Around here it’s been too cold to do much outside so I’ve been in the shed doing some scroll saw work. The shed is my only heated woodworking space and it’s limited to small tools, like my scroll saw and marquetry work. Here is a fun projects:

They are bunny rabbit napkin rings. I’m cutting these out of some poplar I salvaged from an old drawer. I don’t remember where I got the pattern, but I’m planning on making about 15 of these. I’ll make some napkins to go in them and likely sell them at the church’s autumn quilt sale.

Here’s a more difficult project I’ve been working on:

This is a filigree cross and I made two by stack cutting:

This second still has the pattern attached. Basically you stack two pieces of wood together and cut them as a unit — kind of a two for one sale, cut once, get two. The wood is a walnut veneer over an MDF core. It’s cheaper and more stable than solid walnut (it won’t warp due to humidity changes).

I’ve made these before and I just love the pattern. This is the third set of these I’ve cut. I wanted to have these done by last Easter, but now they’re just in time for this Easter. I still have to get all the pattern and tape off these and make stands for them. No idea what I am going to do with them. I might give them to friends and I just might keep one for me.

The first time I cut this pattern was just after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and I found the process of making them to be meditative and reassuring. The second time I made these was at about five years after radiation treatment when the docs declared that I was in remission. Over the last few years there has been a concern that I might be heading for a recurrence so I decided it was time to cut another set.

It takes about 50 hours to cut the pattern — there are a couple of hundred holes — I tried to count once but lost track around 70 holes. Each hole is very small and I have to work with a magnifying lamp and very small blades. Still, I find the process to be prayerful, meditative and oddly relaxing.

And so far there is no medical evidence that my prostate cancer has recurred, but the doctor does have me on a close watch. So much fun.

Anyway that’s if from the shop — if you need me I’ll be in the shed trying to find that block of maple I bought to make the bases.