Scroll Saw Village

While you have your passport out, lets jump over to Algeria. Real Fez has a new blog where he shares his most recent works. If that wasn’t enough, he was also kind enough to share some of his patterns! And who doesn’t love free patterns? Recently, he’s been experimenting with cork, which has been really interesting to read. It would be fun to try working with this often overlooked material. I think there are a lot of possibilities there. Anyway, check out his blog. He has a unique approach to his projects that might serve for some great inspiration.

Time to grab your passport, because this time we’re flying to Italy. Cristina Gallons is an Italian scroll saw artist with a relatively new blog called La Bottegaccia. Here she displays many of her portrait cuttings of the stars of the past, my favorite being this portrait of Charlie Chaplin. You’ll find such stars at Abbot & Costello, Marylin Monroe and John Lennon. Her most recent cutting was a backlit lamp, that really turned out stunning. She has a lot of great stuff to look at, so be sure to stop by and check it out. Perhaps it will spark an idea or two for your next project!

If you don’t speak Italian, don’t worry. You can easily use Google Translate or Babel Fish to translate her website. Or you can just click here for a translation. The translation tools aren’t perfect, but it should give you a pretty good indication of what’s being said.

I wanted to end the week with a book review that got me started on this folk toy kick. I recently got Scroll Sawing Egg Roller Toys by Doug Turner. Don’t look for it on your bookstore shelves, because you can only find it online. This is a self published 44 page ebook with detailed instructions, 12 egg roller patterns and 2 bonus craft show quick-sellers.

An egg roller is a wheeled folk toy popular in rural areas. A wooden egg balances between a set of wheels and spins as you push the roller. This mechanical movement is a lot of fun will provide little ones with hours of entertainment.

Traditionally, the egg roller was a pull toy. But the long string is now recognized as a strangulation hazard. So in the interest of safety, Doug left the pull string off the designs. He was also conscious about making sure that the wheels and egg would not be a choking hazard. To avoid toxic chemicals, he chose not to paint or finish his toys. However, he does offer suggestions for safe finishing.

The ebook comes on CD and mailed to your home. All you do is email Doug with your name and address, and he’ll send a PayPal request via email. The CD was in my mailbox within 3 days. So I was very happy with the prompt service.

When I looked through the patterns, I immediately wanted to make the turtle roller. I read through the instructions and printed the pattern. I found the wheels and egg at a local craft store. I ended up using some scrap poplar and began cutting it out. The cutting, sanding and assembly took less than an hour. I wanted to add some color to my roller, so that took a bit more time. But in the end, I had a fun little toy for my son pictured to the right.

When I showed it to him, I was the greatest person in the world, at the same time the most unimportant person in the world. He was completely focused on his cool new toy. He grabbed it, sat down and immediately started to push the roller on the floor. It was quite a thrill to see my son enjoy a toy I built with my own two hands. At first, he wasn’t terribly interested in the egg until I showed him how it worked. Then all he wanted to do is watch the egg spin! I think I have a winner! I’ll be making a bunch of these for my nieces and nephews for Christmas!

Overall Impression:
I was pretty happy with Doug’s book. The egg rollers were simple and easy to build. The charming design will certainly delight young and old alike. I can easily see how this would be a great seller at craft fairs. The patterns were a simple and effective. I found the turtle roller was a bit front heavy. But it certainly didn’t affect the enjoyment or playability of the toy. The other designs look a bit more balanced. Doug provided great service, but I wish he had a shopping cart with instant download on his website. I’m an immediate gratification kinda guy. But the CD was at my home much quicker than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. The book may not be as polished as something you’d find at a bookstore, but I didn’t expect it to be. The information and the patterns contained within is where the real value was.

OK, here’s the rundown:

The Pros

• Full size patterns.
• Descriptive assembly instructions and photos.
• Instructions for production runs.
• Jigs designs to make production easier.
• Lists sources for pre-made parts.
• 2 bonus craft show sellers.
• Very good at answering questions promptly.
• Prompt shipment and service.

The Cons

• No shopping cart.
• No instant download.
• Turtle pattern was a bit front-heavy.

