5/20/10

An unusual frame.


I'm making a frame for an 18th. c. "death" portrait of a cloistered nun. The portrait was given to her family, who she hadn't seen since entering the convent at the age of 15. The frame in the picture at right, the portrait has a frame digitally added, and modified for this painting. At the left is a sketch of the profile, again modified, with different angles for each slope. At the bottom of the bench is the sawtooth pattern being chopped out of 1/8 inch plywood. Plywood because it will hold together, and by hand so it will look authentic, with some variance from cut to cut. Scrap under the ply, a "straight" carving tool, and my favorite little mallet.

The design is the customers; I'm just figuring out how to do it ...