As Murphy said, If something can go wrong….it will. This past 2 weeks I’ve run into a variety of mechanical snafus: my sewing machine had to go back to the shop, again; I got a new front door installed, but in the process my front door light now doesn’t work; my car broke down today (the alternator, I think).
That said, I’ve been working away at some small projects.
I’m not sure how I feel about building frames; my sister gave me the idea to build a couple of right angles as a sort of “template” for building picture frames. Here’s the template, which is 2 right angles squared with a roofing triangle, and glued to a piece of plywood:
I then cut out the pieces for the frame, which if I decide to glue it together, will be glued and clamped one right angle at a time around the template above:
I don’t know how I feel about the frame at this point. I guess I felt a frame might make my fabric art look more legitimate; but now I think it may look better if I put a fabric binding on it and hang it from a hanging sleeve, like my other pieces. I mean, is a frame really necessary?
I’ll be thinking about that question! Luckily, I can experiment; nothing’s set in stone.
Meanwhile, our 4–6 weeks of spring here in Tucson is in full bloom, at least my patio says so….
…and my wildflowers say so too! I have some tidying up to do and new plants to put in the ground before scorching temps hit next month.
The next few days I’ll be working on some curtains for my friend Mark, who’s in a wheelchair now for 10 years after a bike accident; he loves the Beatles, wants curtains for 2 windows with some Beatles fabric, and right now the project is a pile on my ironing board:
The San Francisco Giants meet the AZ Diamondbacks this weekend, and those games are on the part of the TV that’s still free…..so looks like I’ll be watching baseball and sewing curtains this weekend!
You got me thinking about framing again since the post when you started making the frames.
I still have stretchers for canvas from previous endeavors that I ended up finishing the work traditionally. Something about stretching a quilt just feels kind of off.
I saw some small quilts- less than 12 x 12- that were simple in design that looked pretty good stretched. I still want to give this a try too. 😀
I’m concerned that just using glue on your mitre joints won’t be strong enough. I’d recommend using biscuit joints ( little football shaped pieces of wood inserted into grooves made by a small simple biscuit cutting tool).
Keep us posted on the framing adventure!
Barbara
Yes, any frames I make will be secured with more than just glue; I just used the term glue vaguely to imply fastening of some sort, involving glue partially but not exclusively. I actually have some biscuit joints, I managed to stab myself with one (ouch) when I tried to use it a few weeks ago on my frame project. My sister uses brads, and sets them in just below the level of the wood and adds a smidge of wood putty on top to hide it. I may use that tactic. I don’t know. It’s going to require more experimenting.
Happy to see you posting more yourself on your blog BTW. It’s fun and contagious.