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Hi folks!
Excuse me if this post smacks of heresy on a scrollsaw forum but I’m a great believer in combining craft techniques if the outcome justifies the means.
A while back I posted a project I designed of a heart shaped floral vial holder in which the heart shape and legs were cut on the scroll saw and the face had a very simple set of concentric rings lathe turned into it as a decorative feature. Recently I’ve been experimenting with using a laser engraver as another way to enhance my craftwork and this week I had an ideal opportunity to put my experiments into practice.
An ex work colleague and very good friend of mine who lives in Turkey – he’s half Turkish, half German – got married in September and although Norma and myself had an invite to the wedding, circumstances prevented us from attending. To our surprise, just after the wedding he announced that he and his wife were planning to honeymoon in Mexico, visiting the Mexican Riviera i.e. Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum. They arrived in Mexico about 10 days ago and before heading back home to Turkey they will be routing through Mexico City and will be meeting up with us tomorrow ( Friday) and the coming weekend.
As a wedding gift I decided to make another heart shaped vial holder but this time I used my laser engraver to decorate the face as a momento of their wedding. This will also serve to remind my friend, Emre, to not forget when their anniversary comes around! I also used the engraver to lightly engrave directly onto the wood the scrollsaw cutting lines, eliminating the need to produce a paper pattern.
The wood I chose for the heart is beech, which takes engravings very well. I used walnut for the legs as a contrast. I cut the 1” thick center core on the scrollsaw using a Flying Dutchman #2 heavy duty blade taking it slow and steady. The back and front faces and the feet were cut with a regular reverse toothed blade.
I didn’t stain the heart red as previously because I wanted the engraving to stand out. Normally I would apply tung oil onto the wood, stained or otherwise, to accentuate the colours before applying a final varnish but due to a lack of time to produce this gift I dispensed with the oil and finished the piece with a Behr Water Based Quick Drying Gloss Finish Polyurethane Varnish.
To add a final touch my rambling rose, which should have stopped flowering at the back end of October, suddenly produced one solitary bloom a week ago. It really sets off this piece!!
I’m pretty pleased with how this project turned out and I’ll definitely be looking for more ways to enhance my scrollsaw work with laser engravings.
Waiting for the verdict at the weekend from the happy couple and from you folks on the forum.
Cheers!
Disclaimer – no wood suffered black charred cut edges in this project!
heart front.jpg heart oblique.jpg
Excuse me if this post smacks of heresy on a scrollsaw forum but I’m a great believer in combining craft techniques if the outcome justifies the means.
A while back I posted a project I designed of a heart shaped floral vial holder in which the heart shape and legs were cut on the scroll saw and the face had a very simple set of concentric rings lathe turned into it as a decorative feature. Recently I’ve been experimenting with using a laser engraver as another way to enhance my craftwork and this week I had an ideal opportunity to put my experiments into practice.
An ex work colleague and very good friend of mine who lives in Turkey – he’s half Turkish, half German – got married in September and although Norma and myself had an invite to the wedding, circumstances prevented us from attending. To our surprise, just after the wedding he announced that he and his wife were planning to honeymoon in Mexico, visiting the Mexican Riviera i.e. Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum. They arrived in Mexico about 10 days ago and before heading back home to Turkey they will be routing through Mexico City and will be meeting up with us tomorrow ( Friday) and the coming weekend.
As a wedding gift I decided to make another heart shaped vial holder but this time I used my laser engraver to decorate the face as a momento of their wedding. This will also serve to remind my friend, Emre, to not forget when their anniversary comes around! I also used the engraver to lightly engrave directly onto the wood the scrollsaw cutting lines, eliminating the need to produce a paper pattern.
The wood I chose for the heart is beech, which takes engravings very well. I used walnut for the legs as a contrast. I cut the 1” thick center core on the scrollsaw using a Flying Dutchman #2 heavy duty blade taking it slow and steady. The back and front faces and the feet were cut with a regular reverse toothed blade.
I didn’t stain the heart red as previously because I wanted the engraving to stand out. Normally I would apply tung oil onto the wood, stained or otherwise, to accentuate the colours before applying a final varnish but due to a lack of time to produce this gift I dispensed with the oil and finished the piece with a Behr Water Based Quick Drying Gloss Finish Polyurethane Varnish.
To add a final touch my rambling rose, which should have stopped flowering at the back end of October, suddenly produced one solitary bloom a week ago. It really sets off this piece!!
I’m pretty pleased with how this project turned out and I’ll definitely be looking for more ways to enhance my scrollsaw work with laser engravings.
Waiting for the verdict at the weekend from the happy couple and from you folks on the forum.
Cheers!
Disclaimer – no wood suffered black charred cut edges in this project!
heart front.jpg heart oblique.jpg
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