Scroll Saw Village

There is a great article by Toni Burghout in the latest issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts (Spring 2008) about dollar store finds. She found great items that can be used for your scroll saw projects. From salvaged clock parts, to clipboard blanks. So I thought I’d drop by my local dollar store to see what I can find. You wouldn’t think it, but what a great resource of supplies! Not only can you find items to use in your projects, you can find a multitude of products to help you make your projects.

Here are a few items that caught my eye:

Foam Makeup Applicators – These those wedge shaped foam applicators that would work great for applying stains. Just toss them when you are done!
Foam Brushes – I use these to apply BLO to my projects. I just toss it when I’m done.
Craft Knives – I found both the Xacto style of craft knife, as well as the retractable craft knives where you break the tip off to get a new cutting surface.
Roasting Pans – I use these as dipping trays for my projects. It hurts my feelings to pay $2-3 for a roasting pan at the grocery store. $1 seems much more reasonable.
Baster – Never thought of it, but I could use a regular turkey baster to ‘baste’ my projects in BLO.
Sand Paper – I found a lot of sandpaper. No need to pay premium prices for those.
Super Glue – Super Glue is a savior when you spend hours working on a fret piece, only to have one of the fragile areas break. Super Glue fixes it without anybody being the wiser.
Dust Masks - Safety is cheap. Medical bills are expensive. Kinda a no-brainer, huh?
Table Cloths – I’m a bit messy. So these make great drop cloths.
Popsicle Sticks – Great for mixing up small amounts of epoxy, or glue some sandpaper to sharpened Popsicle sticks. They make great sanding tools.
Plastic Cups – Great for mixing paints, stains, or whatever. Toss ‘em when you’re done!
Plastic Plates – Great paint mixing palate.
Emory Boards – Another great detail sanding tool.

This is just a few of the items I found. There’s so much more potential. So check out your favorite dollar store and see what you can find. I bet you’d be surprised. I’d love to hear your dollar store goodies. Post your finds in the comments section of this post. It would be fun to see what others have found.

Finding a hardwood dealer can be tough. Where I live, the one and only hardwood dealer doesn’t even advertise in the yellow pages! I had to ask around before finding somebody who knows where I could buy hardwood.

Well, to make things a little simpler, I found a great website. Wood Finder will locate the nearest hardwood dealer to your home. Looking for an exotic hardwood that only grows in a 4 foot area of South America? Well, they’ll find that too. So next time you need a little lumber for your next project, and rather not spend more on shipping than on the lumber; or you need to locate that super exotic wood from South America, check out this great search engine. Wood Finder will certainly help you on your quest.

Andy Deane of 80 Art Designs has a number of great patterns available for sale. He has wildlife, famous faces, and provincial silhouettes. But my favorite is his car portraits. He has hot rods to beat up ol’ farm trucks. Check them out. Any one of these would make a great gift for that car lover in your life.

Communities are a great way to meet people who share the same interest. They offer support, advice, tips and encouragement. My favorite online community is hosted by Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine. What a great group of people. You won’t find much for free patterns, but you will find a wealth of information and camaraderie. If you have any question regarding scroll sawing, this group has your answer.

The forum is set up into categories. They have the General Scroll Saw section to talk about anything related to scroll sawing. New scrollers should check out Beginner’s Scroll Saw. If you have a question regarding a specific kind of scroll saw related issue, they have special sections for those too. The Bragging Section is fun to browse other’s latest works and get a little inspiration. One really neat area that they just added is Works In Progress. Here you’ll find photos and comments on projects as the artist works their way to completion.

The message boards are free to browse and read. Membership is required to post messages. However, membership is free and instantaneous. Just a note. New member’s messages are moderated before they become visible to the public. They do this to avoid abuse and spam. Messages are approved rather quickly, though. And it only takes a few posts before the moderators lift the moderation function from your account.

So check out this great community. Don’t be afraid to post your questions, no matter how dumb you think your question is. Everybody there is super friendly and eager to help. See you on the boards!

By Jerry Mifflin

Our challenge as Crafter’s and intarsia artists is to discover our markets. You need to know your market, who is your customer? Are you selling a product to local or global customers.

If you’re selling to local customers say out of a storefront, you must know if you are in the right market and selling at the right price for this local customer. If you’re not showing the right product to the right customer base, chances are they’re won’t be any sales are at least very few.

It only makes sense that If your selling a product that is not of use to the customer and its not something that they see they want or need, you had better find either different markets or a different product to sell from your store.

I use to have a shop that sold simple crafts like little animal yard and driveway signs. I sold lots of country style decorative items for the interiors of their homes. These items sold well because I was living in a rural area where my customers had big yards and long driveways.

