I will be teaching a class today. The students will all be in their first or second class. None of them had ever used a scroll saw before. None of them even own a saw yet. In the first class we mostly went through warm-up exercises so I wanted to do a complete project this class.
I though I would share the pattern I will be using in the class with all of you. While this pattern looks easy it actually has a couple of challenging areas. I want to challenge the students early but not so much as to make them overly frustrated. They will probably feel some frustration with this pattern. I want them to say "I think I can do that better the next time." That will mean that they don't feel defeated.
The area of this pattern that will give the most challenge is the egg. An egg has a very recognizable shape. Your eye will pick up on any imperfections of it's shape quickly. If you make a mistake on the rabbit it will not be nearly as obvious.
The next most challenging area of this pattern is the eye of the bunny. Cutting small circles is more difficult than cutting large circles for most new scrollers. They will tend to over shoot the curve because they don't turn the wood blank fast enough to keep up with the cut of the blade.
Almost every cut in this pattern is a curve. I intentionally designed the pattern with few straight lines. We will add that challenge in the next project.
I though I would share my thought process of why I am using this pattern to teach. There is no perfect method because everyone learns at a different rate. My main hope is that they have fun with the process and understand that every time they cut they will get better.
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January's 2WAYS2WIN contest had great participation so Stephen at Bear Woods and I want to do it again.
WAY2WIN #1: Click the link above and enter the giveaway. That simple. Enter everyday.
WAY2WIN #2: Post up to three photos of your wooden trains, planes or automobiles on the Bear Woods Facebook page.