Propped (And Metallic)

My undertakings of late have been feeling a little intense. Finishing the bathroom. Making new pillows and ottoman covers. Installing bifold doors. Staining the hexagon headboards. To take a weight off, I’ve been wanting kick back and do an eas(ier) project, and that’s what brings me to today’s little tutorial:

How to make an easel frame stand.

Prepared entirely with scrap wood from the basement, it was a f-r-e-e project for me. I cut a trio of 3/4″ x 3/4″ x 14″ lumber pieces to serve as tripod easel legs; because it needed to be affixed together at the top but still splay out in that tri-stance, I sliced a bit off the outer two legs at about a 15-degree angle to allow the legs to angle for stability.

To affix the pieces together securely at the top, I predrilled a hole straight through all three pieces, and then with two 1-1/4″ screws, sandwiched the middle piece of wood by screwing into it from both side. Quick tip: I used a slighter larger bit to widen the predrilled hole just enough to let the screws countersink too.

With the easel base assembled and flexible (thanks to the screws), I used a scrap piece of pine corner guard that we’ve installed on our bathroom windows and around the new bifold door trim. Already cut to length, it also sported matching 45-degree angles. I didn’t hate it, so I left it as an extra little detail. Corner guard makes an undeniably perfect shelf.

With a little wood glue and two small clamps, I set the new easel shelf level and left it to dry for a few hours. As demonstrated in my latest wood-glue-intensive project, the hexagon headboard, that stuff cures solidly.

Where this gets all metallic-oriented is in the finish; a few months ago, I found metallic watercolors in the clearance rack at JoAnn’s ($5.99 marked down to $1.97) so I splurged, which was hardly a splurge. Artist’s quality, make-me-feel-fancy packaging, and a steal of a deal, I was looking forward to seeing how they resolved on paper.

Sidebar: I clearly have a thing for gold these days; maybe it runs rampant like dandelions. I bought sparkly gold faux-Toms. I painted metallic gold stripes on the new living room cushions. And I even tested out the gold watercolor paint on an Easter project a few weeks back, making “The Golden Egg” for Julia’s Easter Egg hunt. And mini-sidebar: Blown-out eggs painted with gold watercolors are amazing until they come in touch with wet human fingers.

Back to it. Not surprisingly, I wanted to use the metallic gold on this picture frame easel too. My plan to paint the easel to appear dip dyed worked in my favor, took 5 minutes, and the paint really complemented the natural pine exposed on the top half. It’s also pretty how the wood grain is still exposed through the gold; ah, the beauty of watercolor paint.

From afar, it’s a subtle addition and looks great on top of my bedroom dresser. And up close, it has plenty of shimmer. Shimma-shimma.

I decided against leveling out the bottom of each leg so it sat flush because the easel itself is designed to change angles. There would never be a perfectly correct angle for it to rest upon.

Instead of dropping in a framed picture that I already had, I pulled two pieces of 5×7 glass and set one of our favorite photos between the panes. I like that the emphasized transparency won’t distract much from the metallic and dipped aesthetic, and even if it is totally exposed glass, it’s not in a place where we’re going to be knocking into it.

What have you made from your scraps lately?