Working With Weird Wood: Preface

A few years ago, Nancy took a photograph of her junior-high-school best friend JoAnne’s father on a tractor at his northern-Florida homestead and gave it to JoAnne. After he died, JoAnne brought the picture back, along with some of the old fence pickets from the property, and asked if we could use them to frame the picture. After a lot of research, planning, and experimentation, this is what we came up with:

The pickets were thin, dilapidated, warped, and dirty. The few articles I did find were about “barn wood,” which, although it had a slightly distressed surface, was still thick and sound with straight, flat, parallel, and perpendicular sides – none of which applied here. Those articles were not all that helpful and not all that well written. (If you conclude that this article is not well-written, you can mention its flaws in the comment section below or contact us.) I thought this project could be an opportunity to learn something new and to share it with you. I hope I took enough notes and pictures to show you exactly how this frame was made. At least that’s the plan. [See Making A Picture Frame From Dilapidated Wood]

But First . . .

From math class, you may remember that one problem-solving strategy is to solve a simpler problem first. Then use that answer to help solve the harder problem.  With that in mind, I have an idea to write a series of short articles on working with variously weird wood to make frames. Then I can draw on that information in the final article about this project.  The first article will be about working with pieces of moulding of different widths in the same frame.  Then, I see a discussion of moulding where the inside and outside edges are not parallel.  Maybe then we’ll work with wood with a wavy inside edge.  Following that may be a discussion about what to do when your moulding is curved (but with uniform width). [Check the comment section below for updates.]  But even before the first article, I may have to give a short post about matting techniques [like Thoughts On Mat Layout].  My hope is that doing all of this will expand your view of what’s possible and will stimulate those creative juices.

These articles will probably not be consecutive blog posts. Another art festival season has just begun, and other things will invariably come up as I am writing these pieces.  So please be patient and stay tuned.  Thank you!