Tom Paine

[Gill]

A change of avatar usually means a project I'm working on is nearing completion. This one followed the new avatar a little more quickly than normal.

Undeterred by the mixed response to my segmented portrait of Ronnie Barker, I've come up with another. This time it's Thomas Paine, the 18th century radical. As usual, it's cut from MDF and painted with acrylic.

I had a couple of problems with this. Normally when you're scrolling tight turns you can just spin the material quickly and the turn is made practically on the spot. With this pattern, there were some very fragile bridges which made spinning the workpiece rather perilous. As a result, I found myself 'interpreting' the pattern rather than following it .

The other major problem was that I created a 'frame' of outer segments which, because of the blade kerf, made it impossible for all the inner segment edges to match up. I had hoped that the thickness of the paint would compensate, but it didn't.

So it's got flaws, but I enjoyed making it and learned a lot in the process.

Gill

PS I must pass on my thanks to Carl (Canadian Scroller) and others for all the help they gave me in designing this piece.

 

[StevieB]

That look far more challenging that Ronnie Gill, nicely done! Excuse my ignorance though, never heard of the man - what did he do to be a 'radical'?

Nice paint job too, from the avatar it could be a marquetry piece!

Steve.

 

[Taffy Turner]

Very nicely done indeed Gill!

I can't see ANY flaws at all!!

Regards

Gary

 

[Gill]

There's a Wikipedia article about Tom Paine here. He was an agitator during the times of the American War of Independence and French revolution, being active in Britain, America and France and upsetting the authorities everywhere he went.

He wrote a number of works which have since passed into the vernacular, such as Rights of Man and The Age of Reason. Tom Paine was a liberal who advocated such reforms as democratic government, an end to monarchy and the introduction of basic common entitlements. His works were enormously influential in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, along with other radicals such as William Cobbett and Jeremy Bentham, and paved the way for the society that we live in today.

Tom Paine's a bit of a hero to me.

Gill

 

[chrispuzzle]

Great piece of work Gill, whatever the flaws you can see, it is a most expressive portrait.

Now of course we know why you are such a harsh critic of your own work: "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." :wink:

Chris

 

[Mark68]

Thats brilliant Gill.

How long does it take you to do a picture like this??

I can see myself in the future adding a scroll saw to my tools.

Mark.

 

[alanjm]

Very nice piece of work Gill. Do you prime your MDF before applying your colours?

 

[CHJ]

Great piece there Gill, surpassed the proof of the pattern I saw by some margin I would say.

Your ability to finish MDF puts me to shame, me and good surface finish on the stuff do not go together.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Gill

Well done, that is a lovely piece. I'm really impressed.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Gill]

Thanks guys .

Chris, I'll have to make a note of that quotation - it has such a resonance!

Do you prime your MDF before applying your colours?

I paint the bare MDF with a coat of Wickes acrylic primer/undercoat, give it a light sanding to remove any loose fibres, then I apply a second coat of primer. Most segments usually get two coats of acrylic paint depending on how strong the colour is. Sometimes more than two coats are needed. One day I'll pluck up the courage to use my airbrush on one of these projects and get a finish which doesn't suffer from brush strokes.

Cutting this project only took a couple of hours. Designing the pattern took much longer - days and weeks rather than hours - and although it was primarily my work, some other pattern designers did make important contributions. Then there was the sanding and painting afterwards which took the best part of a week, on and off. The good thing about painting, though, is you can listen to the radio while you're doing it .

Gill

 

[alanjm]

Hi Gill
Ah the painting....I make childrens jigsaw puzzles mainly (but not exclusively) from MDF, unfortunately i tend to get a backlog that require painting as there always seems to be a pattern round the corner that gets you excited that you just have to cut out. Have you ever used these enamel paints like humbrol for your MDF projects?

 

[Gill]

Hi Alan

I used enamel paints on the ChrestensenBurghout design Fisnarl :

It underwent the usual couple of coats of acrylic primer/undercoat, then I painted enamel over the top. Two coats of enamel were required IIRC.

Actually, this project represents my only foray with an airbrush. I sprayed a variety of thinned black and dark grey paints at the head to give it what I hoped would be the look of an exo-skeleton. I'm not sure how effectively it resembled an exo-skeleton, but the effect is quite pleasing.

I've also used metallic aerosols, particularly on another CB design, Mentora:

Gill

 

[Lin]

Gill, This piece is great. After clicking on the link you supplied and viewing the pic on that page...You have captured "Thomas Paine" totally. Excellent work...your painting looks wonderful I can't see any brush lines...remember these pieces are suppose to be viewed from a distance.....You done good...
Lin