FrankEV

I did my first "real" Intarsia piece this past July. Shortly thereafter, I made a bunch of painted Christmas segmented pieces for my family. I used Intarsia techniques to make the segmental pieces more sculptured. Since then I have done a few more Intarsia pieces...this Elephant is number 6. Each was a learning experience. Unlike my SS flat Art Panel projects that I would have multiple project working at the same time (i.e.; cutting, painting, framing, etc.), complicated Intarsia pieces, like this African Elephant, takes a lot more time to produce a finished piece, and so far I can only manage one at a time.

The grain in the left side ears are oreinted diagonally top to bottom right to left. Due to the wood size I had, I could not oreient the grain in the right side ear in the opposite diagonal. Thw wood coloration is stronger than the grain so, as I said, not noticable to an untrained eye.

Quick story. My Lady went to NC to be with her daughter to help during recovery from hip replacement surgery. Her Granddaughter also came to help. Her daughter also has a son and their house has only two beds and a sofa for sleeping purposes. Fortunately, the next-door neighbor had a spare room and offered it to my Lady to use at no cost for the nineteen days she was there. This neighbor has visited Africa, and they have a collection of African Art pieces on display. Upon returning home, my Lady asked if I could make a Scroll Saw African Elephant, that she could send them as a thank you for their hospitality. I searched, found, and procured a ‘Woodenmann’ Intarsia Pattern of an African Elephant bust that I felt was appropriate, and I interrupted a Christmas project that was in progress to make the Elephant. A finished ‘Woodenmann’ piece was shown online, that was done in two contrasting, dark and light, colored wood’s. I decided I would prefer to do it in a single, “more” Elephant colored, wood choice. I had just gotten a few pieces of Teak in the box of cutoffs I purchased, and it seemed like it would be a good choice. Of course, the Tusks are Aspen, and the Eyes are ‘Sharpie’ Black - sorry, no Eboney in my wood collection. Due to the limited amount of Teak that was available, I was not able to arrange all the grain-direction as I would have preferred. However, the wood has enough character that it is not too distracting or noticeable to an untrained eye. As I’m sure you are all aware, Teak is quite hard, so the cutting was slow. I did a decent job of cutting as the fit-up was quite good, with just some minor sanding adjustments needed. However, even though I attempted to cut to the outside edge of the lines to maintain the pieces full size, due to the fit-up shrinkage of this “top to bottom” pattern, the length of the Tusks had to be adjusted significantly. Shaping and fitting of the two Tusks took more time than almost all the other pieces, put together. I did add a 1/8” thick shim to elevate the head and trunk. I tapered the shim towards the bottom of the trunk. The backer is 1/8” thick BB Ply with edges painted Black. The assembly was protected with five coats of Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray with light sanding and buffing between coats. This will be shipped out early next week with a thankyou note from my Lady. Comments and critiques always welcome.

Nice work. Light Wood my choice!

Velly velly nice!

I don't think my Pegas Scroll saw can cut rock!!!! But I have seen someone hereon make stream rocks out of wood.

We need an "Ah Shucks " thank you reply button at the bottom for some of these toooooo nice comments!!!!

JFYI, If you use Inkscape to develope your SS Intarsia Pattern, I find the trace bitmap command does not work well to translate a SG pattern into a SS Intarsia Pattern. I find it just as east ro do a manual trace using the Pen Tool or the Pencil Tool with my Wacom pen/pad. The SG Lead lines are just too wide to use directly.

I obtained a ‘Limitless Lines Design’ Stained-Glass Pattern from Etsy that I thought would be easy to convert to a suitable Intarsia project pattern. The Heron is an almost a direct copy, but I modified the background significantly to work better in wood. In doing so, I messed up the perspective somewhat by lowering the land on the far side of the water. This was not obvious to me until the project was nearly complete. I’ll live with it as is, but I have already corrected the pattern, to be more in keeping with the original pattern, that I will share in Pattern Exchange. Woods used include Premium Pine, Blue Pine, Yellowheart, Cherry, Walnut, Aspen, Black Limba, and some 4/4” thick Sapele for the fixed Frame. The Cherry I used for the Water was too close in color to the Pink toned Pine I used for the Sky, so I enhanced the color with some Blue/Green dye. The Grey and Light-colored areas of the Blue Pine worked well for most of the Heron itself, but I had to darken a few areas using some very diluted Black dye. The Eye was painted with White and Black acrylic paint. Currently, my wood selection is limited, therefore so are my choices since I would have really preferred to use a different wood for the Sky. The approximate 80 pieces of this project was quite a challenge to cut and assemble. After all the pieces were cut, shaped, textured and sanded - knowing I was going to frame the panel - I first assembled the background, within a rectangular jig sized to the finish panel size, onto a 1/8” thick BB Ply Backer. The Blue Pine is only a scant 5/8” thick and I wanted the Heron to sit proud of the background, so I cut a 1/4“thick shim to fit the remaining area and then I fit the Heron into the area. The many small pieces of the Heron’s body proved impossible to assemble, one by one, into the open area. I was forced to use CA to edge-glue the pieces together and fit into the open area as one piece. Being very careful to fit the pieces together accurately, this worked out well. The 1” wide Sapele was rabbeted 1/4" to produce a 3/4" wide border Frame. The rails were mitered and cut accurately for a tight-neat fit around the glued-in panel. The completed Assembly was finished with multiple coats of rattle-can Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray with light sanding/buffing in between coats. Comments and critiques allways welcome.

