Creative Woodworks & crafts 2003-06, страница 34

by Wcs Demarest

Hey, loosen up!

Once your scrolling skills have progressed to the point that you can cut straight lines and acceptable radii, you might want to loosen up a bit and start taking liberties with your patterns. When my wife. Alice, and I first started scrolling, we followed the patterns religiously, occasionally getting into trouble when the artist made the lines too close together or when my cutting was a little uncoordinated. You have to understand that I was not the high school hero athlete who was a .300 plus hitter or shot 90% from the foul line. Shucks, I had trouble running without tripping over my own feet, but I sure was good with the water bucket. No one on the team ever suffered from thirst! So when I say it took me a while to get the hang of scrolling, it means that it has taken me years. In fact, Alice says I still have a ways to go.

As you can sec in the Rhino project pictured here (scheduled to appear in a future issue of Creative Woodworks & Crafts), not all pieces of wood provide the proper perspective for a design without some modification. In this ease, rather than shrink the pattern, I removed some of the detail. You may be thinking, why not just reduce it on a copy machine? Well, the rhino's eyes are very small to begin with; if I did that they were way too small. Not only that, but with the wood T was using being on the thick side, there was a very good possibility that my drill would run out and ruin one or both of the eyes. It would not matter if we blew out any other detail in the pattern because no one would be able to tell what happened, but the eyes have to be right on the money.

Other creative considerations

Could I have used a larger piece of wood for the rhino? Yes, of course, but not every board has grain characteristics which play into the design. Then there is the constant problem of what wood we have on hand, as well as the saw we use. As far as the saw is concerned, several folks have requested that I use a more "normal" saw, something in the 20" range, because that is what they use. Granted, you do have greater control with a larger saw, but economically it may not be possible for many scrollers and 1 respect that. A smaller saw would necessitate using smaller stock instead of the unwieldy slabs I sometimes work with.

On top of that, larger pieces of material arc also more expensive and the price goes up exponentially with the quality of the

Some of the pattern detail was removed so that the rhino pictured here would work with this piece of wood.

34 • Creative Woodworks S, Crafts June 2003

The original pen and ink drawing by George Alhers used to make the pattern. I then took a little liberty with that pattern to make the final project.

wood. To be perfectly frank, if I didn't own a sawmill, I would be quite reluctant to make a lot of these projects with the wood I use. Prior to getting my sawmill, Alice and I used a chain saw and slabbed logs salvaged from our firewood pile. We also developed a relationship with several local sawmills. Back in the 70's, we had to beg for thin wood or else be fortunate enough to be around when the sawyer skimmed off a thin piece while they worked up a log for dimensional lumber.

That was then, this is now

Wc oncc had a piece of 5/16" red oak that was 18" wide and 10' long stored in the rafters and whenever we got a special request for something in solid wood at a show, we would nip a piece off and complete the order. Other than that, we used 1/8" & 1/4" hardwood plywood for 90% of our work. Then along came Marilyn Carmin! Her patterns really got our creative juices flowing. Marilyn's designs and the way she used slabbed wood with live edges captured Alice's and my imagination. Her influence is still felt, nearly every day in our shop.

An early discovery was the realization that even more detail could be added to Marilyn's designs by doing a little carving after the pattern had been cut out. After all, the hard work had already been done and the thicker wood was usually perfect for that kind of detailing. Thus, "Sculptural Scrolling" evolved. Then we learned that our editor. George Ahlers, is a wildlife arList along with being an accomplished woodworker. Yes, he does draw his patterns; they are not the scanned work of others or photographs—he does them the hard way. Creative Woodworks & Crafts has had the good fortune to be able to bring you some of the best designs from both these artists.

And it does not stop there. Here at ihe magazine, we constantly use the term "Carminesque" when we evaluate some of the patterns I'll be sawing out for publication, and try to decide how it will be completed. We inevitably become involved in long discussions about what kind of wood to use and just how we each visualize the finished piece. One strategy wc have found to be extremely effective is for me to hold on to several patterns slated for future publication. When I come across "just the right piecc of wood" for a particular design, I go ahead and make that project. I try to add detail to the designs I saw out using methods that have proven to be effective and hope that you are inspired to try it too. t«