This is a field easel I have been working on. I attached the camera mount piece to the wood easel. It clips in and out of the tripod very easily. The idea was to make it as simple and light weight as possible, yet sturdy enough to handle a canvas that is 21″ high.
Everything folds up small enough to fit in a backpack or bike bag. Very cheap too. I could probably make all the components to attach to any tripod for $30.
I have recently put together a 5″x 8″, three ring binder to help organize my work notes. (I know it may sound a little nerdy but my memory just has not been the same since my college education). I have broken it up into two sections then there are three sub categories for each.
1. Art Notes:
a.Painting
b.Drawing
c.Sculpture
2. Shop Notes:
a.Woodworking
b.Home Improvement
c.Landscaping/Gardening
Basically I am trying to write down any key tips that have to do with any of these categories. Such as: How to make good canvas stretchers, what gesso I used, or what brushes really work good for different techniques. Or with woodworking, I am always experimenting with different finishes but often forget what I used for a certain piece.
This work notes binder is just a way to keep track of techniques and results that I learn from personal experience. And I can use it to organize magazine articles or internet print outs. This idea is a result from being frustrated when I am doing something that I have not done in a while and have to learn it all over again. So hopefully this journal will help solve that problem by making personal work experiences easier to reference.
I have been working on this flat file for a while now and it feels good to have it done. The drawers are 35″ x 44″, a fairly good size for plenty of paper and matte board storage. The most challenging thing was getting the drawer slides to work. I built the cabinet first before attaching the top, and had trouble with it staying square. But once the top was screwed on, the slides and the drawes lined up perfectly. I ended up using 16 steel balls for each slide. More balls gives it more support when opening and closing the drawers.
A close up of the homemade slides on the inside of the drawer.
I have been working on a couple of cabinets to help organize my art supplies a little better.
The painting cart was made entirely out of scrap plywood and particle board. With the casters it is very functional. It is also a good place to hide paints and thinners from children.
This cabinet is still in the early stages of construction. When it is done, it will have five or six drawers to store paper, matboard and anything else large and flat. The drawer is 35″ X 45”. The reason I want to show it at this stage is because it has some interesting drawers slides.
I dadoed out side rails just big enough to fit a 3/8″ steel ball. There is also a groove on the bottom of each side of the drawer that corresponds with the balls and the slides. That way the drawer stays in line when you pull it in and out. There are six balls on each side.
But when the drawer is pulled out past the midpoint, a stopper keeps the balls in back from rolling any farther. Then it is only supported by the balls in front. Even though it is not a perfectly friction free system, the drawer moves in and out with surprising ease!
Last weekend, I did something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time - get to know a sawyer. I’ve been on a big local kick lately, and finding someone close to home who cuts wood close to home seems to me like the environmentally appropriate thing to do, and I like the idea of my work being grounded in the place I call home.
Tyler Evans of Urban Hardwood Recovery works by day as a computer guy, something I know a little bit about, and as I do, he seems to find a certain satisfaction in working with his hands. And a chainsaw. And some pretty advanced thermodynamics, in the form of a home-built, industrial strength wood kiln that resides in his backyard. When Sarah and I visited, Tyler had a full load of Oak going, in the middle of a 4-6 month drying cycle. The kiln, tucked behind his unassuming suburban house, is capable of drying two stacks of lumber 23 feet long, five feet high, and about nine feet wide. That’s a lot of lumber, way more than even the most dedicated hobbyist could use. So he’s taken to selling it, out of his home.
The lumber all comes from the Portland area, as the name of his company might indicate. Property owners call Tyler when a tree falls down or wants felling, and he comes out with a chainsaw and trailer to remove the tree. He then takes the wood to another guy with a bandsaw mill who slabs the tree into lumber up to four inches thick (try finding 16/4 oak at your hardwood supplier sometime), which Tyler then carts home to air dry before kilning. Depending on the situation, he slabs some trees himself with an Alaskan Mill
As you might imagine, Tyler has some pretty good stories to share of hidden items within the trees he removes. He showed us a railroad spike and toy car which had grown into the trunk of a tree, probably after being placed there by a small child somewhere along the way. Bullets and nails are also especially common, and like toy cars and railroad spikes, often damage the bandsaw blades.
The selection on hand Saturday included Oregon Cherry, Black Walnut, English Walnut, Spalted Maple, and lots of other interesting pieces that you wouldn’t typically see in a lumberyard. While we were there, a guy showed up and bought some lumber that only a mother … err … woodworker could truly love, including some old barn wood rescued from Tyler’s fire pile, and a piece of White Oak with flame, curl, tiger … pretty much any hard-to-plane grain pattern you can think of … all in one board. This slab of spalted maple burl was particularly impressive - about 12 inches thick and 2 feet square. It will make quite a bowl for someone.
I went home with a really nice piece of 8/4 spalted maple about eight feet long and 12 inches wide, as well as an incredible bit of 8/4 Black Walnut of roughly the same dimensions … all for the very reasonable price of $150. Turned into veneer, those boards will go a long way. Plus, wood from other lumberyards would be more expensive, and without the stories I got to hear while browsing. Urban Hardwood is not the kind of place you go to stock up for a project; rather, it’s the place you go to imagine your next project. If you’re a woodworker in the Portland area, I suggest you get to know Tyler. If you’re not, seek out a local sawyer for your next project.
I have been working on a new easel design that has a sliding hand rest. The top and bottom guides are both adjustable to the size of the canvas. And it also tilts forward and back to get the right angle.
The wing nuts make it easy to adjust and I dadoed out the slots on the back supports so that it would slide on track.
This is a close up of the rollers at the top of the hand rest. It works pretty smooth.
Over all I am happy with how it turned out. It is very functional and made for a fraction of the cost of buying a new one from the Art store.