DROP OUT'S

[BigPete]

Hi , I would like to know what all you scrollers think about "Drop Outs"/ loose pieces , it seems to me that they are avoided at all costs and i can understand that in the more detailed fretwork ! but i have done some pictures where there are around say ten parts and they are all glued to a backing board seperately and i think it looks great! (and if someone tells me how to put up a link to photobucket i will post the link ! i dont want to upload it here in case it is viewed a inappropriate as it is of a female lit up by the light of a fire although i think it is very tastefull ) just wondered what the general feeling of "Drop outs" was ! Peter
ok lets try this link http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa434/bigpete14/019.jpg

[CNLNC]

Hey Peter, i'm sure your work is beautiful, but here is my M2C...

I'm sure the more "experienced" (read ol'timers) members will give better answers, but the beauty of scrolling to me is that the piece, or the majority of the piece is whole, not a bunch of parts glued to a backer.
If you wanted to just glue a bunch of pieces to a backer, why do you need a scrollsaw, or why do you need to drill a bunch of starter holes. You could just use any other saw an cut your pieces out and glue them where you want. I think the challenge and beauty of scrolling is cutting an image out of 1 piece of wood.
There are other means, like Intarsia, that use many pieces of wood and turn out works of art. Take a look at some of Al's work. But for scrolling I think it should be 1 piece or close to that, just my thoughts.

Still would like to see your work 

[ChuckD]

I have seen many photos of cut-out pieces of fretwork glues to a backer and most of them are nice, very nice.  If that is the way you want to go no on is going to say "hey, that's not the way to do this".  If that was the case some of the work on here and other forums you would hear the comments like, "Why are you wasting our time with this, that belongs in a burn barrel".   That is the advantage with a scroll saw,  What ever you cut some one is going to say "Man that is beautiful".  A lot of patterns call for layers cutting where the background is one layer and the trees may be the next layer  and something on the front layer.  It is all your type of art, so go for it....Most of us do..

[GrayBeard]

My "Animals on Black" ones are that way...I cut the pattern then make a cut around the outside perimeter and glue the piece to the felt backing.
I have also done something similar with a horse pattern.

~~~GB~~~

[wombatie]

We all do things differently that is what makes them unique, if we all did exactly the same it would be very boring.  I say each to his/her own and enjoy what you do.

Marg

[daliclimbs]

I agree. Its all personal preference. Myself I keep all my stuff connected, because that is how I'm comfortable making my patterns.

[Waddawood]

Until recently I always kept all things connected, but in some cases I think the drop outs (commonly referred to as floaters) add realism.  I love realistic detail in my designs.  Sometimes a random "connection" of pieces takes away from that realism.  What counts is what looks good to YOU. 
As far as how to post from photobucket..... if you hover your mouse (cursor) over the pic you want to show, then it will raise a box that has the picture and 3 options of how to show a link.  The first link is a direct link.  It lets people click on the link to see the picture you're wanting to show....highlight it (or any of the other two) by sliding your cursor from left to right along the text...and right click- copy (sometimes u can just click it once and it will say "copied").  Then in your message here just say "To go see the pic, click the following link..."  To paste that link after it has been copied just right click in this window and click paste.  I had adult material recently and rather than risking offending anyone and/or breaking any rules, I posted a link for people to go look (with the warning that it could be potentially offensive).  The second link is to web page type stuff, the third option is if you want to add it to your post like I have done here:

[Waddawood]

Different examples of what I think are examples of realistic floaters are like the light reflected off of dark eyes, designs on a shirt and well anything that is nowhere close enough to another light colored area to look realistic by attaching it to another.

[BigPete]

Thanks for all your interesting reply's and yes i think it is up to individual choice !  but i am with charlie dearing on this one ,in some cases  i think it adds realism
and thanks charlie for pointing me in the right direction on how to post the link!

[Waddawood]

Excellent use of floaters and nice work in general

[BigPete]

Just to clarify , i respect all ways of scrolling and think its an individual choice and most of the time scroll work should be kept as one piece if possible  , but the one i posted earlier i could have done it in reverse and cut out the pieces that make up the picture and that would have left it as one piece but i think i would have lost the illusion of the picture if i had done it that way!
Here are two others that i think justify's drop outs / floaters
the first is of my grandaughter Ava that i have posted before and as the photo was a close up i made the reflections in the eyes and the tongue as drop outs / floaters to add realism http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa434/bigpete14/004.jpg
and the next one is the club crest of a local football (soccer ) team that a friend asked me to make  and i feel i had to make it as it was to keep it authentic so there are a lot of drop outs/ floaters in this one http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa434/bigpete14/026.jpg
but i suppose at the end of the day its down to perssonal choice.  Peter  

[mrsn]

I try not to have drop outs and floaters mainly because I aways seem to loose the little pieces along the way. Some projects look really good with drop outs, like your fireside lady.

[joey65746]

 art is art  and if there was only one kind of it we woood not have a great art of the scrollsaw or any other kind of art   enjoy it and have fun and make sumbodys day with what you make that is what keeps me going is comeing up with new projects to make people happy

[mrsn]

For christmas I got a giftcard to half price books (a used book store, and an awesome place to find woodworking books)

I went yesteday and got a couple of scroll saw books, one of them is interesting to this topic.
Scroll Saw Pictures, by Frank Pozsgai - Amazon's Link http://www.amazon.com/Scroll-Saw-Pictures-Illustrated-Woodworkers/dp/0887407757/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325099984&sr=1-1-fkmr0

In the book Frank uses an inlay technique that looks very similar to dropouts being the picture. If you find a copy of the book it might be interesting

[Keefie]

My personal preference is to have everything connected, but in the case of the lady picture I think you have captured the effect perfectly, my only question is Was it from a pattern or did you have a model sitting by the fire??