I know traditional Mother’s Day gifts usually include things like flowers, perfume, and jewelry, rather than tools, and to be sure all of these are wonderful and much appreciated. But I’ve always wanted something I could use to cut custom shapes out of wood, and I bet you are the same.
You know what I mean. You get an idea for a craft, a gift, or a special decoration, and wouldn't it be great to just do it, rather than have to find it somewhere else?
Now I've found the perfect way to do it.
Butterflies have always captured my imagination in a special way. Growing up in Mexico, I lived just down the road from where billions of Monarchs visited each year. They still visit, but in much smaller numbers, and they still thrill me, even though I live much farther away from them now.
I'd wanted to make some Monarch butterfly-inspired crafts for awhile, then one day I received something wonderful on my doorstep to help me.
Here is my very first project using my new tools.
To do the same, you will need:
- Wood
- Butterfly patterns or paper if you are particularly artistic.
- Pencil
- Paint
- Brushes
- Magnets
- Wire and straight pins
Tools Used:
- Rockwell Bladerunner® for cutting. (If you are not familiar with it, it looks like an upside down jigsaw and blends many of the traits of a jigsaw with many of the traits of a table top scroll saw. I love it! It came with blades for metal, wood, and ceramic.)
- Rockwell Sonicrafter® X2 for sanding (This is an amazingly versatile tool. It's an oscillating tool that can be used for sawing, sanding, rasping, removing grout, and scraping. Very cool!)
- Glue gun (Couldn't live without it.)
1. First, I printed and cut out butterfly patterns for three different butterflies. One small and flat, one big (for a hot pad) and a third small one that I cut into pieces so I could cut out separate piece and then glue them together to make the butterfly look as if it were flying.
2. Using the pencil I traced the pattern on the wood.
3. Using the Rockwell BladeRunner® I cut out the patterns from the wood.
4. Then I used the Rockwell Sonicrafter® X2 with its sander attachment as a very handy sander.
5. Following my pattern I painted the butterflies. I applied 2 coats of orange paint first, then, using a thin brush and brown paint, I painted the details of the butterfly. Finally, I added the white spots.
6. Using the wire for the big butterfly and the straight pins for the small butterflies, I added the antennae.
7. Finally I glued the magnets to the back of the small butterflies and voilá, you are done. For the hot pad, I glued a piece of cork to the bottom.
What do you think? Not bad for my first project, eh?
Disclosure: Please read the owner's manual before using any tool and always follow the important safety instructions.
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