In my gallery, there are a few pictures of tea light stands. The patterns of the Three Crosses, the two Doves, and The Hummingbird are not my own. The butterfly, however, is. I traced a picture out of a picture book, but the electric cord was my idea. Here is the story of how that happened

I had started carrying a small photo album in the car with me to show anyone interested in seeing them. I showed a friend some of the pictures of the scrolled items I had made. I had been scrolling for about a year.

He enjoyed the pieces and remarked how incredibly detailed a scroll saw could get. When he turned the next page, he saw a grouping of my tea light stands. He stopped and looked up at me and said, “You can scroll candle holders?” My answer was that yes, as long as it is that style base as the tea light holder. His following words made me a bit nervous. He asked if I could make it electric. He then explained that his mother was in a convalescent home and could not have any type of flame burning in the room.

I asked if he could give me a couple of weeks to research it. He said no problem and then asked if I had a butterfly pattern. I said, “not at the moment, but I’m sure I can come up with something.”

I went home and researched everywhere I could think of to find a scrolled electric wooden stand pattern. I found nothing, and as I was about to give up, I noticed a cord with a 4-watt bulb at the end of it on one of the websites. Talk about light bulbs; the one in my head finally clicked on! I went downstairs to my workshop and measured the hole for the tea-light cup and found that it was close enough to the size of the end of the light bulb cord. I could always add some kind of decorative metal grommet to the edge if I needed to.

Finding a pattern to adjust to scroll sawing took a minute or two to find, and I had my design. I am not sure who was more surprised, my friend or myself, that I had the whole project done in about a week.

A pleasant surprise for me was that in the not-so-distant future, I would be building another one of these for my very own granddaughter!