# Paso Doble



## Gill (25 Feb 2007)

Yet another painted MDF segmentation on a dance theme :roll:  ! This one, however, has a slight twist because my favourite paso was performed by ice skaters.

I made several drawings of the dancers from various video screenshots and finally produced a pattern using Paint Shop Pro. Then the project was stack cut from three layers of 6mm MDF board using a #3 FD-SR blade. As a result, I've got two more of these already cut and awaiting completion. The edge of each segment was rounded over, first with a knife and then smoothed with abrasive paper. This is what the dry fit looked like:







I wanted it on an oval backer but I didn't have anything of a suitable size. However, ovals are terribly difficult to cut on a scroll saw so I used an old oval-shaped piece of wood as a template and routed around it, using the router base as a guide:









Two coats of acrylic primer/undercoat were applied with sanding between coats, then the skaters were painted with acrylic paints and finished with gloss acrylic lacquer. The backing board was spray painted white and the edges were sprayed silver in an attempt to create a feeling of depth. Finally, the two components were glued together and this was the result:


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## Chris Knight (25 Feb 2007)

Gill - looks very nice indeed and topical at the moment!


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## jimp11 (25 Feb 2007)

Very nice there Gill as always a friend was asking me for square dancing you idea looks like a good one I may give it a try .mot as good as you for shore .


jim


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## chrispuzzle (25 Feb 2007)

Gill -

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing the finishing secrets with us. 

Again you've caught the movement in the figures so well I can see the dance all over again. I think it is hugely skilful to be able to reduce a complex phoptograph of people in movement to a (relatively) simple set of shapes and still retain all the drama of the moment and characteristics of the individuals concerned.


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## Anonymous (25 Feb 2007)

Gill
I love this post of yours as the progress pictures are so informative in themselves.
The finished result is yet another very individual 'Gill' work or art !

As I cut a lot of MDF myself, I know there are drastic differences in 'hardness' from batch to batch. It may be just the picture but the MDF you're showing looks to be very fluffy (read soft) and if that is the case, it's making your finishing work harder than it need be.
A simple test is to rub the face of the MDF with 400 grit wet & dry or similar. If the surface goes/stays smooth as a mirror then it's hard. Soft MDF will never achieve such a smooth finish.
Out of interest, 6mm MDF flooring is actually quoted as being HDF (High Density Fibreboard) so could be ideal for this type of work but you'd need to sand the finish 'veneer' layer off first.

Have you ever thought of using a pin router Gill ?
All that rounding over with a knife must be very time consuming and a pin router would be ideal for any but the smallest pieces.

Here's a link to one I quite fancy making myself.

http://www.intarsia.net/e-book/pinrout.htm


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## CHJ (25 Feb 2007)

Thats excellent *Gill*, The choice of detail to highlight and the close fitting of the pieces make it for me.


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## DomValente (25 Feb 2007)

That's lovely Gill, like it a lot  

Dom


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## Noel (25 Feb 2007)

Hi Gill, I've never really paid much attention to scrolling before but I must confess that is an excellent peice. Detailing is very well executed and the finish is superb.

Rgds

Noel


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## Adam (26 Feb 2007)

Very nice. I'm biased, when I used to dance, Paso Doble used to me one of my favourites. Along with quickstep..

Adam


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## Gill (27 Feb 2007)

Doesn't it warm the cockles of your hear when a project you've worked on for so many hours gets such a positive reception? You're all so very kind, and it's particularly gratifying to hear from a master intarsian such as Jimp11. Don't be a stranger here, Jim  !

Alan - you're quite right. This MDF was 'soft' and it was a pain in the proverbial to sand. Fortunately, after taking it down to 240 grit and applying the primer/undercoat all the loose fibres became set, so after a further light sanding and another coat of primer I was able to move directly to the top coats. Wickes' products get a lot of criticism but I can't fault their acrylic primer/undercoat when it comes to scrolled segmentation projects. Anyway, I'll take some 400 grit abrasive with me next time I'm shopping for MDF - good idea!

When it comes to rounding over, many of the MDF segments I cut are too small and fragile to survive a pin router. I do have a Dremel multi-tool in a dedicated router table with a round-over bit and it works fine on larger segments, but not segments as small as some in this project. For instance, parts of the shoulder epaulettes were less than 2mm thick and would have disintegrated. All you can do is try to graduate the degree of round-over using hand tools because the amount of round-over that looks right on a small epaulette would appear insignificant on, say, a large leg.

Well, that's how I see it anyway  .

Gill


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