The Christmas Big'un.

[prospero]

Frame to fit a 7' x 5' 2" canvas.


First step: Make the liner. Rose&Hollis A279. I widened the rebate on my routing table. Big canvases need lots of elbow room.
As it turned out, it was a bit out of square and just fiited. I didn't have the painting on the plot, the guy was still working on it
and no room anyway.....

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You will see I had to build extensions to the table to accommodate the thing. I had to commandeer the front of the shop as it was
too big for the workshop. I don't usually like doing 'mucky' work in the shop, hence the dust sheets. I did manage to underpin the liner
but added steel 'L plates ' on the corners.

[prospero]

Stage 2. Build the core of the frame. R&H A138. Once the liner is made the size is set and the important thing to establish
when multi-stacking is the differential between the long and short sides. This is a constant.

I didn't underpin this moulding. I put a biscuit slot in each corner and cross-nailed them. The webbing strap was a must as was
my newly bought spring-clamp set. Very old school.

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[prospero]

Further corner reinforcement. At this point I had to flip the beast over, which was probably the most problematic thing
of the whole job.

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[poliopete]

So far so good

What device do you use to tighten the webbing?

[prospero]

A big spanner.

[poliopete]

I am a little slow at times, but "a big spanner" jes nas compre par . Do you mean as a tourniquet or some such?

[prospero]

These are brilliant. Unfortunately no longer made.

[prospero]

Next.....

A small reeded moulding fitted on the inside. I ran up a section of pine to form a 'bridging' piece under the rebate of the
bigger moulding.

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[prospero]

Now the tricky part......

Trying to join an 8' x 6' frame for the outer moulding was a bit too much. So I fixed each rail individually. The corner joints don't
need to be especially strong as the strength of the whole frame is in the middle moulding. Took a bit of faffing about to get the rails the
right length. I assembled the four rails 'dry' with the aid of the spring clamps and the removed one at a time a glued them all the way
along. Nailed though into the middle moulding.

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[prospero]

Had to extend the back to swallow most of the depth of the canvas. For this I used a square moulding with the rebate ripped off
and another smaller one with the outer edge chamfered.

The two short sides have a piece of PSE pine glued to the back for the hanging cleats.

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[prospero]

The bare frame completed. I added a few small blocks as strengtheners. Getting heavy at this stage.

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[prospero]

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[prospero]

Now to try to flip it over. I couldn't do it on the table as not enough ceiling clearance. So I had to do a three-point turn
on the floor. This had to be done very carefully. Helps if you have arms like a gibbon.

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[prospero]

While the main frame is off the table, time to finish the liner. All 28+ feet of it. Six processes, so that like doing one coat
on a piece nearly 180ft long.

Grain filled with polyfilla, two coats of ripple paint to prime and then two coats of 50/50 Titanium White/Buff acrylic.
When dry a toning coat of dilute Raw Umber.

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[Steve N]

Following this, love the step by step technique, well done sir

[poliopete]

Absolutely love it much more entertaining than "Silent Witness"

Hats off to prospero

Can't wait for the next installment.

[prospero]

(didn't have to wait long Peter. )

Now for the mucky part.....

Frame is to be black with gold sections. Frame all prepped and any holes filled and sanded.
Building up the black......

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[prospero]

All done and surprisingly zero paint on the walls....

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[prospero]

The un-gold parts masked off and the parts to be gilded coated with Red Oxide acrylic.

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[prospero]

All the gilding applied. Bronze Powder (2.5 Gold) mixed with varnish.

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