These people loved the country style of decorating. They loved the crafts I was making for them. I even had other crafters producing items for me to sell for them. I was producing and selling to my market base.

If I was trying to sell the country style signs or plaques where I’m living now, in the city, I would not do so well. For my customer base is not the same. Their yards are different, their driveway is short and their interior decorating may not be the same kind of “country style.” So for this new customer base you have to change your product line.

Does your product fit into the decorating scheme of most of your customers, if not very few are going to buy. You must be certain that your craft fits with your prospects or your business will fail. You must take the time to study this. Find the proper market place.

Crafts people are used in having friends and loved ones telling them how cool and how beautiful there craft is, this is encouraging. The problem is that it’s not realistic. You need to get input and about your product from a source that will give you a helpful honest response about your product.

When your customers come into your shop and say how much they like what you’re doing but walk out without buying anything you have to ask yourself, what’s wrong?

Are you in the right market for the craft you sell?

If your craft fits your customer, how is your price? The price you sell your product for may need to be adjusted up or down.

For the price setting you need to look at your competition. At what price are they selling a comparable product. Ask yourself can I make a profit selling my product at that price. Can I sell my product and get a higher price? What can I do to make my product worth more money?

I now sell art, “intarsia woodworking art” that is higher priced, which means for the customer to let go of the money, she will have to really love your product.

Crafts, can be a tough market. I am a cabinetmaker, caught up in the world of art. I love to add artistic designs to cabinet doors to make them stand out from what other people build. The cabinets add atmosphere to a room by giving the room character and there by adding value.

I have managed to sell a lot of my work over the years. My prices are usually from about $200 to $15,000 depending on the work involved. As I said before, some time ago I had a craft shop in a small town. I built every wood craft I could think of to build and it was fun, but not really much money.

The money only comes after you learn the business end of the craft market. As a cabinetmaker I have learned the hard way that you must get paid for the hours that you work, even when you love the work.

How much should I charge for my work?

It’s basically the same for most businesses, how much do you want to pay yourself per hour. Just add to that a percentage for overhead plus a percentage for profit and add material cost. That gives you a charging rate for all of your products. You must add the profit, that gives you the money to grow, like buying more tools. My charging rate depends on if it’s commercial or residential, $45-$85 per hour depending on how custom the work is. In my old “craft shop” my charging rate, at that time, was $35 hour, the price fit the product and the overhead.

If you can sell your craft as “ART” it will increase the amount you can charge for your product. Perceived value! Do you have awards! Do you have newspaper and magazine articles about you! Do you have references? Have you developed a recognizable name for your market? If not, you need to work towards these things. All of this adds to the perceived value of your craft.

Intarsia woodworking is my craft, my art. It’s the work I look forward to doing. Find the craft you love to make, find the correct customer base, set a reasonable price for your work and your on your way to a successful satisfying life.

It’s time for more free patterns! David Sudekum has created a bunch of patterns he has made available to anybody who wants them. They are hosted by MyPhotoAlbum. Each picture should give you an option to view the full size image. You can also click the download button to instantly download the pattern to your desktop! They are presented in JPG format for easy scaling. I know I found a few that I’ve added to my ever expanding queue. And while you are there, check out the gallery of his work. He has some really nice pieces that should serve for good inspiration.

You already read through Andy Deane’s tutorial about making patterns with Paint Shop Pro. But what about us Photoshop users? Well he hasn’t left you out. He has provided a great tutorial on how to create scroll saw patterns with Photoshop too! Each step is clearly written with accompanying illustrations. Armed with this info, it won’t be long before you’re a pattern-making machine! Check out his great tutorial. And while you are at it, take a look at his main page where you’ll find galleries and some really great patterns he has available for sale!

Are you tired of cutting other people’s patterns? Want to make your own? Andy Deane of 80 Art Designs has created a great tutorial about creating scroll saw patterns with Paint Shop Pro. The 7 page tutorial takes you step by step through the entire process. He has also included a practice photo so you can follow along. The instructions are clearly written and he explains everything in detail. He has also included screen shots and illustrations as he works. It is very well done and worth a look. Check it out.

While you are there visit his main page where you’ll find his gallery and patterns he has available for sale. Very cool.

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we need a project for that special someone in our lives. Sue Mey of Scroll Saw Artist came through for us and created this great heart plaque. It is free to download and presented in JPG format for easy scaling. While you are there, check out her other Valentine’s day designs she has available for sale.

We’ve all seen them at craft shows. Those really cool wooden models of old cars, big semi trucks, and dirt moving tractors. Toys & Joys sells a number of pattern and kits to get you started. They have everything from trains to golf carts. If you are looking to tackle one of those models yourself, this would be the place to check out.