I Made Professional Picture Frames from Scratch

i just got tired of the blank walls on my tiny apartment so today we're making a bunch of picture frames that look professional strong and beautiful [Music] [Music] this episode is sponsored by rockler woodworking hardware and all the tools and accessories shown in this video will be linked below the first step on picture frame making is to take the measurements of the artworks and consider which type of frame you want to make the worksheet that i'm using here was downloaded from michael um's website and i've linked it below michael is an awesome artist and has a couple videos on this subject that are great to watch too like in any other project after selecting the wood type for each frame i got to prepping the stock the table saw was the main tool used in this project but there are tasks that can easily be done with other tools i wanted some of the frames to be painted black and i thought they would be cool to see and feel the wood grain that's why i chose a species with an open pore for those so [Music] i only squared two faces for all the lumber i didn't want to deal with tear out on a thickness planer so i use the table saw to when establishing square and straight faces i kept milling the wood strips in sections always consulting the worksheets i chose scraps of high quality mdf that happened to be colored to make some of the frames the gray one will turn almost black when finished and yellow one will be painted white i could then choose the best faces and start making the rabbits as you can see i opted for a boxy look for all the frames i didn't want the faces to be super wide and i tend to prefer frames that have more volume kind of like a museum box look once all the rabbits were cut i could move into cutting the miters for that i chose my new rockler crosscut sled that has this massive protractor i could easily set it to perfect 45 degrees due to its large scale and clamped it firmly the start block is crucial to make sure that you cut the pieces to the exact same length in pairs [Music] i can now start the glue up i wanted to try the simplest method possible that consists in applying tight pawn quick and thick glue to both miters and hand press them firmly together while holding a square for about 15 seconds i glued two pieces at a time and let them sit for five minutes before going ahead and closing the rectangles if your miters make a perfect 90 degree angle this method truly works for the bigger frames i applied a bit of tape to the corner just for good measure i wanted to use v-nails to reinforce the miters and keep this project simple but i ended up not using them because i read that the nails should have at least fifty to sixty percent of the molding thickness since i ended up choosing box style frames that are a lot thicker than wider i opted for another root reinforcing them with splines i made this jig based on my columns video and it worked really well i totally forgot that i needed a flat tooth plate to make the splines look good but quickly realized that i didn't have one the only option was to use one of the blades from the dado set it was a little thicker than the typical 3.2 millimeter kerf blades but it worked just fine [Music] i cut the spline strips with this thin rib jig from rockler the wood runs against the ball bearing and you adjust the fence after each strip is cut i could then safely cut the little splines with a small part sled i really like this sled because the pieces fall off to the right preventing them to heat the blade once they're released from the main stock sometimes small pieces fly over the shop when using a regular slat and i think this one makes the task a lot safer the splines were glued and pushed firmly into the slots make sure they are bottom out to avoid any gaps in the final look i trimmed up the splines with a flush trimming saw and sanded the area right away it seemed to go rather quickly i could then rotate the frame and cut the other half of the splines i angled the cut towards the end and went slowly to avoid breaking the fibers in a sharp corner so [Music] [Music] wow one of the large maple frames had a little defect in one corner so i decided to add a tiny chamfer after tons of hand sanding it was time to apply the finishes and achieve some different looks for the black ones i went with indian ink first and hard black soil as a protective finish i chose indian ink because it is so thin and opaque remember that i wanted the wood grain texture to remain noticeable the yellow mdf frame ended up spray-painted flat white and for the maple and walnut frames i wanted to keep the natural look so i finished them with a clear hard wax oil the same finish was applied to the gray mdf frame as i knew that it would turn it almost black the last step before framing was to cut the acrylic to the appropriate size for each frame i did that using a table saw blade specifically designed for cutting acrylic and plastics and i must tell you that it makes all the difference most of the prints and illustrations were framed in a simple manner but i made sure to get acid-free materials such as foam core double-sided tape and mounting board this is important to prevent artworks from getting damaged over time due to any acids that might be present in non-archival framing materials to secure the contents i used this point driver that i also got from rockler and it worked really well at first i was worried that the maple would be too hard for it but the points were successfully shot into the wood i gave a thorough inspection before closing each frame while searching for those particles in some cases i had to use a bit of tape between the glazing and the artwork to get rid of the specs the original motivation to make this project now was to complete the new black ball cabinet unit that i built on the previous two videos i wanted to integrate the universe print that i screen printed some time ago and decided to build a frame for it since i was going to make that one i gathered some prints and illustrations that i collected over the years from friends and artists that i like and put together this project video it was my first time making serious frames three of them were screaming for something a little nicer so i tried float mounting i cut strips of foam core and stuck them to the inside of the frame with acid-free double-sided tape the glazing will be stuck between the frame lip and the foam core strips i then mounted the art pieces to a backing board that will create the floating look i repeated the process with black foam core for the other two black frames to prevent dust from entering the frame i taped the bags with framing paper tape so last thing to do was to install the sawtooth hangers and a couple of silicone bumpers to help position the frame in the wall as well as keeping the gap consistent all around [Music] and here they are i'm very happy about the way they turned out the universe print looks awesome in the recessed wall cabinet on my studio and i'm super excited to finally hang these around the tiny apartment walls i love the black finish on these although making the splines was not my initial idea i really like them as well as this white pristine frame this was a fun project even though it took longer than expected but that's always the case right i want to thank rockler with working in hardware for sponsoring this video and all my patreon members for the continuous support if you want to support my work too head over to patreon.com gethandstory or visit my online shop and get a print thanks everyone for watching and go get your hands dirty

Channel: GET HANDS DIRTY

Views: 540,449

Keywords: make, build, how, woodworking, diy, yt:cc=on, picture, frame, wood, spline, splines, professional, pro, framing, artwork, photography

Id: s0CshiY6G1I

Length: 17min 52sec (1072 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 30 2021