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I've done several scroll saw portraits for family and friends as gifts, and naturally the reactions are positive due to the circumstances. This was a commission, so I was a bit out of my comfort zone for obvious reasons.

The person sent me pictures of his grand-daughters which I created a pattern for using a variety of graphics programs. I'm always looking for the best method to achieve the results I need and every time I do one of these I discover another way.

I used Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and even some effects they now have in Microsoft Power Point. I finally got what I wanted after about 5-6 hours of trial and error. The challenging part, for those who have done this is to avoid the pattern having you cut out little islands of wood , or floaters, which will separate from the pattern.

Now the fun cutting the pattern. I used a stack of two 1/8 inch Baltic birch plywood taped together with blue painters tape which makes the removal of the patter easy, without glue residue - very important for not damaging the very delicate parts.

After finishing the cutting and cleaning up the loose wood fibers, I glued the wood to a black matte board from a framing store.
One thing to mention was that I found some excellent blades that I found really helped my control of the cutting.
These were the Pegas 2/0 modified geometry blades made in Switzerland. Some people use spiral blades but I am not comfortable with those.
The final sixe was 10×8 inches
Overall I was pleased with the result, Hopefully the guy I did it for will be as well
Thanks for watching

Gallery

Comments

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732 Posts
Not very easy to make, even once you have the pattern ready. Nicely done Bob. Hope your customer loves it.
 

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434 Posts
Bob, this is an exercise in patience. Nice work. Commissions are tricky.
 

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very, very nice ! it looks close enough to be a negative of the photo - outstanding
 

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Wonderful work. I am sure the customer will love it.
 

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5,279 Posts
Well done. I am sure you will have a happy customer.
Have you ever considered using two colors stacked? Then the "islands" aren't a problem and creating the pattern becomes a lot easier. It is a marquetry technique but can be done just as well in thicker wood.
Just a suggestion, your work is great as is.

Example: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/182514
 

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3,704 Posts
This is a lot like what I used to have to do with glass etch, only harder. GREAT job.
 

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122 Posts
Pretty successful project. You have done great job with small details - not to broke them. Especialy letters on gril's T-shirt on right side.
 

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585 Posts
Great work.

Only scrollers really know how difficult that was!
 

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520 Posts
Being a scroller and not able to figure out the pattern making side, got to say you did a top notch job on both, pattern and cutting. I know of no way to improve on that. Your customer will be very happy indeed. Get ready for more work.

Have you tried Gimp for pattern making. I can't figure it out but I know a lot of pattern makers use it for pictures and Inkscape for words. Both free software.
 

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I would have to say this is a success.
well done.
 

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Thanks to everyone for the great comments and compliments. Amazing! Its great to be a Lumberjock
 

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Really nice job, just too bad the picture wasn't of them happy and smiling.
 

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I'm going to be lazy and just say I agree with all of the above comments! Nice job
 
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