Scroll Saw Village

We’re rolling up our sleeves and starting the pattern making process. This is lesson 5 of our ongoing classroom series on creating scroll saw portrait patterns with GIMP. Today we’re learning about layers and their benefits, then we begin creating our base pattern; the foundation of our scroll saw pattern! Be sure to check out the forums for written instruction, downloadable source material, and classroom discussion where you can get all of your questions answered! Enjoy the show!

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We’re continuing with our classroom series as we learn to use GIMP to create a scroll saw portrait pattern. This time we’re setting up our pattern document, importing our picture, laying out guidelines, and scaling our image. It’s a pretty quick lesson today. Next lesson we’ll roll up our sleeves and start the pattern making process! You can find more information on this lesson in the forums where we include written instruction, additional source material, and discussion where you can get your questions answered.

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Here is Lesson 3 of our continuing classroom series as we learn to use GIMP to create scroll saw portrait patterns. This time we take a tour of the user interface. We look at the main screen and its options. We’ll learn how to quickly navigate around an image. We also look at the tool box and learn to customize it to fit our own needs. Lastly, we look at dockable dialog boxes and how to customize those.

The ease of customizing GIMP is what makes this software so great. If you’d like more information, please visit our online classroom where you can have all of your questions answered as well as written instruction for everything you see in this video.

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This is lesson 2 from our free online pattern making class.  This time we talk about styles of scroll saw patterns, what makes good reference material, then we tackle the subject of copyrights.  Be sure to check out the forum for written instruction and discussions.  On with the show!

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Sharpen up those #2 pencils because school is back in session.  I’m teaching an online class on using GIMP to create scroll saw portrait patterns.  This class is a bit more structured than the tutorials on Scroll Saw Goodies.  Each lesson builds upon the previous until the end when you’re a pattern making pro!  The class lasts for 4 weeks with 2 lessons per week.  Each lesson will include a video demonstration, a written out tutorial and additional material.  A dedicated forum is available for you to ask questions and get some feedback on your progress.  I’ll be posting the video portions on Scroll Saw Goodies, but additional source material and files are only available in the forums.  So be sure to sign up for this great class.  Did I mention it is free?  So is the software!  How can you go wrong?  See you in the forums!

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Proceeds go to supporting SSG podcast and other tutorials. Thank you for your support.
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This summer, I’m going to try my hand at intarsia. So I’m reading all I can before I jump in. During my research, I came across a great series by Mike Mathieu of Midlothian Woodworks. He wrote a series of 6 blog posts, aptly named Intarsia 101, on Lumberjocks. Mike shows the process of taking an intarsia project from photo to finished product. He includes a lot of great pictures with descriptions of what is happening in each photo. Check it out! It is well worth the read if intarsia is your future too.

You just bought a new saw.  For most people, right out of the box is just fine.  But for others, modification is a must. James Riser added a few bells and whistles to his new DeWalt 788. He shows you how he waxes his table to prevent rusting, adding wheels to his stand to make it a bit more maneuverable, added a cutoff bin and finally, an automatic arm lift. Each of these modifications are easy to make. Perhaps you’ll find a modification that you can’t live without!  Check it out!

The last couple episodes we used Inkscape to clean up patterns we found on the internet and prepare them for printing. This time, we’re actually going to dig in and design a simple scroll saw pattern with Inkscape. We’re creating a name plate for somebody’s desk. This is an easy pattern to put together, easier to cut, and it makes a great gift for those in the office. Enjoy the show!

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There are times when we need to print a pattern larger than a standard sheet of paper.  This can be either for large fretwork patterns, intarsia, lath art, or even yard art patterns.  This episode, we use Inkscape to prepare an oversized pattern for printing.  We review importing and cleaning up the pattern from the last video.  We also cover adding registration marks and show you a a process to make printing large patterns easy.  Enjoy the show!

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We’re continuing the Pattern Workshop with a new series as we explore a new program, Inkscape.  Inkscape is a vector based graphics software, similar to Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw.  The main difference is the price tag.  Inkscape is Free!!!  You can find your copy of Inkscape at Inkscape.org.  It is a very cool program and perfect for us scrollers!

In this short video tutorial, we explore what Inkscape is and how to download this wonderful free program. Then we import a downloaded pattern, resize it, and prepare it for printing.  It may seem a little silly to have a whole video on printing a pattern, but I do this each and every time I print a pattern.  I love the results and makes my scrolling that much easier.

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Proceeds go to supporting SSG podcast and other tutorials. Thank you for your support.
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