The cutting and coloring look nice. Fortunately you did not add why and am very glad you did not. For that reason I hope this presentation does not lead to any political discussions/opinions being posted in this forum! I have been very pleased that to this date this forum has not participated in such.

I havn't done "millions" of holes, but have done a couple of projects in 3/4" material. Using small bits (like #64) and the Dremel operatinag at it highest speed, I have no trouble drilling nice straight holes fairly quickly. I don't push the bit throught to fast, just let it do its thing with a nice steady pressure on the handle. If I was using a larger bit I would knock the speed down. The only trick to using this set up is the need to position the point of the bit only about an 1/8" above the work so positioning over the cut out area is easier to line up. A good light on the panel also helps.

I've posted this a few time before but think it is worth sharing again. This is my solution for not having a drill press! The Dremel drill press as is, because of it is only 3" from the bit to the post, is imparactical to use for drilling blade holes in almost any fretwork larger than 6" wide. However, I had the idea in my head I could do something to make it work and Home Depot near me had the Dremel Drill Press/Tool Station in stock for $45. I took a chance (knowing I could return it if I could not make it work) and bought it this morning. After I got it home and did some investigating how I could make it work the light bulb lit up in my brain and this was the result. There is a shelf above my workbench that was just the correct height {Actually needs to be the height of the post plus about 2 inches] to allow me to mount the base upside down. I slid the Drill press body on the post opposite of what is normal. The press can be rotated around the post allowing it to be swung out of the way if necessary. I use a piece of 1/4" ply as a drill backer and set the stop so the bit will not punch into the workbench top. Very easy to locate the bit ove the point where the hole is needed. From the bit to the wall is about 11" so as positioned it can accomodate panels up to about 22" wide. I have two Dremel Rotary Tools so this one will be a dedicated drill for drilling blade holes, although the tool holder body can be rotated up to 90 degrees and used for other operations. I don't think I will be braking as many drill bits with this setup. I located it near the rear corner of the workbench so it should not interfere tooooooo much with other workbench usage. As the say, where there is a will there is a way. And when space is at a premium, you have to think outside the box and make evey square inch count. This set up is working very well for me.

Denny, I sarted with using the bottles of Acrylic paints but have recently started to use the Artist Acrylic paints that comes in the tubes. I also use the Artist Oil based paints that come in the tubes. Both allow mixing of small amounts of basic colors to obtain various colors. I'm having fun experimenting with both and learning which works better for me. I tend to use the acrylics when the color is applied to the backer under the cut panel and the oil based paints when applying to the cut panel itself. The oil based paints work (for me) a little better for the dry brush technique and I seem to be able to blend the colorations a little better. I shouldn't really be concerned how long a project takes but more on what the end result is. I'm usually cutting another project, or making a frame, while the paint dries anyway. I only complain about the drying time of oil base paints becaue I am impatient . I'm seeing a few more of our members adding color to their work which I'm very clad to see.

Beautiful!!!!! Extreamly well done. The little bit of color does wonders. I'm sure your "lovely" wife loves it. Hope you signed and dated it so you won't forget which Valentines day it was made for.

Yeah, I like to add some color...makes some of these portraits pop. I don't feel I have a very good artistic eye. I'm just experimenting as I go. I will use a photo (like I did for these Racoons0 in an attemp to get the colors close to correct. I couldn't paint a picture if my life depended on it, but I have been able to enhance some of the patterns I've cut by adding color. A set of inexpensive acrylic craft paints and a set of cheap brushes would get you started. The oil base art paints are a little easier to mix and blend colors, but do take a long time to dry.

Was looking for something different and I found this 11” x 14” pattern called Double Trouble by Jeff Zaffino on the Scroller Website. Looked challenging…boy, was that quite an understatement! This cutting took toooo many hours as the pattern has well over 400 holes and many of the cuts were not much bigger than the #64 drill bit I used for the Pegas #2/0 spiral blades I used. Because of the many tiny cuts it was difficult to work cutting on this pattern for more that 2 or 3 hours at one time. The cut panel is 1/4” thick Mahogany solid core plywood affixed to a 1/8” thick BB plywood backer painted Flat Black. I chose the Mahogany plywood because after studying the pattern I knew that I was going to add color and the Mahogany color would work well for the tree. The coloring was done with Artist Oil Paints using the dry brush technique in order to obtain the shading and highlighting. This requires the first application to be dry before applying another tint. Oil base Artist paints take a long time to dry and this extended the project time considerably. The border is painted also to create a matted effect. The finished panel was protected with two coats of clear spray Polyurethane after the coloring was complete and dry. The Frame is another simple 1 3/4” wide Poplar frame stained with Minwax Brazilian Rosewood Gel Stain and protected with two coats of clear spray Polyurethane. I used the Minwax pre-stain wood treatment before applying the Gel Stain. In my opinion this stain color is about the best looking slightly transparent color for the Poplar wood.