Owl Portrait Progress

[minowevie]

Bill , All I can say is,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Wow you are amazing. thanks you so much for posting all this. speishaly when you would rather just cut it all out. and be done with it. you know, i just have to say this though. that darn blower tube would drive me nuts. mine is set ubove my blade. that would be the one thing I would hate in a differant saw. but you are handaling it great. guess thats what you are used to. and I also. don't thingk i would leave all those fragile pieces. just dangale out like that. I tape it all in. maybe, i should try it with out doing that. to scared. my hands are all over the place. boy do i have a lot to learn. you are my new hero too. Evie

[Forester21]

I am really enjoying watching your progression on this!! A question - do you go back and drill & cut the tiny spots that weren't originally drilled? or do you just not cut them?
Theresa E

[ozarkhillbilly]

Theresa, I handle those holes several ways, some I ignore, others I will incorporate into another cutout near by, and a few I will drill with a dremel. I have also added a few that weren't there.

Some of those I missed and some I left undrilled on purpose. I like to think of it as making it a bit of my own.........

Thanks and I'm glad your enjoying it.

Evie, glad your enjoying it too, like I said, I hope I'm making sense in my explantions. I'm sure everyone would or could go about it in their own way, it's always a challange on any of JZ's patterns, each one presents it's own unique challanges.

[bronco]

Hey Bill,
Great tutorial and your cuts are so crisp and clean.I really enjoyed following your progress,and learned some things I need to try.Keep posting your photos I really enjoy veiwing them.
Bill

[ozarkhillbilly]

Well I wrapped it up last night after I got home from work, these two pictures are pretty much the same, I'm cutting the last holes on the bottom left of the portrait.

This corner is fairly easy, there is a fair amount of stable surface for me to place my fingers on to guide my final cuts.

[ozarkhillbilly]

Now for the right corner. This side provided a bit more of a challenge.

In the 1st picture you can see I have already made my cuts and I am preparing to make that wonderful LAST cut. Notice I have left several of the last cutouts in place. These have helped me by giving my a more stable surface to place my fingers and guide these cuts. Because these were the last few cuts I just left them in and didn't bother taping them in place.

The 2nd and 3rd picture easily show how leaving those cutouts in place have given me a good surface to to place my fingers on the otherwise fragile area.

[CanadianScroller]

Excellent thread and pictures.

You have taken the mystery out of the process for so many scrollers.
Thanks Bill.

[ozarkhillbilly]

And here is the first picture of the finished portrait with all the cutouts removed. I still have to remove the pattern, burn the fuzzies, apply the stain and then frame and mount it.

Cutting time was right at 7 hours and 15 min. And I used 14 blades.

Heres a few things I learned,

1. I hadn't really noticed this before, but I tend to cut counter clockwise on my cutouts......there is no reason for this, I just seem to go that way.

2. My wife dosen't like being woke up at 1:00am to take pictures of me cutting

3. My wife is a good sport, and bribes easily........

Stay tuned more to come.............

[SharonW0111]

Bill you did a excellent job --both on the toutorial and the picture. I agree with you on all of your techneqecs except I use clear scotch tape and I do leave in a lot of the cut pieces. The fragal ones I just tape over for support. But a big pat on the back for you and a rose for your wife.. Excelent job
Sharon

[wwalker47]

Well done, Bill, I don't see how you do it without it just falling apart on you. I must say you've done brilliantly. I do like the pictures of the progress.

Keep up the good work and you will give Jeff Z a run for his money!

-Bill