Last weekend I worked on building some picture frames from scratch. They didn’t turn out the way I hoped, but I will probably still use them.
Gold Frames
I wanted to make some custom sized frames to hold some photos and mats for the welcome table at our wedding, one will frame an 8×8 square photo, one an 11×14, and the last was for a 3 5×7 collage photo mat. Except for the 11×14+mat, the sizes I wanted are a little odd and hard to find. I want something like a 12×12, 12×23, and 15×18.
I started with just plain 1×2 cedar boards from the Home Depot and first went over the edges with my router. I cut a slot down the back to hold the glass and photo, and then chamfered the other two sides on the front.
After edging, I cut the boards to length on the mitre saw with a 45 degree angle for each corner. Next, I glued them up with some brad nails to hold the pieces while the glue set. The corners did not come out as clean and square as last time, but that is probably because of using less sturdy brad nails instead of corner clamps.
Unpainted Frames
I sanded them using my random orbit sander and then spray painted them all in a makeshift paint box. The paint box was made from pvc with a plastic drop cloth taped over it. Nothing special, but it worked.
Paint Box
I used grey primer and then metallic gold spray paints. The shinyness of the gold was impressive and better than I expected. Unfortunately, it also showed off all the defects and rough patches.
In The Paint Box
They didn’t turn out as nice as last time. I’ll probably sand them down and repaint to a flat black or other color.