Scrollsawing coastlines
There are a number of ways to cut away detailed wooden map coastlines. To start, one of the traditional ways is to take your paper pattern and trace it onto the wood surface, then start cutting.
For large and/or detailed projects, this can take quite a bit of time and a possible loss of details. Sometimes I use that method. More recently I’ve been printing my patterns directly onto self adhesive vinyl.
We have a printer that can print on rolls of media at wide as 44 inches. I have some 36″ wide self adhesive vinyl so that’s what I used to experiment with. It really helped with the pattern making process. The actual cutting seemed to be a little easier as well. Maybe the adhesive and the vinyl being cut helped in the lubrication of the cutting process. That’s just a guess, but the cutting process seemed to go a bit quicker and I didn’t break as many blades.
The nice feature of the sticky vinyl I use is that it has almost no affect on a painted surface and leaves no residue. I did notice that some paint did lift off but given the rustic style of projects I am creating, it only added to the look of the finished product. The vinyl is definitely a tool in my workshop from here on in.
If you are a scrollsaw artist and are struggling with some of the larger patterns, contact me and lets see if I can help you out.