MAGNETIC PICTURE FRAME, 2015
Recreational
“семья”means “family” in Russian.
This is a 4-photo picture frame I designed as a gift for someone special. Underneath the maroon heart, is another heart with a bolt through it that clamps down on 4 pieces of glass. The maroon heart has magnets inside that attract to the heart underneath to hide the bolt and add a meaningful touch.
The Design Process
PROTOTYPING
Who doesn't like hand-made gifts? Rather than buying a picture frame I decided that a great Birthday gift was to make a hand-made multi-picture frame. After laser cutting the frame, I prototyped the aesthetics (veneer, letters and heart) by laser cutting a silhouette out of some scrap acrylic I had lying around.
CUTTING THE GLASS
I've never cut glass before, but after watching a couple of Youtube Videos it wasn't that bad. I was able to cut 5 glass pieces (one extra just in case) to 1/16" precision.
One big piece of advice: MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES AND SAFETY GLASSES!
CHOOSING THE FINISH
As most woodworkers will tell you, the finish can either make or ruin your work of art. I ha some different stains lying around at MIT, and made sure to paint a few scrap pieces of wood before I stained the frame. The winner was the Clear Polyurethane!
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
I really liked the natural color of the birch wood so the clear polyurethane gave the best gloss. Sorry for the lack of contrast with the background in the pic. :/