Scroll saw baskets are always well received as gifts and they can sell pretty well at craft shows. To make this five inch basket I used under one board foot of lumber at a cost of less than $4. It took me 37 minutes to cut and another 20 minutes to sand, assemble and finish. Those numbers leave enough room to make a decent profit. I have seen scroll saw baskets sell in high end art boutiques for $50+. This pattern is fairly simple and does not have a handle so I would price this basket at around $30.
Projects that have the dual purpose of being art and still useful have an advantage when they are marketed. This basket looks nice when cut from hardwoods and is big enough to hold small items like wrapped hard candy. I would display this in a craft show with that in mind and fill it with candy.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I heard for Steve in Australia today. They made it through the Cyclone okay. The storm was on a direct path to them and at the last minute veered south missing a city of over 150,000 with winds of over 150 kilometers per hour. Unfortunately it hit a small town to the south with great devastation. It destroyed or badly damaged most of the buildings. The good news is that by some miracle no one was killed or even seriously hurt.
