A little 'therapy', part two

This project started yesterday with A little 'therapy', part one.  Because I didn't want to power through the entire project in one day, but rather spread it out over a couple of days, I thought I would spread out the blog posts, as well.

Today I worked on the 'back' boards, which I will mount the smaller frames to.  Two 'back' boards/frame, to make a larger, more visually interesting frame.  I'm making three in total.

These boards were fairly inexpensive at the local lumber yard.  I paid $1.36/board, and one board is enough for two 'back' boards.  I also would need some plexiglass, which I was a little worried about cutting, but I found a tutorial on-line after a quick Google search, and it looked do-able.  One small sheet of plexiglass would be enough for my three frames, and it was $1.98/sheet.

After sanding a rounded edge on each board, which Cliff had cut for me last night, I was ready for the finish.

I really wasn't sure which way to go with these boards.  I had initially thought to paint a layer of white, then a layer of cream, and using the same sanding technique I used on the frames, sand off enough cream to expose the white.  After I got a layer of white on, I noticed that the grayish tone in the wood was coming through the white.  I decided I would just lightly sand off the white, and expose the wood underneath.  It actually turned out well.

 

Now it was time to cut the plexiglass.  Following the directions on the tutorial I found last night, I scored the plexiglass with a very sharp utility knife (no photos of this part, I was more concerned about my fingers than I was taking photos!).  Then, laying it on a table edge, with the score line on the edge of the table, and my eyes closed, I applied pressure to the edge hanging off the table, and it snapped in half.  Despite my worry, it worked like a charm.

I was left with some pretty sharp edges, but referring back to my tutorial, I proceeded to sand off the edges, putting a very slight bevel on them.  What I had was the perfect piece of plexiglass for my frame.

 

Cutting and sanding worked exactly as demonstrated on the tutorial I found.  I love the internet.  Frankly, I'm not sure what I did before Google.

So, part two is done.

 

Stay tuned for part three...