The Jacob’s Ladder is a folk toy that dates back to the ancient Egyptians. This simple toy was especially popular during the American Colonial times and still played with children to this day. Donald DeVeny of Woodcraft Arts has a nice tutorial on how to make this timeless toy. While a scroll saw isn’t necessary to make the Jacob’s Ladder, the flat panels do offer an opportunity to embellish the design with fretwork. The panels can be made with any size lumber, and the ribbon can be any width. So get creative and make a few of these Jacob’s Ladders for the little ones in your life.

PS – They make great stocking stuffers!

My son loves cars. If it ain’t got wheels, he just isn’t interested. Mom and dad drive cars, and so does he. Much was the same for children of former times, but instead of driving cars, they imitated their parents by riding hobby horses.

Woodcrafter.net has provided a nice set of vintage plans with instructions to make your own hobby horse. Unfortunately, the horse’s head graphic is not full scale. So, I recommend saving the JPG file and enlarging it with a graphics program until the grid measures 1 inch. You could also use a photocopier to enlarge the pattern. Then all you have to do is glue the pattern to the wood and cut out!

When finished, paint it with some non-toxic acrylic paints or leave it the natural wood color. Maybe break out your wood burning kit to add the details. Perhaps add some reigns, or some string for the mane. Intarsia artists, I think there’s certainly a great project waiting to be born. There’s so many possibilities with such a simple concept. Get creative. Have fun!

This little climbing bear folk toy has been around for generations. Originally, it was used to teach children the art of milking cows. But in today’s day and age, it’s just plain fun! Pull each of the strings in an alternating pattern and the little bear climbs to the top. Release the strings and he comes back down.

Shopsmith has a pattern and detailed instructions for this cute little toy.They recommend a tilting-table drill press, but a hand drill could be carefully used instead. The angle of the holes should be close to 45 degrees as possible, but it shouldn’t matter if you’re off a little. Just eyeball it and you’ll be fine.

Give this cute little toy a try. They’re easy to make, and will certainly delight young and old alike!

Safety Note: The strings dangle and can become a strangulation hazard for young children. So I’d recommend supervised play with very little ones.

In this day and age of mass-produced plastic toys, it’s so nice to see a hand-made wooden toy. Toys that have character in their simplicity, but never short in fun or imagination. There’s definitely a sense of great satisfaction when a child puts down his Transformer to play with a toy you built with your own two hands. So I thought I’d step back into history and talk a little about Folk Toys this week.

To start things off, this week’s Book of the Week is Folk Toys: Patterns & Projects for the Scroll Sawby Ken Folk. This book includes 19 patterns for the scroll saw with detailed measured drawings. The patterns range in difficulty from beginner to advanced. A great place to start if you’re looking into creating some ‘old fashioned fun’. Check it out!

Bobby from Bobby’s Scroll Saw Works has a number of great patterns, including the wonderful picture of the Columbia shuttle crew. The patterns are provided in JPG format for easy scaling. To save these patterns, just right click the image and choose “Save Image As” and save it to your desktop. This pattern is located under “Portraits (NEW)“. Bobby has a lot of great patterns to choose from, so take a little time and explore his site. He has a deer shelf pattern that I have my eye on. Check it out!

Here’s a fun site for you intarsia artists out there. Kathy from Kat Cat Intarsia offers a number of great things on her website which really makes it interesting. First, and formost, she has several original patterns for sale that might interest you. But my favorite area is her Catalog. Here she is able so show off her work and skill. There’s nothing more inspirational than looking at another artist’s work. Perhaps it will even spark an idea or two for yourself! While you’re there, check out her quick history of intarsia and be sure to check out her workshop! She has provided a couple of great photos and a description about her work area. Fun website!

The new presidential election is right around the corner in the US. Campaign slogans, bumper stickers and heated debates are everywhere. It gets a little crazy, but exciting at the same time. We may have different political views, but one thing that unites us is the love for our country. Here’s a great patriotic pattern designed by Steve Hovious. You can find this and other patterns on his blog listed under “Free Patterns” on the left sidebar. Check it out!. While you’re there, take a look at his blog postings. He has a lot of great pictures of his finished scroll saw projects. Perhaps it will spark an idea or two for your next project!