Patchwork
The last few weeks I’ve been dragging you the process of working on what I call “mini-frame” based pieces. I started by looking at different combinations, then used some of those in a piece for work. This is what I made up of most of the rest of the pieces:
“Patchwork” 19″ x 27″ acrylic on canvas with safety-pins
After the jump I’ll give you a detail shot and the meaning of life.
Life is a tautology.
-JD!
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September 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I am just setting up a drill press in my basement to drill holes in the edges of some small panels so that I can attach them together. It would be great for me, and perhaps other readers would be interested in the details of how you attached all your mini canvases together…
September 29, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Thank you for the feedback! Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos of the process, but I may be working on another one like this in the future. I’ll try to explain it but it may not make sense without images.
You basically want to create a skeleton of wood that you drill screws through into the mini pieces. Ideally you want to accomplish this with as little wood as possible also, to keep the final weight down.
Generally I start with a frame that encompasses the outside edges of the piece. measure the size of the final piece you’ll be creating and make this frame. If you can fit it on a store bought set of light stretcher bars, that’s easiest because the wood is sturdy enough, pre-cut and usually lighter than the wood you get at the hardware store. If like this piece it’s an odd dimension, you’ll need some tools to cut your own. Hopefully you have access to a miter or something to allow you to make clean 45 degree cuts. If not, just do your best and use some metal brackets to hold the thing together. You’ll also probably want to wrap some cavas (painted or otherwise around the frame to hide the wood.
Once you have that frame, line up all the miniatures together to make sure that they fit correctly within the edges of the frame (use a book or something to allow the center pieces to line up with those resting on the frame).
Pick a corner and drill through the back of the frame you just built into the corner piece. Then pick a second corner, make sure all the edge pieces fit well between this new corner and the one you finished and place it. Then add all those frame between the 2 corners. Now that one full side is complete, again make sure that the full piece fits correctly. Continuously double check to make sure your spacing is correct for the whole piece before drilling a piece in. If you don’t you might end up without enough space to fit a piece and then you have to backtrack significantly.
Once you have all the border pieces installed, cut some cross bars that will fit inside the edges of the basic frame you completed before. if your mini-paintings extend over the edge of the border frame, then just attach the new cross bars to the mini-paintings. Then add all the center paintings to these cross bars.
I hope that makes sense. I’ll update the post with a photo of the back of this painting tonight so you see the skeleton I installed. If I do make a new piece similar to this soon, I’ll photograph the process too.
Thanks again for the interest! I hope to see your result when you finish it.
October 13, 2009 at 1:13 pm
[...] This continues my recent forays into mounting smaller framed paintings onto a common understructure (here, here, here and here). [...]