Sunday, September 15, 2019

Sea Turtle Layered Art Scroll Saw Pattern.



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This layered sea turtle art project is 10" X 8". There are four layers of 1/4" thick Baltic birch plywood. I have done a few layered patterns and I always enjoy the way they look. They are also fun to cut. I hope you enjoy them also.

A friend of mine(Doug Green) has a YouTube channel where he does CorelDraw tutorials. I use CorelDraw for all my pattern design so I follow Doug and we share ideas about the program. Doug primarily focuses his tutorials on the laser cutter community but that is so similar to the scroll saw that it is a good resource.

Doug recently did a layers sea turtle pattern as a tutorial and shared his files. He did a great job but I did not want to copy his patterns so I started from scratch last night and designed this four-layer scene. I did steal the concept but the pattern was drawn by me. Doug actually took the idea from another artist so the beat goes on.

A word of caution. A few of the interior cuts are small. I made sure that a 1/16" drill bit would fit in all the interior cuts but some of them are close. I used a micro drill bit in my scrollers drill. If you have a set of micro bits they will come in handy here.

The total cut time for the project was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Once you get the top layer cut the rest goes very fast. The top layer has just over 100 interior cuts. The top layer took 90% of the cut time. I used a Pegas #3 modified geometry blade. Any #3 scroll reverse blade will work fine. Just remember that plywood dulls blades quickly. I only used one blade for the entire cut but it was really dull by the time I finished.

If you would like to make the pattern larger and easier to cut then remember that you can use the "poster print" function in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to print the patter at any scale. If you do not use Adobe Acrobat Reader DC as your default PDF viewer then you may not have this option. 

The image below shows the top layer of the pattern being printed at 150% using the "Poster Print" function from the print dialog.

Click to Enlarge


Sea turtles are amazing animals. They typically live 30 to 50 years but there have been documented cases of these animals living 150 years. I would say that is a pretty good argument for slowing down and taking long swims in the ocean. 


If you need Baltic birch plywood you can get it on Amazon in 12" X 12" sheets. See the ad at the bottom of this post. If you can find it locally you can often get about half this price. It will come in full 60" X 60" sheets from the lumber yards so you will need a truck to get it to your shop. Amazon is convenient but that convenience comes at a price.


$12 per sheet of 12 coins plus $3.50 shipping
Inlay with a 1" Forstner Bit.
The perfect way to sign your work.

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Products for your consideration:


Every Scrollsaw Workshop Pattern from 2007-2018 in DVD


Purchase the entire Scrollsaw Workshop pattern catalog for offline access.

This DVD has over 2,600 patterns published from 2007 thru 2018.
The DVD is $20 plus shipping. Ships to 60 countries around the world.
If you use the DVD on a Windows PC there is a simple viewer program to browse through the patterns.

The DVD also works fine on a MAC. The viewer program is not MAC compatible but there is an included PDF with all the patterns shown as thumbnails for easy viewing.

Now Available on USB Thumb Drive

Don't have a DVD drive on your new computer. No problem. Buy the catalog on a USB thumb drive.
All the same file but on an easy to use a thumb drive. The USB thumb drive option is $23 plus shipping.


Scroll Saw Pattern Design Tutorial: DVD
Let me teach you to create a beautiful wooden portrait pattern. I will show you everything you need from start to finish. The video will show you the free software program you can download for Windows or Mac OS. I will show you how to install the program and configure it for best results. 
Then I will show you the technique to take your photograph and make a pattern from it. When the pattern is complete we will go in the shop and cut it.
The DVD is $10 plus shippingThis is a data DVD that you will use on your computer to watch the video tutorial  


Unique Wooden Vases:
Want to create beautiful wooden vases on the scroll saw?
My two "Wooden Vases on the Scroll Saw" books make it easy.

The books are $12 each and available for instant download after purchase. Click for Video Demonstration.


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