Four Picture Frames

Not for sale; this was a commissioned job. Dimensions of frames: 10.25 x 9.75 inches; 11 x 9 inches, 14.25 x 8.25 inches, and 7.75 x 5.5 inches; all roughly 1 inch thick and weighing just a couple of pounds each. After making the Pennsylvania-Themed Display Shelf with Hooks and the Upside-Down Coffee Table, I still had some wood leftover from the top of Tobias’s antique table. So, I used it to make these four picture frames, as a surprise for my friend and client.

The Story

Basically, I cut pieces to size as big as I could, sanded them smooth, and applied clear Watco Danish Oil to bring out the natural beauty of this old wood. The largest frame, with the holes in the middle, is made from the horizontal piece that supported the two halves of the tabletop. Two other frames were made just from the tabletop. For the final one, I used a piece of the tabletop and surrounded it with the four little vertical posts that originally connected the base to the top. I left the rustic dowel ends on two of them to preserve their original design. To protect the photos, I used plexiglass, leftover from other projects; all the backing pieces are slightly warped and plexiglass, unlike regular glass, is flexible. Because I wanted the beauty of the wood to be visible, I cut the plexiglass smaller than the wood backing pieces. This way, the wood will always show around the edge of the pictures on display. The plexiglass is attached with four small antique-bronze wood screws; simply loosen them, slide in a picture of choice, and tighten them. The D-rings on the back can be used to hang the pieces in portrait or landscape orientation. I staged some “after” pictures with images of Windber and a Berwind coal car, but obviously my friend’s family can display whatever they want. As with the Pennsylvania shelf and the coffee table, I hope these frames remain keepsakes for many more generations, a connection to a skilled ancestor from the 1800s.

Related Items: Pennsylvania-Themed Display Shelf with Hooks; Upside-Down Coffee Table.