My Journey As A Scroll Saw Pattern Designer #571: Better Late Than Never

The site was down earlier today and I was unable to post my blog. I did write it before I headed out to the gym and this is the first time that I was able to post. (To those of you who wrote – thanks for missing me! :D)

I had a great start to the new year yesterday. I spent much of the day at the scroll saw, cutting out my new designs. What I have drawn up is a set of Valentine Conversation Heart ornaments that can be used in many different ways. I love cutting letters, and it was fun to make the different little sayings on each ornament. Since the letters are cut as ‘negatives’ (the letters are removed from the pieces) they are a bit easier to do. Every once in a while, I did get lucky and the waste from the letter came out ‘whole.’ While this isn’t at all necessary, it is fun when it happens and it shows you just how strong the maple that I was working with is.

In order to make the ornaments look more interesting, I chose to bevel cut them so that the center of each heart is slightly pushed back. I did this by drilling a small entry hole and tilting my scroll saw several degrees to the outside of the piece, which allowed the center to slide back just a bit. This is the same method that I use on my candle trays to make the edges of the tray raise up a bit from the table. Overall, I think it gives an interesting effect and makes the pieces look much nicer.

I stack cut these ornaments for a couple of reasons. The first was because the outer design is identical on all of them and it would help things move along a bit faster. The second was because I prefer cutting at least two layers deep when cutting thin wood such as this (the ornaments are about 1/8” each) and it gives me more control of the tiny blade and stability. I used 1/8” birch ply for one layer and 1/8” maple for the other. I plan on staining the plywood ornaments and leaving the maple ones natural. Of course, I separated the pieces before I cut the bevel on them.
I got about half of the ornaments finished and plan on cutting the other half today. I am keeping this short, because there are some problems with the Lumberjocks site today and I am having trouble posting here. I will have some additional pictures for you tomorrow.

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Have fun and play safe!

-- Contributing Editor, Creative Woodworks and Crafts, Sheila Landry Designs http://www.sheilalandrydesigns.com "Knowledge is Power"