Never Ending

     This week has been full of bad fortune and loss. My grandmother passed away early this morning and my dog Whiskey now only has one eye. Through all that I am still working on these ambrotype cases. I have been to Harbor Freight about four times since Tuesday and Sears four times since yesterday on the hunt for the perfect saw. I have gone through three saws. One table saw from Harbor Freight, a Craftsmen fixed miter saw from Sears, and finally my Craftsmen compound sliding miter saw. Long story short I had to convince the guy at Sears to sell me the display and I have to go back and re-purchase the table saw from Harbor Freight sometime this weekend. Oh did I mention the weather man says it is going to RAIN THIS WEEKEND!? This weekend I am scheduled at the Folk Tree! UH.....


Here are some pictures with accompanying helpful hints.

Here is the saw that solved all the problems. The pre-cut Hobby wood I get from Lowe's is 6"inches in diameter and the stationary miter saw would not reach through the wood. I love this saw and would say it is awesome. Doing angled cuts on this bad boy is a bit scary, but perfectly fine. The laser also is actually accurate unlike the stationary saw from Craftsmen.

After cutting the wood here are my first two practice boxes.

Here is one of the boxes from Michael's. I am practicing wrapping it with paper. Using a super thin material like paper is way easier to wrap a box. It comes out much cleaner and fits together much nicer. There is one paper which I wrapped my box in I got from Michael's for $1.99 and it is between a paper and fabric. It does not tear easily and has a fabric velvet feel to it.

After I wrapped the box. I went to wrap the second side and realized it was lopsided.

Constructing and gluing together one of my cases/shadowbox.

Gorilla wood glue, but it takes forever to dry.

This spray paint from Blick for around $8.00 has made a huge difference to my wood trim. This paint really makes the wood look like a decorative metal foil. I am so thankful I found this stuff! I also bought a chrome/silver to use when I layer the frames.

In person it looks like metal! I did two more coats after this one to really make it shine.

The shadow box was really deep and I wanted to lift it just a bit so I added another sheet of wood inside.

In the gap I plan to drop in another wood frame to go on the outside of the gold metal one. I need the Harbor Fright table saw to cut the small pieces at a 45 degree angle.

The box is glued and ready to go!

I lightly sanded the box and then I wrapped it in paper. 

The true color of this is the red curtain you see at the movie theatres. Still working on this folding business, but I have imrpoved greatly.

Feels like a velvet and is bright bright red. In the store it looked more muted in the store.