One thing was the search for 6 inch square picture frames - not to be found locally and really not too many to choose from online. But, I really like working with wood and decided to make my own frames for these small paintings.
I've done pretty well with just a miter box and hand tools in the past but I ended up messing up one frame section this time. My husband couldn't resist harrassing me about it and decided that he'd cut the frame sections. Well, that meant 4 sections messed up and a trip to our local home improvement store where he bought an inexpensive compound miter saw, something I've wanted for ages. He also bought this nifty picture frame jig that really works!
As you can see, the miters are about as perfect as they can be but the set-up to cut them took a while to accomplish. First the saw had to be assembled and checked to make sure the angles were true. That all took an hour or so.
Then we made a simple jig to cut the frame sections to the exact same length and then mitered each end. I have to say that saw is really sweet but probably wouldn't be much better than the hand saw if we hadn't made the cutting jig.
So you can see one of those things "cutting" (pun intended!) into my painting time but I really think it will be worth it in the long run. With just these four frames, we've already "paid" for nearly half the cost of the saw and I have at least 3 other paintings in the works that are not standard sizes so custom frames will have to be made for them also. These are relatively large frames so the saw will definitely be paid for with them with room to spare!
And I'm also working on the tile coasters doing a little experimenting trying to find a more cost effective way to produce them so I can sell them reasonably.
And I'm working on producing some notecards for the show in July.
And, I really am painting!
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