Wednesday, February 16, 2011

how to cradle a wooden panel..

To cradle a wooden panel I referred to a video created by a professor. Here's the links..

But when I was creating my wooden panel, I wish there were instructions that I could have printed out so I wouldn't damage my computer.. So I will tell you step by step what I did...

1. Buy the wood! I went to Lowe's and bought what the video told me to only in the size I needed of course.. I bought quarter inch Luwan and 1x2" select pine. (FYI go in there like you know what you are buying or else the Lowe's people will try to sell you stuff you don't want). Make sure you buy extra 1x2" so you can make supports out of them.

2. Get everything ready! Cut the 1x2" the size you want with a miter saw (45°). My dad didn't have a regular one so we used a miter box which is the same except you use it with a hand held saw instead of electric. 

3. Start nailing! Once the 1x2"s are cut and ready to go nail them together. The way the man did in the video was really helpful because I didn't have a nail gun. 

4. Make some supports! Even canvases need supports or else the canvas will end up breaking. In this case, the wood could end up warping. For the supports, they don't need to be an exact size just make sure they aren't super small or else they won't work. Cut your extra 1x2"s with the miter saw. For my 23x30" panel I just used 10" supports. Once the supports are ready glue them to the frame part and staple them for an extra grip.

5. Attach it all together! Its time to glue the back to the panel.. The way he did was really helpful. Put the back on the panel, line it up, then trace along the sides. Fill what you traced with wood glue and attach the back to the panel. Make sure you clamp it together. In my case, I didn't have enough clamps so I used a bunch of objects...


There's the miter box we used in the middle. Clamps would probably be better to use..


There's a picture of my wiener dog!! Here's a close up of the supports that I made.


 6. Extra hold! Next in the video, the professor uses some sort of drill bit to drill a hole in but also takes out some of the surface so you don't have a notch on your painting. However, My dad didn't have that so we used a bigger drill bit to take some of the surface out and a smaller one to put the screw in. Then afterwards I filled up the hole with wood filler. 

7. Final step!! To prepare my panel to paint on, I covered it with gesso. First I painted all over with gesso going horizontal and vertical strokes. Then I sanded the gesso just a little bit! Don't go sanding crazy!! Then I reapplied gesso. You can sand that layer too but don't go crazy with it again! Here is my panel waiting to dry..


Now my panel is ready to be painted on!!! Here is my food painting so far..

And what its supposed to be..

If I were to do some things differently I would definitely use a real miter saw. The miter box worked but it wasn't exactly precise so my corners are kinda funny. I would also have waited longer to drill the hole in. I think the glue on mine wasn't completely dry and the panel moved from the back a little bit. 

Otherwise I think that a wooden panel is a great alternative to a canvas! Its really durable and fun to make!! Good luck making yours!!

No comments:

Post a Comment