Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!

Use a gift tag to introduce the art of scrolling to a friend.

The holiday season provides an excellent opportunity for scrollers to show off their talents. In today's world, where many things are mass-manufactured, handcrafted items have a nostalgic charm. The project you create today could become a family heirloom.

Handmade ornaments make thoughtful gifts that recipients will look forward to each year. The ornaments also make a perfect opportunity to educate people about the art of scrolling. Include a short note with the gift that explains how it was created. You can include contact information for your local club or offer to teach them how to use the scroll saw. You may even stir up enough curiosity to spark a love of scrolling in someone else.

Our sister magazine, Woodcarving Illustrated, just celebrated its tenth anniversary, giving us a chance to reflect on the past and dream about our opportunities. We developed three guiding principles for the future. It became obvious that these principles apply not only to Woodcarving Illustrated, but to Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts, and our company as a whole. During this time of reflection and resolutions, we'd like to share these principles with you.

Standing up for scrolling as an Art and Craft

We're going to explore ways to connect the scrolling world to the broader arts and crafts field. We want to help differentiate between handcrafted items and mass-produced, laser-cut projects. We need to advocate for the designers and help them earn the credit they deserve for their artistic talents. A respect for the artist’s copyrights and the scroller's skills needs to be established.

Involve the next generation

With the electronic distractions available today, we need to make an intentional effort to get children excited and interested in scrolling. We want to support today’s scrollers and help them pass along the love of scrolling to the next generation.

Support the grassroots–clubs, shows, and teachers

SAW, woodworking clubs, and teachers are all part of the grassroots effort. We've been doing many things to help promote clubs, shows, and teachers. But we want to do even more.

These three goals are pretty general right now. We'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions as we work to flesh them out and make them practical.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!

Shannon Flowers
shannon@foxchapelpublishing.com