The folks over at today’s author published a post of mine on “Looking for Inspiration.” Check it out here:
Enjoy,
Andrew
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Wednesday Woodworking – The Miter Sled
Last week I showed Heather’s canvas frame box and this week continues the painting theme. Heather has finished a few paintings and wanted frames for them. Custom frames can be expensive as I discovered when we had one of her paintings framed. Pre-made frames are a bit cheaper, but then you’re tied to what you can find on the shelf and they can add up if need one every month or so.
Heather’s pointed out a few times that I could likely make frames in my shop.
Well, I could if I had the tools and jigs needed to make them. Likely I could make them cheaper than she could buy them and the real advantage would be the design would be our own. This ability to design and build our own frames to match her paintings is a compelling reason for this project – the miter sled.
Standard picture frame design relies on the 45 degree mitered corner. It looks good and is a standard feature. It’s also very difficult to cut accurately. Most of my shop tools aren’t that accurate and most times my mitered corners don’t match and end up looking like something out of the scrapyard. The solution is to build one of these:
The miter sled fits on the table saw to cut the 45 degree angle. This isn’t fully complete as it still needs a few more parts.
I made this one using MDF as I wasn’t really sure if it would work on this saw and it’s the first time I’ve ever built one. Also, I’ve never made picture frames before so I didn’t want to invest too much while I was figuring out how the whole process works. If making frames really becomes something I do a lot, I’ll likely rebuild this with lessons learn out of birch plywood with hardwood for the rails.
The jig ensures that all cuts are precise and when mated together, form a perfect 45 miter in a 90 degree corner. Here is my test piece:
A test corner cut from shop scraps. It actually worked!
Turns out it was a perfect fit.
There are a couple of things left to do on the miter jig: Make a stop block, add a grove for the hold down clamp and put a light coat of varnish on it.
The other tools for framing I already have: Corner clamps, a router table, router bits, and various hand tools. The next step is to make a test frame and then there is a backlog of about five frames to make.
There is one other jig I’d like to make for framing – a spline jig, but that is a project for another day.
If you need me – I’ll be in the shop
Andrew
A Valentin’s Day Story
It was just after sunset on a cold January Sunday when I pulled into the grocery store parking lot. The sky was dark and a slight wind was starting. Sodium-vapor streetlights cast an unearthly orange over the cars and in the air was a slight odor of turpentine.
After shopping the scent of turpentine was still there and my mood was depressed and pensive. At home I put the single serve lasagna in the oven and turned on the computer.
In the word-processor window I typed, “The air smelled like turpentine as he walked into the night air.”
From that sentenced flowed 2,000 more words of a story about man who wakes up in a world where his car won’t start and he is only one left in the world In time the man walks to a park and finds a woman there. She is painting the sky. They talk and he remembers who he is – a dreamer. Then he remembers her, the artist, the one who painted his dream in the sky.
He tells her a new dream and she paints a new sky.
I titled the story, “Turpentine,” and showed it to a few friends. It was somewhat autobiographical. It was something of a wish for a lonely heart.
A few months after I wrote that little story, I started dating Heather. I showed her the story and realized that she was my artist.
That I needed her to paint the sky.
Writer and artist, joined in a common need to create, were married 18 months after I wrote that story in January 2000.
Never dismiss the power of creating and the love to make dreams come true.
Till next week,
Andrew
Friday Wisdom – The Here After
After father moved into a retirement home, he would often say:
I believe in the “here after.” Every time I walk into a room, I ask, “What am I here after?”
How many of you believe in the “Here after?”
More wisdom next Friday,
Andrew
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