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Friday, May 9, 2014

Measure Fourteen Times. Cut once.

 I started working on the screens this morning.

The center window panel is cut out and fitting just fine.

AM mentioned using the Dremel for this.  I don't.  I use an Exacto knife, then if I want to do any carving I can. It is much more accurate for me this way.

I was going to use the Dremel just to drill holes in the little table. I haven't gotten to that yet.
It takes a LOT of measuring on something like this to get it right.

I started out by getting the right roof angle.  Unfortunately I threw away the piece of scrap that had the angles on it, or I could have just traced it to get it right.

This photo shows how I got the curves on both sides of the outer screen right.

As I said, a lot of measuring. 

You can see faint lines where I went across the piece from one side to the other, to make sure that the points were even.  I also measured in from the outer edge to the point in each case to make sure that the thickness of the scallops were right.  This first photo was taken on a slant, so it looks a bit uneven...But it isn't.
It's hard to get a perfect head on shot, but this one is closer.

To get the diamonds, I lined the end of my ruler up with the edge of the roof line and marked 1/2" intervals from both sides.  You can see the little dots where I marked.  The lines are parallel with the edge, but the measurements aren't.  If I had done the marks parallel with the roof line, it would have been much more complicated.  A different measurement all together.  This was the easy way.

I did this on watercolor paper, so that I can experiment with the color and such before I do it on the real wood.

I am trying to do laundry, with one hand and do the screens with the other, whilst typing this with my toes...

In other words, I need to get back to work.  Lots yet to do.

See you tomorrow.

3 comments:

Lucille said...

It all looks very complicated, Casey! It will be lovely though when you're all finished with it!

Lené said...

Looking good, you certainly have an eye for incredible detail and the guts to bring it to life!

Giac said...

Hello Casey,
the design, while a lot of work I am sure, is just stunning. I cannot wait to see it done...if anyone can do it, Casey can.
Big hug,
Giac