Scroll Saw Village

There is no such thing as too many fonts. Scrollers love them! But often we have to modify our favorite fonts in order to get them cuttable. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some fonts designed specifically for scrollers? Well, Mike from Scrollcrafters has come through by offering 3 different fonts for your computer. The first font (Deskset) is designed for desk nameplates. The other two (Scollsoni and Stencil) is intended for fretwork. Be sure to add these free fonts to your collection. While you’re there, check out some of his cuttings. He does fantastic work!

Imagine you’re at a craft fair, selling some of your creations. You’ll get some traffic, sure. But what if you brought your scroll saw with you and demonstrated your techniques. You’ll get a lot more traffic. But imagine pulling out a homemade, foot-powered scroll saw made with various hardwoods and polished to a high sheen. Think of the crowds! Even if you didn’t do craft fairs, it would still be really cool to have a scroll saw you created with your own two hands! Well, Michael Martin (aka Nailbender) has come to the rescue with this great set of plans to build your very own wooden scroll saw. You’ll end up with a showpiece that will draw a lot of oohs and ahs.

Michael offers these plans for free off his website. The plans are broken up into two PDF’s for easier downloading. He has plenty of instructions, diagrams and photos to make construction that much easier. Check it out. Very cool!

Almost as important as the saw, is the stand the saw sits on. If it isn’t at the right height or angle, your neck and back won’t be happy with you. You could buy a commercial stand, but where’s the fun in that? Michael Martin (aka Nailbender) has provided a nice set of plans for your scroll saw. The stand includes an adjustable tabletop angle, an easy access cubby to hold tools, and enough room on top to hold other odds and ends. If you look closely at his pictures, you can see a clever scroll saw blade storage made from PVC (no plans available, but I’m sure you can figure it out).

Michael has created his stand as inexpensive as he could, but you could easily upgrade the building materials to create a great looking scroll saw stand. You can adjust the height and angle of the stand to fit your needs. So if you are ready to move your scroll saw from the TV tray to something a bit more stable, check out these free plans!

The cool thing about vintage scroll saw patterns, is that it can serve for inspiration for more contemporary designs. Browsing old patterns can give you a lot of new ideas. Combining old styles with new styles could really set your design apart from others. You can easily borrow elements like motifs, style, and function to enhance your design. Great American Scroll Saw Patterns has a 10 page PDF scan from a vintage Italian pattern catalog. Hopefully, it will spark an idea or two for your own designs. If nothing else, it’s fun to see what was popular back in the day.

Its hard to find good free clip art on the internet. The websites that have good clip art want to charge an arm and a leg to use their clip art. Even then, you are only buying limited rights to use them. I think that’s why I really like the books from Dover Publications. They publish clip art books on every imaginable subject. Their images are royalty free, which means you can use them for whatever purpose you wish. You can find Dover books in almost any bookstore next to the art section. Many times, they come with a CD ROM so you don’t have to spend all of your time scanning in the pictures.

Wanna try before you buy? Well you can. Dover offers free samples delivered to your email box every week. They’ll send you a link where you can download a bunch of samples from a variety of books. The samples change weekly, so you’ll always have new stuff to look at and perhaps spark an idea or two. You can sign up here.

If you’d like to purchase a few of these books, take a look at our webstore. You’ll find great deals and any purchases help support SSG. You can find our Dover clipart books here.

Last post, I talked about using Dingbats in your designs. Sarajane listed a few of her favorite sources for Dingbats. Just Google the word Dingbats and you’ll find hundreds of webpages that have Dingbats available for download. Many of these websites are cumbersome to use, however. But I was able to put together a list of websites that make it easy to find the perfect Dingbat for your next project. And since Dingbats are fonts, these websites are a great source for finding fonts for word art.

Font Space – This is my favorite font site. Each font is categorized by the users by using tags. You can follow user tags to view fonts with the same tag. This makes categorizing much more thorough. Fonts have a text preview along with a character map. I suggest you use the keyword Dingbats or Silhouettes and see what you come up with. Very cool.

Abstract Fonts – They have each of their fonts neatly organized with a text preview option and a character map. They also have a feature that suggests other fonts you may like.

Wanted Fonts – Fonts are organized into categories with a text preview option.

Dingbat Pages – Nothing but dingbats here. The dingbats are organized into categories for easy browsing. Each Dingbat has a static sample.

Simply The Best Fonts – Each font is categorized with a static sample.

TypeNow.net – Dingbats are categorized into sections, but are displayed on one page with a static sample of each.

Acid Fonts – Fonts are categorized with a static sample of each.

Font Garden – Dingbats are categorized by theme with a static sample of each.

Do you need to scratch that scroll sawing itch without jumping into a large project? H’bout making a few key chains? Ron Brown has created a True Type font to download for free. This font is especially good for making key chains. Best of all, you don’t need a graphics program to create your patterns. After installing the font, just type the name you want into your favorite word processing program, set the font and size it to 72pt. Print, cut, repeat! It’s that easy. These will make great gifts, use up some scrap lumber, and can easily be cut out in minutes. Give it a try!

Need an easy way to make name plates? Steve Good over at Scrollsaw Workshop has written a great program that makes name plate patterns a snap. With Scroll Saw Pattern Printer, just type in the name, print, and you’re ready to go. No more fussing around with graphics programs or trying to get your word processing program to print something cuttable. He also has a quick video that explains the features of this handy little program. The software is free to download. It is donation ware, so if you find it useful, a donation of $5 is appreciated. Give it a try. It’s pretty slick.

Flap Sanders. You’ve seen them. People love them. And you would like one of your own but don’t know where to get one. Well, you can make your own! This handy little tool by Bob Kinsey is made to be used with a lathe. With a little modification, you can make it as big or small as you need with any grit. He gives you clear instructions on how to build a flap sander with mechanical drawings to boot. Very cool, indeed. I think I’ll make one as soon as I convince my wife I need a lathe. Wish me luck!

Rockler Woodworking & Hardware is offering a free catalog to SSG Readers! If you haven’t checked out their catalog, you’re missing out. There is so many great products geared specifically to woodworkers of all types. From large furniture plans, to parts for wooden toys. They have a great selection of books, plans, and scroll saw blades. And every tool you could ever want to expand your shop into a lean, mean, sawdust making machine.

So grab your copy of their catalog today. You won’t regret it!

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