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Making Wooden Photo Frames For Your Own Use

Everyone who is interested in art knows that wooden photo frames can be expensive when purchased in a store. But what if you want an attractive wooden photo frame that competes with the big boys while offering you a huge price savings?

The following are the steps to crafting a wooden picture frame for yourself. Follow these steps and you'll have a wooden picture frame built that's just as good as any store bought frame.

(1)Measure the artwork and the mat of your frame. The most important measurement you're going to need is that of the mat; if you cut your frame to the size of the picture, then you're going to wind up with a frame that is too small to fit anything. This step gets skipped more often than you would think. It's never a bad idea to re-measure, either. If you find an issue with your measurements, it's better to deal with it now than after you've invested your time and money in building a frame.

(2)Purchase the correct quantity of lumber as per your measurements and begin the cutting process. Refer to that first step and the numbers you crunched. Be careful, because you're not going to get another shot at this, so make every piece just right. The idea is to cut the lumber into four pieces, a full length plus the width of the wood times two for each.

(3)Trim each edge to a nice forty five degree angle. When you've accomplished this step, you can assemble your wooden photo frame on a tabletop. If it's not looking perfect at this point, don't worry over much. You still have time left to sand down any imperfections that might appear. If it looks big, get your saw back out and start cutting.

(4) Sand it all down when you're through cutting. If you want your frame to be a work of art in itself, then you're going to have to put in some work with a belt sander. If you don't mind having a shaggy looking wooden rectangle, then by all means skimp on the sanding.

(5) Glue the angled tips of the pieces together and press tight with right angle clamps. This step requires some patience, as it's going to take some time for that wood glue to bind the pieces the way you want them to. Put quite a lot of pressure on those clamps for better binding.

(6)Drive some V nails into each of the sides, one facing in and one out. This will make sure your frame stays together even if your glue job fails. It won't be a permanent fix, but it'll keep the shape you wanted long enough to re-glue your project.

(7) Take off the clamps and let it dry. Let it sit until tomorrow morning. By then, your wooden picture frame should be dry. This is the last opportunity you'll get to perfect the frame, by the way, so if there are scruffy edges make sure you sand them off now. When you're sure it looks as good as it can, add some stain if you'd like a color other than natural wood.

Buying wooden photo frames from the stores can be an expensive trip, but if you'll just put in some hard work, you can build one yourself that is just as attractive as what's in the store.

Article Source: GardenGap.com

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