Here is my light. I guess it is about 4 years old now as I got it when I got my Pegas saw. I can't even find a brand name on it. Has Chinese writing on it. The lamp does get in the way of the cut panel ocassionally. One reason I use spiral blades a lot - no spining th panel so it does not hit the light. It was around $40, if I remember correctly. Very much worth it, IMO.

Really good setup??? I'm sure there going to be a lot different "good setup" suggestion's. My setup is good, but not necessarily really good, for me. I use a typical 5X Mag light w/an LED ring light. However, I do supplement that light with a high intensity goose neck light that mounts to the side of the saw with a magnetic base. This light shines directly on the blade and creates a very visible shadow from where the blade intersects the pattern. This shadow helps me see the blade and follow the line more accurately. My 2 cents.

Love it!!!!!!! I was only 40 when my first grandson was born. When asked what should he call me, I said, I'm too young to be called Grandpa (I only sleep with a Grandma) so have him call me Grumps. It stuck and, ever since, I have been Grumps to my Kids, Grandkids, and even my Great Grandkid as soon as he can talk. I did a version of him a while back:

Well done!

It is available from Hobby Lobby.

Both very nice. Clear Kryon glitter blast works good to hold glitter in place and adds brilliants.

That image can be found on Pinterest. It is a simple B&W image that could be used directly as a pattern. Using Inkscape, it can be made into a line and fill pattern. There are a bunch of similar type images available.

Could have easily added a 1/4" thk black backer and some rubber bumoers for feet and it would have been a fine Trivet! But a wall haning works!

Dick, Unfortunately I don't know any specific instruction material, because I just dove in and experimented and practiced. AND, I'm still learning. I'm also fortunate that my son, who is a model car maker, uses an Air Brush and was able to give me some helpful hints. If you are one who likes video instruction, I know there is a lot of YOU TUBE vidios on the subject. Here are a few tips I can offer. There is a saying: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness". Well. I can't emphasize enough that keeping your AB pen/gun clean between and after use is the most important thing about using an air brush. For water base paints, hot water works well as well as AB Cleaners. A fine set of needle brushes is a must. Learning how to disassemble -clean-reassemble the pen/gun is also a must. And thre will come a time that you will need to replace the nozzle...count on it and maybe order one to have on hand when the pen/gun stops working altogether. For painting wood, I would stick with Acrylics. Cheap craft acrylics actually do work, but you get what you pay for. I have gone to buying Createx Acrylic AB Paints. They go a long way. For either, you will need use an acrylic reducer to thin out the paint to a milk like consistecy before spraying, or the pen/gun will clog up very quickly. I also use either a White (for light colors) or Black (for dark colors) sealer (primer) prior to applying the finished colors. An clear acrylic spray sealer csn also be used to seal pourous woods. Buy Opaque colors, not Transparent colors. Adjusting air pressure is a learning process. For large area coverage of one color, the pressure will be higher (20-30 psi). For shading and detail work you will only want very low pressure (5-7psi). And always, test spray to eliminate any 'spit' before shooting the actual work. The tricky part is learnig how to use the trigger, while moving the pen/gun, to start and stop paint spray...practice, practice and more practice. You realy need some sort of spray booth with a exhaust fan to create a negative pressure. Dry AB spray overspray dust will get on, and stick to, everything...very hard to clean up. I don't recommend spraying outdoors, so the spray environment is important to obtain quality work. Then there is color mixing. Start with using stock paint colors for like Xmas items...Red, Green, White, Gold, Blue, Yellow,etc. Then you will need to experiment with mixing colors to get pinks, mint greens, varios blues, tans, etc. There are color wheels and charts you can buy at hobby shops that give you mixing instructions. I have gone to using color concentrates that give me infinate choices, but I still don't always get the color I want. And remember, wet and dry colors will be different. Oh, and don't mix a lot or you will waste lot of paint. You will need a lot of very small plastic mixing cups and many of the small coffee stirrers. The use of masking tape and masks made from a pattern will also help with applying the spray in the correct place on the wood. Here is a web site for AB materials and parts you might want to look at: https://spraygunner.com/ Here is a pic of my painting station mess! The white flex duct goes to an inline exhaust fan and then to a dryer type vent on the outside wall. Hope this was helpful and not discouraging. Jump in and get started.

