DIY Scrolled Bookends (Boston team logos)

My nephew, who lives near Boston, is a big sports fan so I decided for his birthday I would make a gift that’s both useful and fun.  I opted to cut out his favorite team logos on the scroll saw and attach the logos to wood bookends for a one of a kind gift.

A DIY tutorial to make scrolled wood bookends with Boston sports team logos. Choose your favorite team logo and make a set of wood bookends.

Since my nephew is both a Boston Red Sox fan and a New England Patriots fan I had to make one bookend for each team.  It’s always nice to have a pair of bookends although one bookend works just as well.  And it just so happens that the Patriots are now in the Superbowl this year!

Are you dying over that tiny patriot profile?!  It’s so darn small the cut between his lips is just the thickness of the scroll saw blade.

My absolute favorite thing about scroll projects is the dimension.  When a piece pops out at you it comes to life unlike a flat object.  The scroll work makes the logo 3D, even with just a few layers, and that’s what makes it magical.

Fair warning this post has quite a few beautiful pictures of these bookends.  I tried to capture the full effect of a scrolled logo however until you see it in person and make one for yourself it’s hard to describe.

Down below is a step by step tutorial to make these scrolled bookends.  If this is your first project I recommend a simple logo with few layers and once you have a bit of practice on the scroll saw you’ll feel ready to tackle a logo with more details.

Supplies:

• sports team logo
• MDF of various thicknesses (1/8″, 1/4″ 3/8″, 1/2″ )
• scrap boards (I used a 1×3 and 5/4 x 4)
• scroll saw
• acrylic craft paints
• paintbrush
• sandpaper
• rapidfuse super glue gel
• pin nailer & 1/2″ pin nails
• drill & 1 1/4″ wood screws

Step 1: Use google to find your team logo then save the jpg to your computer.  Open a blank word document then insert the logo into the document and modify the size.  For these bookends the logos are 5″ x 5″.  Also I print in greyscale and print multiple copies.

Step 2: Use the scroll saw to cut out the logo parts.  Determine which areas will be most forward then work your way back varying the material thicknesses.

This is my scroll saw set up and I use Olson blades.  A 20 TPI reverse tooth blade works great for these small detailed cuts.

I shared this project on Instagram stories as I was cutting the pieces.  You can see the different material thicknesses labeled above.

Once all your pieces are cut out begin painting and sanding.  For lighter paint colors consider a white base coat.  Also use your first coat as primer and wait to sand until the first coat is dry.  Because of the small size and detail of these pieces any sanding tends to alter the shape ever so slightly so the less sanding the better.

To construct the wood bookend cut out a 5 1/2″ circle from 3/4″ pine.  Keep one side flat in order to attach to the 1×3 base board.  Center the circular backing on the 1×3 base piece and attach using wood glue and 1 1/4″ countersunk wood screws from the underside.  Next add the larger 5/4 base attaching from the underside using wood glue and 1 1/4″ wood screws.

Once the paint is dry on the scrolled pieces you are ready to attach them to the wood backing.  Use rapidfuse super glue gel and pin nails on the base layers.  Be sure to keep the nails hidden under the top layers.  The rapidfuse works great for small pieces and dries fairly quickly.

See how the layers above stack up to make dimension.  Take care to be sure your most prominent part of the logo is the first layer and work your way backwards from there.

Thanks for joining me for this scrolled wood bookend project.  Cheers to many more scrolled projects in the future!

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