I mentioned a while back that I was making a picture frame for my mixed media piece in my woodworking class but I never did get around to showing the finished product.
Clarence, my instructor, was very patient with me. As I mentioned, I started with a 9" wide plank of pine lumber and ended up with my custom made 3" wide 8" x 10" frame. I wanted to keep the profile very simple and chunky so we stayed with simple angles instead of using some of the curved router bits that Clarence used on his own frame.
Making mitred corners is a very exacting process. You need to take the thickness of the blade itself into your measurement if you want to get a close fit. With Clarence's help and a double dose of "measure twice, cut once" I was able to get a pretty good fit and sanding took care of most of my cutting imperfections. Since I wanted to coat my frame with a gloss black paint, instead of staining it, that was a good thing. I could have used a sandable wood filler if gaps in my corners had been noticeable.
I put three coats of gloss black acrylic paint on my frame. I let the paint dry overnight between coats. I let the frame dry for more than a week before putting the picture into the frame because I found that paint drops that appeared on the underedge of the picture side of the frame appeared to be tacky and I didn't want them to stick to the painting. I tried to sand them off to the best of my ability but I also didn't want to disturb the paint that would appear wear the frame met the edge of the painting. I wasn't putting glass or a mat in the frame so the frame would be touching the artwork itself.
Here is the finished result.
It feels good knowing I made the entire piece, frame and all.
Here is a closeup of one of the corners.
With the gloss black paint, it almost looks seamless.
Do you remember the wooden cover I posted a while back .... the one from my woodworking course? Well, I finally made something with it and the picture was downloaded when I downloaded the ones from BookBinding III. Do you remember what it looked like?
Well, here is what the finished book looks like.
After staining the oak ovals, I gave them a coat of varathane and lightly sanded them and them put another coat of varathane on them. Then I put eyelets into the predrilled holes. Because the wooden covers were thick, I was able to insert an eyelet into each side of the cover.
I drew a template to cut out my signatures for my text block and sewed them over leather thongs that were then laced through the centre four holes of the covers. The middle two thongs were tied together as you see in the picture above and used as the book closure. The upper and lower thongs were threaded through the remaining eyelets and glued down.
I had a single earring and used that as the decoration for the cover. I traced that onto the book and then carved a groove that would allow me to embed the medallion into the wood for gluing. I didn't like the bald look of the brass meeting the wood, so I used some silk cord and glued that around the circumference of the medallion. This seemed to give it the definition is was missing.
I can't say that this book was well designed because I drilled the holes in the wood without really thinking through the book design. That sort of came after and is not the way I would do it in retrospect. I definitely put the cart before the horse in this project and most of the time I was working out how to make things work. In the picture with the book open, you can see the problem I ran into with using an oval.
I still like the idea, though. I'm just going to think it through from the perspective of a book first, before I cut the wood. I'm not going to let the power tools go to my head.
I've been busy but I have posted anything about my projects. A quick update.
My woodworking class has been going well. My frame is complete and is just waiting its coat of paint. I've given it a final sanding and just have to find the gloss black that I want to complete it. I should take a before and after picture for posting.
My last woodworking class was about using the band saw and scroll saw. The project was to make a two piece Christmas tree out of 1/4" thick wood and when the pieces were slotted together, the tree would stand up. One piece had a slot in the top and the other had a slot in the bottom - you know the type. I chose to do some of the cuts on the band saw (the blade always cuts down so the wood doesn't jump around as much) and the more curvy cuts on the scroll saw. I have a harder time with that one because the blade goes up and down so the wood wants to rise from the deck of the saw.
It didn't turn out too badly. I haven't taken a picture yet, but I will. More practice is definitely needed. After that I tried a piece with interior cuts on the scroll saw. For this, you need to drill holes in the pieces to be cut out and thread the scroll saw blade through the drill hole in order to cut out the piece. I finally understood that I control the speed at which the wood moves (duh!) so I was able to slow things down and control my turning of the wood a bit more precisely. I still need practice with turning 90 degrees to make a sharp corner. I tend to wander and make a rounded corner instead. At this point I need to be forgiving with myself because I've only been working with the scroll saw for 2 hours. I'm happy when I can stay on the pencil line.
Those two hours have given me a great appreciation for those who do fretwork on the scroll saw. The patience and skill required for that work -- wow!
I am really enjoying these classes and I'm sorry that we have to take a break for the next three weeks. Our instructor will be away and we won't resume until the end of November. Oh well, it's not like I don't have other projects on the go to keep me busy.
This bookbinding video came my way and I wanted to share.
Bookbinding Old School
At this point I don't know any other way of showing it, so I'll just post the You tube link.
Life has been busy but I'd be hard pressed to tell you exactly what I've been doing. I have been to my next woodworking class though. I have an update to post. Here are pictures of two sets of wooden books covers that I am working on.
This is an oval cover with it's first coat of stain. I used the drill press to place holes 1/4" from the routered edge. I'm going to use a Coptic binding for this book. I have to sand between coats of stain and then use varathane on the cover to seal it. I'm thinking of embedding a small metal medallion in the front cover -- just a thought at the moment. If I do that -- it will be done before the varathane.
This square cover has a translucent stain on it and as you can probably tell from the position of the holes, I'm going to use a raven's claw binding on this one so I'll be sewing over cords that will be going into the holes. I think I will use leather thongs. You can see the small, yellow, plastic painter's pyramids that the board is resting on. These keep the board up off the surface of the table so that I can paint the sides of the piece. They are very handy. I got them from Lee Valley .
My picture frame is complete and clamped and the glue is setting as I write. I should be able to post a picture after next week's class when I pick it up. I wanted it to be quite angular not soft since it is going to frame and abstract mixed media piece. I haven't decided whether it should be a gloss or matte black but I think it should be dark to set off the artwork.
I've finally started my woodworking class. It's something that I've been trying to do for years but every time I've signed up for one it's been cancelled for lack of interest. This time I found a class that only required a minimum of two people to run. Luckily, I was the second person to sign up so the class was a go.
It's being held in a proper woodworking shop with floor tools and hand tools available. There are table saws, drill presses, band saws, scroll saws, a compound mitre saw, router, planer, joiner, lathe and belt sander.
The first week was spent getting to know the tools and what they did and learning general safety procedures of the workshop. I was the only student the first week so I had a chance to try out the table saw. To adjust the blade to different heights and to adjust the fence to different distances so that I could cut the correct width of wood that I needed and cut out a notch in a piece of wood to the correct depth that I wanted. I learned how to calibrate the saw to ensure accuracy of my measurements. My instructor, Clarence Jay, is a very patient and knowledgeable man.
Just making that simple 1/4" notch made me realize how easy it would be to make the paper storage unit I'd been wanting for so long. With every new thing thing that I learn I see applications right away. I am so happy with this course.
Our first project is making a picture frame. What a perfect project for someone who likes art!!! It wasn't my idea, it was Clarence's. He wondered if I would have any use for it... We aren't using expensive premoulded framing wood -- we are using a pine plank and cutting it down to the size we want and shaping it how we want. We will be getting several frames from one plank. Just think of the savings and the possibilities??
Next week I will be look at several different router profiles before making my decision about my frame. I'm just loving this!! I don't sound too excited, do I?
More to come...
P.S. while I had some extra time, I was able to use the drill press to drill some holes into some wooden panels that I plan to use as book covers for some Coptic bindings I'm planning. I'll post some pictures when they are completed.
