Eastern Island Statues
Pastel Crayon Sketch by Ernesto Palomino
I credit my paternal grandfather with whatever facility with tools that I have developed. He had a shed full of tools and gave me full access to them to do with as I pleased. My brother and I made simple rubber band propelled paddle boats to use in the mud puddles that remained after a big summer rainstorm. I shaved off parts of the porch railing with a very nice box plane (not something my grandfather really appreciated) and I pounded nails into everything. I often rebuilt the wheels on my bicycle when the bearings in the hubs got filled with sand and learned how to replace the bike chain, fenders and coaster brakes. I worked briefly with an electrician as his helper when I was 14 and worked a full summer in a local hardware store while in high school. I found out early that it is easy to make mistakes with tools, but, when they are used correctly, you can do amazing things with them, too. I have probably saved myself thousands of dollars by doing most of my own home repairs for most of my life. Within the last 10 years, I have finally been able to build a workshop--very nicely equipped--and have been having fun re-learning how to do wood working. Most of my projects to date have been building picture frames for myself and for friends and family members. I now have the lumber and the tools to begin bigger projects and will soon begin building a coffee table that will incorporate some of the mosaic tiles that I purchased in Jordan a few years ago.
I like starting with bare wood and shaping it myself so I can try out some of my own aesthetic ideas. The frame above is made from poplar wood with an embossed wood inlay. The inlay is coated in gold paint and the remaining wood is stained with a dark rubbing stain that, when applied and then rubbed off before it is totally dry, gives a rich, dark finish. It is finished with two coats of clear polyurethane. It took me nearly a year of thinking to decide just how to frame this particular piece. It is a gift to me by my good friend, Ernie Palomino, of Frenso, California and is the original pastel crayon sketch he made when on Easter Island. Ernie uses such sketches as the jumping off place for his larger works and he has several versions of this sketch available for sale. I have mentioned his web site in earlier entries in this blog. The sketch is double-matted. I wanted both the frame and the matting to complement and emphasize the art, and I'm pleased with the result.
The photo below is of a set of frames I did for a friend who was born and raised in China and who had some photos of villagers in her home province she wanted to frame and display in her home or her professional office. The theme I decided on was of what appears to be bundles of reeds like the reeds in the school setting of one of the photos. I used a light maple stain on the wood and blue matting to emphasize the blue in the photos. Light-colored frames are not very common at the moment, so the effect is a little unsettling at first glance, but, as she said, "they grew on me." It was a real pleasure doing them for her and I was happy that she appreciated my attempt to do something unique for her photos. As a psychologist whose work often doesn't result in immediately observable outcomes, working with tools and wood is immensely gratifying. It is clear when your job is done and you get to be around at the end.
"Reed" frames for a friend's photos.