I'm a big fan of 3M spray mount repositionable adhesive too. I've tried using masking tape to protect wood from patterns and found that conventional tapes are simply too sticky - they damage the wood when you try to remove them. I've never had this problem with artists repositionable adhesive. It's true that the longer you leave the pattern in place on the wood, the stronger the bond becomes. However, the worse experience I've ever had is removing traces of paper with white spirits - and that only takes a matter of seconds, leaving no damage or residue. In my experience, you can leave repositionable adhesive attached to a project for several weeks without concern. I'm surprised Andy (dedee) experienced problems removing it after only 24 hours. The manufacturers suggest you should leave the adhesive to 'go off' for a few seconds before applying it. Perhaps you should rest it a little longer, Andy? I normally allow about 30 to 60 seconds.
I've just bought some of the painters blue masking tape from B&Q that Les spotted (I believe it was Les) so I'll try that shortly. A lot of scrollers claim that the lubrication applied to the outside of masking tape lubricates their blades and therefore improves longevity. I'm not too sure about these claims but anything that protects the wood as it's cut has got to be worth considering.
By the way - the stand's coming on a treat, DW
. I like the way you've used Adobe Elements so effectively. I design patterns like that too, but I use JASC Photoshop Pro (PSP) for my work. If anyone wants to learn more about how to use PSP, there's a nifty free tutorial
here that I can personally recommend as being very instructive and great fun.
I presume you cut the curved area on your bandsaw? It's just like scrolling, but with a bigger blade!
Gill