I have felt a little creatively flat lately.  It's not that I don't have lots of work on right now, I do, but one thing I've learned in this whole artistic creative process, you have to keep your work fresh and changing or it gets stale.  A couple of months ago I came across a cute little place holder in the shape of a fox on pinterest.  I thought at the time that this little 2 inch high place holder would be a cute design for a jump filler or decoration.  I set the idea aside and went on finishing the work I'd already been commissioned.  That was until last weekend.  I couldn't face any of the projects I had on the go.  It happens.  It just means I'm in a rut, time to do something new and different.

Making a simple 2 inch design and enlarging it is not that difficult for me.  I just do a drawing.  But this project was different it was two pieces of wood that had to fit together and the design on each piece had to patch the design on the other, more engineering than art.  I thought if I did a template first out of foam board I could work out the problems before I started to cut the design out of wood.  Well while the plan was good I was impatient and rushed the foam board pattern.  It is never a good idea to rush anything, especially at the planning stage.  You'd think at this stage of my life I would have learned that lesson, hahahahaha, NOPE.  I did the drawing for the first part and then used it to make the drawing of the second piece that needs to fit into the first piece.  That all seemed to work on paper but what I didn't factor into it was that painted design on the pattern needs to match as well.  I only thought of that after I'd transferred the foam pattern to plywood and then cut it out.  As soon as it was cut out and I went to draw the pattern on both pieces of plywood, and I found the design didn't work.  Annoying, costly and a rookie mistake.  So back to the drawing board, correct the problem and back to cutting out the new design....AGAIN.

Once the problem was solved I couldn't wait to slap on some paint and see how it looked.  Here is the finished prototype.  I'm still trying to decide if I'll leave it as is a simple orange and white design or if I'll had some black highlights.  At this point I kind of like it like it is.  I plan to sell the foxes as individuals and reduced price if you buy two and a little better deal if you buy three.  We'll see if anyone is interested.  They may only ever decorate my sand ring.

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It's important to keep the area you are cutting supported by the table which means you have unclamp readjust the board, then reclamp and start cutting again. You may have to do this 4, 5 or 6 times before our dog is completely cut out.

A final note, make sure you have a good jigsaw, get a fine blade and be prepared to change it often.  Practice on a design that doesn't have too many twists and turns before you attempt a long haired or fluffy animal.  Most of my hairier dogs take about 2 to three hours to cut out.  My most important advice is be patient, mistakes happen don't let it stop you from being creative.