This cross will be fragile after it's cut. I wanted the letters to be open and that will make it pretty easy to break. If you decide to cut this pattern you will need to use extra care. I would not attempt to use an open grain wood like Red Oak. A better choice might be 1/2 inch Baltic birch ply. To add strength to the final piece you could mount it to a backer board.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Jesus Cross
Shark Clock by Sridhar Shankar.
One of the goals I had over three years ago when I started this blog was to help scrollers see how much fun it is to design their own patterns. I know for a fact that I have helped many people get started doing just that. Every once in a while one of my readers will share a pattern they designed with me and let me post it. This Shark clock is from Sridhar Shankar.
Sridhars eight year old son wanted him to make a shark clock. He had followed what I do for a while and knew he could do the same thing. Now his son has his clock and his dad had the fun of making a project from scratch.
Sridhar allowed me to modify the pattern just a little to make it easier to cut. His original design is below. Thanks Sridhar.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
The Moonshiner
Monday, March 28, 2011
Rugbuddies by John Lewman of Toymaker Press.
The other day when I posted the free pattern book from Toymaker Press the downloads went through the roof. I can't always tell which pattens will get a lot of downloads but that one was a no brainer. What could be more fun than making toys?
I have another set of toy patterns from Cynthia and John. These are called Rugbuddies and are exclusively for my readers. When you open this pattern book you will be introduced to Drew Birdymore, John Candypig, Shark Sinatra and their friends. The creativity here is through the roof.
These toys can be made from standard construction grade 2 x 4's. The wheels and axles can be purchased from several places online if you don't have a local source. Wildwood Designs has a good selection.
If I believe in the Easter bunny I get candy right?
Okay I know this will be tough to cut but I thought it was cute so here it is if you dare.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Easter Egg Makers.
The Easter bunnies are busy making Easter eggs.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Wonderful gift from Toymaker Press. John Lewman.
Hi guys John of Toymaker Press was kind enough to design a special Easter pattern just for us. This pattern is available exclusively to the readers here at the Scrollsaw Workshop. This pattern is distributed free of restrictions. You can make as many as you like and sell the finished projects. Great pattern John. Thanks.
This is probably a good time to talk about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement act. The CPSIA was passed into law by former President Bush on August 14th 2008. The law imposes new testing and documentation requirement for several consumer products including toys. It is a broad law that can make it tough for small business to continue to make products for children. The testing mandates can be expensive.
The law is controversial because it was brought about because of the Chinese imports that contained lead in the paint. Many believe that our law makers over reacted to the problem and passed a law that penalized American companies that were not part of the problem. The law is directed at anyone who manufactures these products.
If you are a single mother trying to make a little extra money making baby items to sell on Etsy.com you need to know about the CPSIA. If you are a part time woodworker making toys to sell at the local flea market you need to know about the CPSIA. The law is so broad that it covers all manufactures large and small.
The following link is a guide for small business and crafters to help understand the law.
Small Business Guild for the CPSIA
Friday, March 25, 2011
Missed Opportunities.
8 X 10 Missed Opportunities portrait.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Lighthouse Scroll Saw Pattern.
I am very excited to announce that the good people over at Toymaker Press will be sponsoring some of the monthly giveaways for me here at the Scrollsaw Workshop. They have an incredible set of nostalgic wooden toy pattern books. John and Cynthia have both made me excited about their products and service.
Guys this is a neat story. Toymaker Press is a small company run by two very talented and dedicated individuals. They bring a mix of skills that compliment their goal of marketing great pattern books. There is nothing wrong with buying from big corporations but it's so much more fun to support small, home town folks that have the same passion we do. Visit their web site or give them a call at 1-888-962-4714. Tell them you appreciate their support of your favorite blog. :) While your at it buy one of their patterns.
Make sure you continue to get your daily entries in for the monthly drawing. I'm not sure which of their books we will be offering for this month but they are all great so don't miss out on a chance to win. Just visit the blog and find the yellow scroll saw. Click the saw and you will be taken to the entry form. One entry a day.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
2011 Graduation Plaques.
Here are a couple patterns for this years upcoming graduations.
For everyone that is waiting for a reply to an email I am once again way behind. I will get to as many as I can so please be patient with me.
Monday, March 21, 2011
I Love You This Much.
Okay guys it's time to get out of the dog house. Make this little heart to tell her exactly how much you love her.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
United States Coast Guard Veteran Plaque.
Guys it took all the effort I could muster to finish this series of military plaque patterns tonight. I received an email today that has made my heart so heavy with sorrow even the simplest tasks have been tough. A few days ago after I posted the first pattern in this series I received an email from the wife of a Vietnam veteran and the mother of a young soldier serving in Afghanistan.
