28 May 2010

Step 1 - Collect all the underpants!

I've just finished the scrollwork for a picture frame I've been wanting to make for a while. I don't think this is the frame I originally dreamed of, but it will be cool anyway. And I can always make more! I like this very much, although it is pretty far from done. Next time I'll probably keep track of how many hours go into something like this. I didn't this time, but I know it was *many*.

That's 4 pieces of thin plywood that were stacked up and staples driven into the edges. The design was applied to the top layer, and I drilled holes to feed the saw blade into the interior of each enclosed space to cut out, starting with the smallest / furthest inside first, and working my way out. The last step was to cut the outsides, gradually replacing staples with tape so the stack would stay in alignment.

The roundy thing in the center, below the flash glare is a quarter, for size reference. Next step.... paint it, I think. Then paint something to glue it to.

7 comments:

Regan said...

OMG. That is amazing. I'm reading it and I'm thinking the blue is the plywood and you routed the outside. Until I got to the bit about drilling holes. How long did that take? Are you allowed to ask that about art?

Liz said...

Holy crap! That's awesome!!!

224215152 said...

Oh, WOW. I was initially thinking what Regan said, I couldn't wrap my brain around how intricate it is. That is beautiful!

Are you going to attach it as decoration to another wooden frame or attach it directly to a painting or somesuch?

Liz said...

Yeah, the picture on Flickr of Carmelita standing next to it really puts it all in perspective.

Holly said...

And, in fact, the way things work around here, it will probably all end up glued to one of the cats, so it's good to have a reference point.

You can ask whatever you want about art. Whether you get a sensible answer is a totally other question. In this case.... the was probably 6 hours of standing at the saw? I sanded *before* cutting, so only the bottom layer, where the saw blades left some exit wounds, need a little clean up, but since it's going to get painted and glued to something else, I'm going to count on those two substances to hide a lot of, uh, unique touches.

It'll be glued to a backboard, which will become the front for a frame, with a cut-out for glass, and I already know what goes underneath.

However! This process gave me a lot of ideas, and one of those was about incorporating pieces of this kind into paintings and as structural bits of 3D pieces.

Liz said...

I know a picture of an elephant that would look great with that.

Anonymous said...

Holy Cow! I had to REALLY LOOK at that to figure out just exactly what it was, cuz my brain doesn't work that well. That is very intricate and very gorgeous, and I cannot imagine how long that must have taken you to do. Now I know why it was fairly important to you to have a decent scroll saw. That's beautiful, Holly!