Illinois State Fair

[ddockstader]

My entries from the Illinois State Fair have been returned. There are only 6 classes in the Woodworking section and you are allowed only 1 entry per class. So I bent the rules a little and entered a set of 5 Christmas Tree Ornaments - all scroll sawed in the Holiday Crafts section. The Nativity scene is an adaptation of a Steve Good design. Steve's pattern has 5 layers. I added 5 additional layers to give it some depth. Also, I hope to be able to add some LED fairy lights before Christmas. The Christmas Tree Ornaments only have 1 Steve Good pattern, but they all were tricky.

[DanO]

Very "creative" idea for the 5 ornaments to make the 1 entry.
Well played.

[Intarsia92]

Congratulations on the two Blue Ribbons. Very nice work. well done. 

[KarlB]

Nice work on the entries.  How deep was the first one after adding 5 more layers?  What is the thickness of each layer?

Karl

[ddockstader]

Karl,
The first one I made about 3 years ago was from 1/4" plywood and (I just measured) was 1 3/8" deep. I didn't really like the plywood. It was OK, but not great. This time I made it out of 1/4" alder (I have LOTS from a shelving unit I took out of an office back before I retired. I just resaw it down to 1/4" for scroll sawing). This one is 2 7/8" deep. My wife thinks it's a little dark (agreed), but the additional depth makes the cuttings stand out. And (if I can figure out how to put them in) the fairy lights will help a lot. The additional spacers give me room for the lights, where the original pattern did not. Also, the spacers can be stack-cut.

[KarlB]

Well I have been looking for lights and have looked on Amazon, Ebay as sell as specialty lighting companies and model railroad companies.  Almost everything is 3' long with the lights space 2" apart or so.  Although most can be cut shorter that is still a lot of wire to get in a small area.

I'm also looking at EL Wire, also known as Electroluminescent wire and even thinking about plastic fiber optics.  One of my favorite light I had and still have is a glass fiber optic fan burst with a color wheel below.  I watched that thing for quite a while when I was in college!  (No, not under any influence.  )

I did see some strands of lights that were 20" long and were battery powered without a timer.  There are $1.65 per strand, but I didn't check the shipping.

If anyone else knows of anything, let us know please!

Karl

[KCSteve]

Check out MicroMark (MicroMark.com) - they do stuff for models, especially including Model Railroads so they have various lighting choices.
Also a *ton* of great tools.

[Marshall Border]

Don't get on here as much as I should since retirement , Great looking work.