Don't have to be in Enlish to understand what is meant.

First let me say that, we...here on the East Coast of Central Florida..., weathered huricane Milton with all being OK. Never lost power, no damage other than a lot of rake-up branches and leaves from neighboring trees. Others here in Florida did not fare as well and I know a number of our SSV members may be amoung them. Our thoughts, prayers, and best wishes for a quick recovery, go out to all who may have been affected. Now to the post! This project was completed over the past week while waiting for Milton to arrive. I purchased a digital download (JPG) of a printable cartoon clipart wall décor of a Cute Turtle off ETSY. I imported the image into Inkscape and converted it into a scrollable segmentation 12” x 10” pattern. The conversion was mainly a manual trace. The Inkscape 'trace bitmap' command realy does not work well to produce this kind of pattern. This piece is also for my Lady’s soon-to-be Grandson. I used nominal 3/4" x 12” wide premium pine and cut the pattern with Pegas #1 MGT R blades. I used Intarsia techniques to shape the pieces and after painting, the pieces were mounted on a 1/8” thick BB ply backer with the edges painted black. Painting was done using my Air Brush with Artist Acrylic Air brush paints with some detail brush work. I’m still not able to do very fine detailing with the Air Brush. The painted and assembled piece was protected with multiple coats of a Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray. Comments and critiques are always welcome.

Nicely done!

A week ago, we were at a Dinner Dance with a few friends. The conversation at the table turned from my history as a Dance Instructor in the past to my current work as a Scroll Saw Artist. My lady likes to have me show off my work, so of course, I had to take out my phone and show pictures of my work. A gentleman was looking through the group of pictures and came across a photo of a Hummingbird hovering over flowers that I had made way back in 2020. He liked it so much he wanted to buy it right there and then. I had to tell him I was sorry, but that it had been sold a long time ago. I never make a cutting exactly the same twice…that is why I do not stack cut. And, since I will be seeing him again next Saturday at an Art and Music Festival that we are setting up a booth at, I decided that I would revisit the pattern and make a new version that he might care to purchase. The basic pattern remained the same, but I changed the panel size to 11” x 17” that enlarged the image somewhat, changed the colors a little, and mounted the assembled panel in a Floating Gallery type frame instead of my standard 1 3/4” wide rail frame. The rather simple cutting was done in under two hours using a Pegas #0 Spiral blade. I used my Air Brush to prime the backer with an acrylic sealer and then added the various Air Brush Artist Acrylic colors. The assembled panel was protected with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray. The Frame is 1” wide Poplar rails, primed, and painted Black. I do have to pat myself on the back just a little. I think you will agree, that when you compare the attached 2024 photo to the photo of the original from 2020, there is a some improvement in the quality of my work. 2024 2020 Comments and critiques always welcome.

Nothing fancy, just Orangy/Yellow Acrylic paint.

My lady had found an Image of an embroidery Blue Dragon a while ago that she really liked and had asked me several times in the past if I could make a cutting from it. The image was not suitable to make a fret type pattern previously, but I felt I was now able to make a segmented pattern that would work. However, the resulting pattern I developed is made up of a LOT of very small pieces that was a PITA to re-assemble. I use a piece of clear knot free ¾” x 10” Premium Pine to cut the pattern from using Pegas #1 MGT R blades. The Piece is approximatele 8" x 10" and again, Intarsia techniques were used to sculpture the work. This project was also an experiment using water-based color dye to color the wood the blue and black needed. Dying the wood is easy but very sloppy and took forever to dry. The White highlights were done with diluted acrylic paint that when applied immediately dissolved the blue turning the White to a light Blue. The water-based dye also raised the grain that was hard to deal with because the pieces were so small. In the photo this looks like dust but it is the light reflecting off the textured surface. The backer is 1/8” thick BB ply with edges painted Black. The assembled piece was protected with multiple coats of Clear Gloss Acrylic Finish spray. My lady is happy (and you know what that means) with it and it will be hung in our home. Comments and critiques always welcome.

Really well done! Beautiful! How about filling the box with clear light blue resin to simulate the Koi and stones being underwater . Intereresting thought but not really suggesting anything, just an image i see in my mind. Quick question. What is the inside depth of the box?