My beautiful and talented wife had a couple of pictures and a certificate that she wanted to frame and put up in the house. I volunteered to make frames for all of them.
The first item was a certificate from a Sherlockian club in Philadelphia that my wife is a member of, they are called “The Sons of the Copper Beeches” after a Sherlock Holmes story. I thought it would be cool to make the frame out of European Beech which is what a Copper Beech is. I was able to order the material from Rare Woods USA in Maine and it came in great condition and I just cleaned it up a little on my Jointer/Planer before cutting frame material from it. For this frame I put a bevel detail on the inside of the frame. The Beech is beautiful hardwood with a tan to almost pink coloring, this board was also quartersawn making it very nice. It was very easy to work with. I just used General Finishes Hard Wax Oil on it and it looked great. I made an identical one for one of my wife’s friends who is also a member ( hence the “or four” in the title of this post).
The second one was for a print from Calamityware called “Early Unicorn.” I had some left over Wenge from an earlier project and I made a thick square profile frame for this one. I used the same finish and I really like the grain of the Wenge around this image.
The third was a lovely print which I think we saw in a museum which references the “Year of the Rat” from the Chinese Zodiac, we’re both from a year of the rat and there are sewing/spinning references in it so it is very appropriate. I used some left over Sapele for this one and put a rounded profile on the inside of the frame. I like how the reddish color of the Sapele brings out the color in the print.
Frames aren’t terribly difficult but they are nice to see around the house. One small note is that I started using Polycarbonate instead of Acrylic and it is easier to work with because it doesn’t melt so easily when you’re cutting it.
That’s it for this small update.