Kentucky

I really caught the woodworking bug a few years ago. I even took some classes at the Kelly Mehler school of Woodworking. Dovetails by hand, and a Blanket Chest (which I never finished) I even went to WWIA in 2011. Unfortunately, stuff has just been on hold since. I remodeled the basement, so everything from there was in the garage. Then it was time to do upstairs, ripped out all the carpets and got hardwood flooring put in. So all the furniture from the bedrooms and dining room were in the garage. What better to do with no furniture in the rooms but to paint each room and then put on new baseboards. The wife and I were basically living in the basement for quite some time.

Now that all the remodeling is done (for now), I have been cleaning up the garage little by little and that has in turn gotten me back to woodworking. It is nice having space again. The Dodge was moved out to a self storage locker and that has really given me room to move.

Today, I used a sheet of 1/4" plywood and cut out the shape of my home state, Kentucky. It was a fun little project, and I have more plans for it, but it gave me something to do on a Sunday afternoon and made me feel like I actually accomplished something. Even if I never finished the project that I have planned, I could paint it UK Blue and then hang it on the wall in my basement.

As I get more and more of the garage cleaned up and organized, I hope to be able to complete more little projects that will eventually get me back on the path I wanted a few years ago. This one is on hold until I get some more lumber.

Postcard picture frame.

On a recent trip to Ikea, we picked up a pack of these postcards, not totally sure what I wanted to do with them at the time. The pack came with 5 cards so the wife and I picked the three we liked best.

I decided I wanted them to stand out from the back of the frame. I cut a piece of  1/4" plywood the size of the postcard and then tilted the blade to 45° and beveled the edges so it would make it look as if the postcards were standing out from the back. I used some 3M spray adhesive to stick them to the pieces of plywood.

You can see the frame pieces in the side of this photo. I made one groove for the glass and another for the plywood backing. I don't really plan on making this frame so that I can change out the cards. Maybe I will for future projects.

I tried my best but it just didn't come out at perfect 45° angles so I had to use a little wood filler on the corners to hide the gaps. Later I am going to paint the frame white.