www.finescrollsaw.com

Medusa's box

 

 

Medusa is a character in the Greek mythology. Briefly, she was transformed into a monster by Athena, who was jealous of her beauty. She had snaked for hair, and was so hideous that anybody who stared at her was turned to stone instantly. She has been represented countless times through history in diverse types of ornamentation, starting with the Greeks and Romans.   

   In this section I show you more pictures of Medusa's box along with several pictures taken during its construction. These pictures do not intend to be an exhaustive account or complete instructions, just some comments that can be of interest.

   The box has 12 sides and a diameter of 27 cm (about 11 inches), though of course the pattern can be resized at will.

 
masking tape, scissors and wood scroll pieces of Medusa's box before removing the glued pattern unfinished Medusa's box

    I use masking tape to transfer the pattern to the wood. It sticks strongly to the wood. Once the piece of wood is covered with the masking tape you can glue the pattern to the masking tape and proceed to cut the pieces. The wood used is 4 mm Baltic birch plywood.

When the pieces have been cut the masking tape can be easily removed and leaves no residue at all, at least the one I found. In this case I did some stacking so I got some extra pieces for a future box, particularly the cover of the box, which has many holes.

  It is essential to check that all the pieces fit before continuing.

 
gluing felt behind the sides of Medusa's box Medusa's box with sides protected with masking tape Medusa's box interior finished with glossy varnish

After dyeing the wood and finishing it with several sprayed coats of glossy polyurethane (or whatever you prefer), the back of the fretworked pieces is covered with a contrasting material, in this case red felt.  Do not cover the fretwork pieces with felt to the top, leave a short distance uncovered in the upper side so that when the interior is covered with wood a groove is created. This groove is later filled with wood paste.

Once the box is mounted the fretwork is covered with masking tape to preserve the felt clean of saw dust. The interior of the box is covered with pieces of wood. The height of these is the same as the height of the exterior pieces but the width depends on the thickness of the felt you have used. You have to measure accurately and do some sanding here. The groove in the border is filled with wood paste and sanded.

 The interior of the box is then treated to obtain the finish of your preference, in this case with several coats of glossy polyurethane.

 
medusa's box and its cover once finished close view of Medusa's cover showing the red felt side view of medusa's box showing the red felt effect

 The cover is treated in the same way. The fretwork pieces are dyed in oak color and the rest of the pieces in walnut, to create a nice contrast.

 

The soft texture of the felt creates a staring effect.

 

  The final aspect of the box can be seen here.

 

The pattern of Medussa's box is printed to make the box with 4 mm wood, but of course it can be resized at will. This table gives the measures of the box depending on the wood thickness you use:

  Height Diameter
3/6 in. wood 5.4 in. 12.4 in.
1/4 in. wood 7.2 in. 16.5 in.
4 mm. wood 11.5 cm. 26.5 cm.
5 mm. wood 14.4 cm. 33 cm.
6 mm. wood 17.3 cm. 40 cm.

   Please note that this pattern is registered and copyrighted. If you would like to have it I offer it for 9 € plus shipping. The pattern is computer made, which provides total precision, and nicely printed for convenient scrolling. Click here to buy this pattern. Write me to info@finescrollsaw.com for any questions.

 
This project has been made by Juán Vázquez from Sevilla, Spain.
 
   These pictures have been sent by Jose Luis Tellez from Celaya (Guanajuato, Mexico). 
 
   These pictures have been sent by Juán Manuel Gil Rey from Náquera, Valencia, Spain.
 
   These pictures have been sent by Alperen Taciroglu from Turkey.
 
    This picture has kindly been sent by Santiago Fernández from Burgos, Spain.
 

Site Map

General: Home - Scroll saw examples - Free patterns 1 - Free patterns 2 - Free patterns 3 - Patterns for saleHistorical books - Shopping recommendations - Hegner review - Questions and answers - Links Scroll saw tutorials:   Medusa box - Security box - Egg clock - Eiffel Tower - Sun clock - Washington box

This site uses the cookies Doubleclick, Statcounter and Google Adsense to improve the user experience. You can delete these and all other cookies or to block its use from the options menu of your browser. Cookies are harmless text files used by all web sites.

 

 

www.finescrollsaw.com