Scroll Saw Blog

In a previous post I mentioned cutting out some small butterflies for jewelry.  I finally got around to getting a picture of the little bugs. They’re clustered around a 1-2-3 block for scale (1-2-3 blocks are 1″ x 2″ x 3″). I made one into a necklace for Jenny, which she’s been test-wearing a couple [...]

[Read more →]

Since the initial reception for the small butterfly jewelry was good, I’ve been making some more patterns.  Here’s a picture of three more of the little bugs. One of the readers here, Fran, suggested a pin using the rare-earth magnets.  In addition to barrettes and pendants/necklaces, a “pin” sounds like another good application for the [...]

[Read more →]

Per a request I’ve been cutting out some smaller butterflies. These will go mostly into the wood jewelry as barrettes or possibly as a pendant for a necklace. They are around 2-3″ wide, and have flat instead of angled wings.
One of the butterflies has a body with some fretwork. There would be more, but #61 [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve had some folks as for smaller butterflies as magnets/barrettes/etc.  The patterns I have don’t scale real well, as the fretwork gets too small and too fragile.  So I had to draw up one from scratch.  Actually, this was take from a clip-art from Dover, so I can’t give out the pattern.
It was cut from [...]

[Read more →]

I finally got around today to putting all the butterflies together.  From the leftovers from last year and the new ones cut last week I ended up with around 27 new butterflies. Just a quick picture to show them all drying after the oil bath.  Just put on the magnets tonight, and will take them [...]

[Read more →]

Lately I’ve been cutting butterfly wings from 1/8″ wood stacked 6 high.  This gives enough wings for 3 butterflies per pattern. By cutting out 3 at a time, I’m able to keep the labour costs down while still being able to make a profit.
Today I tried adding a couple of layers to the stack. I [...]

[Read more →]

I may have mentioned earlier that I had an order for some butterflies from somebody who has purchased several before.  The first attempt at the zebra swallowtail had some minor problems, so I modified the pattern and gave it a second attempt.  It’s pictured below.  I plan on throwing one of them in with the [...]

[Read more →]

This time, a Zebra Swallowtail.  Being under the weather and away from the scrollsaw, I’m concentrating on things I can do on the computer.  This is another draft pattern; i.e., I haven’t actually cut it out yet.  If I can get out in the shop, I plan on grabbing some 1/8″ scrap for this one [...]

[Read more →]

I’m currently separated from the EX-21, so I’m doing some other tasks. One is to draw another butterfly pattern. I’ve got the pattern “finished”, but for obvious reasons (see two sentences back ) I haven’t cut it out yet to verify it. Since the scrollsaw blog has been rather quiet, I figured I’d [...]

[Read more →]

Mahogany is a very nice wood on the scrollsaw. It likes to sit flat, and cuts smooth.  I took the remaining piece of the mahogany short I cut last week and resawed it into 1/8″ thick pieces.  One advantage of non-surfaced lumber is you can get more for your wood dollar. Rough is cheaper than [...]

[Read more →]