[AlArchie]

Ash sort of has it right......my point was meant more to be that using an opaque projector to adapt the comercial patterns to your specific needs can make these patterns conform more to your needs.

Just a fer instance....I had an excellent photo of a 16" brook trout BUT the tail was left out of the photo. I had a comercial pattern of a smaller brook trout.

First I sketched the photo onto freezer paper, and put that onto my glass screen. The comercial pattern went under the opaque projector and the image was projected onto the larger pattern and adjusted till the tail and other anatomical parts matched the sketch. This gave me a pretty darn good representation of the 16" brookie to work with. The finished piece was done in birdseye maple...came out pretty good if I do say so myself.

I also used this method to transfer a photo of the old Ashland Wisconsin Soo Line Depot onto pattern paper. From here it went to the drafting table to true it up.

For those of us who are "drawingly" challenged, the opaque projector can be a great help.

Maybe I named the thread wrong. Ya, guess I did......shoulda been "Using an Opaque Projector to Help with Patterns".

Al

[arbarnhart]

Ash,

I think you are alluding to a point I almost hesitate to bring up for fear of insulting others (but I fail this criteria myself) and that is that I think to be a comlete master at this craft, you have to be able to draw (unless you are able to skip that and just carve directly). I keep working on it because I really want to create things of my own design. I have the same frustration with the scroll saw. I can follow some pretty intricate patterns and produce some pieces that impress others, but until I learn to create the patterns, I just won't be completely satisfied (oh yeah, I need to carve a *lot* better, too)...