It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, this is a tale of two frames.

 

One frame was properly and fitly made, the other also appears well made, but alas, the stock was turned the wrong way.

 

My wife needed a plain frame out of poplar, as she was going to paint it, for a recent counted cross stitch project.

 

I acquire, at great expense, proper stock, whack off 4 feet of stock, rip it, glue it up, wait, and then proceed to cut miters so the frame will be the proper size of the needle work.

 

the plan was for the frame to be 1" wide, 1-1/2", with a 1/2" wide rabbit to overhang the work, and make the rabbit 3/4" deep to allow room for the glass, the work, the backer board.

 

and then....and then FUBAR happened.  i carefully measured, squared it up, glued it up, looked at it with great satisfaction, only to realize that i had turned the stock 90 degrees, and the frame was all wrong.  So had to start over with remaining stock and make another, the correct way this time:

 

needle work Christmas tree in one pic, incorrect frame on left, correct frame on right.  it's being painted dark green.

Well, at now you have a spare picture frame.

Gee, nobody's perfect.

Ya' know @DAB, after sleeping on your dilemma, here's my $.02...at least you were out working in your shop. A "bad" day there is still a good day. You willingly shared your miscalculations here just as a reminder we all can and do make mistakes...did I mention, at least you were out working in your shop.

If the inside of the picture frame fits the pictures you can still cut the larger frame down to match the one on the right.

Edited January 6, 20224 yr by Smallpatch

1 hour ago, Smallpatch said:

If the inside of the picture frame fits the pictures you can still cut the larger frame down to match the one on the right.

true.  the pic fits both frames.  but the overhang of the incorrect frame is 3/4", more than we allowed for covering the edges of the work.

 

got it all cut, glued up, thought "yay, it's square!"  "oh....wait....crud"  sigh.....

i did cut some spline slots and insert some corner splines for the correct frame, to reinforce the miter butt joint, as the glue area wasn't that big.  sanded flush, painted, can't tell they are there.

Do you use the four corner clamps to glue the frame together. I do and before I apply glue any where I then lay the picture in the frame and make sure all fits and is what I am wanting before wasting more time if it ain't what I think I am making . Thats the beauty of using the four corner clamps for it will hold the two corners together as you take the other corners loose to take out the one side to apply glue and still have the same square corners then after you clamp those corners with the glue then you can take the other clamps loose, apply the glue and at any time you can lay your square in to make sure all is still clamped as you are wanting.. and as long as two sides are the exact length you will always have correct measuring corners.. 

34 minutes ago, Smallpatch said:

Do you use the four corner clamps to glue the frame together. I do and before I apply glue any where I then lay the picture in the frame and make sure all fits and is what I am wanting before wasting more time if it ain't what I think I am making . Thats the beauty of using the four corner clamps for it will hold the two corners together as you take the other corners loose to take out the one side to apply glue and still have the same square corners then after you clamp those corners with the glue then you can take the other clamps loose, apply the glue and at any time you can lay your square in to make sure all is still clamped as you are wanting.. and as long as two sides are the exact length you will always have correct measuring corners.. 

i use a Bessey strap clamp, and check square with small speed square.

 

I don't take the needle work into shop, I don't want to get sawdust on it.  otherwise, i'll end up sleeping in the shop. it's heated, but the concrete floor is hard.

the other picture, now in the master bath:

 

white oak with gun stock stain

18 minutes ago, DAB said:

the other picture, now in the master bath:

 

white oak with gun stock stain

That turned out AWESOME Dab. That picture (cross stitch) is just amazing and the oak frame added even more character to it. Thanks for sharing both of your work!

was lucky to find a nice piece of oak at homey depot, had enough for the sides and top (bottom piece is from another piece of lumber).  really nice figure in the wood.

 

frame is 1-1/2" thick, 2" wide, rabbit is 1/2" wide, 3/4" deep (to allow room for the glass, the work).  bevel is 25 degrees, and lip at inside of frame is 1/4" high.

 

kinda heavy, just butt joints at the miters, plenty of material, but i did add some horizontal trim screws on each side, so the glue won't fail and have things crash in the middle of the night.

That's done up nice Dab.  Your wife does nice stitching and a lot of it.  Whew!

5 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

That's done up nice Dab.  Your wife does nice stitching and a lot of it.  Whew!

that mountain scene took from Feb 2021 until early December 2021.  no blank spots, every piece of fabric is covered by a stitch.

42 minutes ago, DAB said:

every piece of fabric is covered by a stitch.

Your wife must have the patience of Job!

Thanks, DAB. Beautiful job by you both. 

Phyl does a lot of X stitching and has hers stretched, matted and framed professionally. Those prices are astonishingly high. You've shown me that it can be done very well in the shop. We need to learn how to properly stretch and mount her work, though. Any tips?

5 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Thanks, DAB. Beautiful job by you both. 

Phyl does a lot of X stitching and has hers stretched, matted and framed professionally. Those prices are astonishingly high. You've shown me that it can be done very well in the shop. We need to learn how to properly stretch and mount her work, though. Any tips?

i build a stretcher frame out of scrap plywood for each work, to the exact size of the finished work (plus any extra for hiding under the frame's rabbit, i normally do 1/2" on all sides).  just some 3" wide or so pieces of plywood, mitered at the corners, and held by some gussets and screws.  wash, stretch, staple to the plywood edges, let dry for a few days (while i build the frame), unstaple and attach to a sticky board, cut glass, insert and done.  very few of her works have been matted, that just means a bigger frame for me to build - ugh, and bigger piece of glass to obtain.

Thanks, DAB. That helps a lot.