Seashell and seahorse for the beach house

[dennis thompson]

Here are a couple of projects I made on my scrollsaw. They are about 8” x 8” ( as some of you know I don’t make anything larger than 18” :)
I don’t know why they are sideways:confused:
459956459957

[Jim Becker]

Those are really lovely, Dennis. Please describe your technique for making them!

[Phil Mueller]

Beautiful work, Dennis. I definitely cannot show this to the LOML. If I did, I’d be buying a scrollsaw and putting in hours of practice!

[dennis thompson]

Those are really lovely, Dennis. Please describe your technique for making them!

Jim
Thanks for the compliment.
I don't know how much detail you want but here's my process, learned, mostly, through trial and error (lottsa errors)
-obtain a pattern, (this one I bought from Sheila Landry, Steve Good has a lot of excellent free patterns))
-download the pattern and copy it onto Pro office full sheet adhesive shipping label paper
-prepare the wood, I used 1/2" maple for these
-cover the wood with Duck easy liner
-peel the backing off the pattern and attach the pattern on top of the Duck easy liner, the Duck easy liner put on first allows me to easily peel off the easy liner and pattern at the same time when I'm done. If you glue the pattern directly onto the wood it can be very difficult to get it off and on fragile pieces you can actually break a piece as you remove the pattern.
-drill 3/64" or 1/16" holes (about 103 for the seahorse and frame) into the areas to be removed. The drill size is determined by the size of the opening you want to remove. 3/64 is about as small as I can work with.
-thread the scroll saw blade through each hole and cut out the outlined openings, as I said there are about 103 of them so this takes a while
-make a backer plate to mount the frame and seahorse on, sometimes I'll just use a dark wood for the backer,( walnut, mahogany), in this case I used 1/8" plywood painted baby blue.
-glue frame and the seahorse to the backer plate and I'm done
I didn't put any finish on them, although in the past I have sprayed lacquer some items I've made.
Hope that's clear enough

I've gone through 4 scroll saws, started with Craftsman, upgraded to Ridgid, upgraded to Dewalt and now Pegas, which is the last one I'll buy, it's an excellent machine.
As an aside there are a million different scroll saw blades available and I have many of them, I'm still trying to figure out which I like best. As you know saw blade discussions and analysis can, and do, go on forever:)

[Frederick Skelly]

Very nice Dennis. I like the "depth" (1/2" thick rather than thinner) and of course, the blue background. Perfect for a beach house!

[David Lageman]

Dennis, those are beautiful...great work.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks for the details, Dennis. I felt that folks viewing would appreciate knowing how you made these beautiful art pieces.

[andy bessette]

Really lovely work.

[Ron Citerone]

Real art on display there. Cool.