Friday, 19 June 2020

Framing the Chinaman

It was 1981 and Jan was in our allocated Singapore married quarter when the doorbell rang.  An old man was at the door.  He spoke no english, however Jan quickly realised he was trying to sell two paintings.  One of an old man and the other a woman.  Reluctant to purchase both painting; a decision she later regretted; Jan bought the painting of the old man.  Afterwards she realised it had been painted on leaves. 

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Leaf veins

Fast forward 36 years.  The painting frame had been damaged in storage whilst we were in the UK.  Jan asked if I could make a replacement frame? 

There was a short piece of Jarrah left over from the cabinet which would suffice.  I sanded it and then cut decorative edge on both sides using an ogee router bit.

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The reverse side requires a rebate for the painting and it was obviously going to be a difficult task  cutting the rebate after cutting out the piece for the frame.  The logical thing was to make the rebate first again using the router, but with a straight bit. 

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Then it was a matter of running the piece through the bench saw to create the frame profile.

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All that was left to do was make the 45° mitre cuts and start gluing the frame in a simple jig on the assembly table.

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I’ll glue one corner each day.

2 comments :

Jenny said...

What a gorgeous painting, certainly full of memories from your posting overseas. Never seen anything like it, painted on leaves. I'm sure your new hand crafted frame will give it a new lease of life.

Tom and Jan said...

Jan has always regretted not purchasing the second painting.