She was thanking me for the pattern and was getting ready to make 21 of the Army plaques. She would be sending one to her son and all the members of his unit. It was one of those emails that makes me keep doing this blog and making patterns. I was so proud that she would be sending one of my designs to her son. I emailed her back asking if she would be so kind to ask her son to send a picture of the unit with the plaques. I wanted to hang it on my wall.
Here is the return email I received today.
"My son was killed Wednesday. I can't do anything for now."
I don't know the family or their fallen hero but those eleven words tore my heart out. It took me a couple hours to be able to be able to find the words to express my sympathy and return the email.
Pleas keep this family in your thoughts and prayers as they grieve for their son.
Toymakerpress.com review.
This is a video review of toymakerpress.com. Cynthia and John Lewman are the owners of this wonderful website. They produce patterns for creative wooden toys. Take a look at the video then do yourself a favor and visit their site.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
United States Air Force Veteran.
Here is the Air Force veteran pattern. One more to do. I will have the US Coast Guard finished tomorrow and that will complete the five branches of military plaques.
I'm getting a lot of positive feed back on these patterns. One mother is cutting 21 of the Army plaques to send to her son and his unit in Afghanistan. One veteran is making a plaque combining all the patterns to present to his local veteran center. Several are making them for family members and friends. A few are adding them to their catalog of projects to sell.
All of you know the fun of giving a project to some one. When you can tell they like it. It feels good and you get as much from the gift as the receiver. That is what this series of patterns is like for me. I make a lot of patterns. Some are good and some are not so good. I check the number of downloads every night to see what you guys like. When I put out a crappy pattern I can tell by the end of the day because there are only a few hundred downloads.
I did not have to look at the numbers for these patterns because my email doubled. Tonight I finally decided to look at the download numbers and the Army Veteran pattern had over 3000 downloads. Even if only half of the people end up cutting the pattern that's 1500 vets that someone is saying thank you to. That makes me happy.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
United States Navy Veteran.
This is the third in the series of US military service veteran plaques. Sorry about the download problems for the Marine pattern from yesterday. The link is now working. You can go back and get that one if you wanted it.
I want to thank all the vets who have written me in the last couple days in response to my comment and the patterns. Many of you told me your story of coming home from Vietnam. I won't get a chance to return all the email but I am reading every one. I am old enough to remember the end of the war. I was about 16. They were not good times for many of the men and women to come home to.
In many ways it was the beginning of a new era in American history. The media was becoming a watch dog of the government. The way the American people saw the war on television had changed forever. For the first time we saw the good, the bad and the ugly all in nearly real time. Patriotism had taken a beating and we had lost our confidence in the government.
What amazes me is that in all the email I received from the vets there was no bitterness in their words. As a whole these men and women were every bit the returning hero as the vets that returned from WWII. They went and did the job they were asked to do. If you read the history you will find that they did their job remarkably well. They were not given credit for that because they did what they did with one hand behind their back.
We still see the results from what the government learned about media coverage in Vietnam. Look at how sanitized the coverage in Afghanistan and Iraq is today. I'm not saying it's wrong or right but it's clearly censored as much as possible.
WWII ended up with parades and kissing in the streets. There was a clear end to the war and even more a clear winner. It's never been that clear since then and probably never will be again. What should be clear is that every one of our Veterans deserve at the absolute minimum a thank you.
I know this is a scroll saw site so I will get off the soap box now. This just happens to be a subject that I am passionate about. I will catch some heat for this post, I always do from people who differ with my opinions. That's fine and I will read those emails also.
Here is the link to yesterdays Marine Plaque if you want to download it also
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
United States Marine Veteran Plaque.
Here is one for the Marine veterans.
Monday, March 14, 2011
United States Army Veteran Plaque
This Army Veteran plaque is over 7 inches in diameter. You can display it as presented here or mount it to a backer board.
One of the most important things a man or woman can do in their life is serve their country. We owe all of these folks more than we can express in words. Last week I was talking to one of my customers at work. Somehow we got onto the topic of fighter planes and that led to him mention that he was a Vietnam vet. I made the casual comment that I appreciated his service to our country and thanked him. What he said next caused me to be speechless (No easy thing to do to me.) He told me that it was the first time since he came back that anyone had personally thanked him for what he did over there.
We moved on to other conversation but I could not get what he said out of my head. I just kept wondering how many other men and women have come home and not heard those words spoken directly to their face.
Obviously that is what I was thinking about tonight when I sat down to design a pattern. Hopefully you can use this pattern to tell a veteran thanks. Maybe they are waiting to hear those words for the first time also.
Scrollsaw Worskhop Screen Saver.
If you would like to show your support for the Scrollsaw Workshop please download and install the computer screen saver. You can watch the video above to see what it will look like.
I am thinking about designing custom screen savers for scrollers. They would include a scroll saw graphic and your name for $4. What do you think? Anyone interested? It would look like the graphic below. For a little extra I could include the custom pattern to cut also. Not sure the graphic will animate in the email newsletter so you may have to watch it on the blog.
Custom Screen Saver