Painter’s Easel

Published on by Mike

easel_complete The artist of our family is most definitely my step-daughter.  As her skill and talent develop, she needs a true easel, rather than books propping up a canvas on the kitchen table.

The construction is a basic a-frame style easel.  The center rail has a rabbet running down each side of it, forming a reverse t-track.  This allows the bottom shelf and the top clamp to be adjustable for both height and various sizes canvases.  The two movable parts lock in place with a couple of star knobs which essentially clamps them in place.  The support leg is adjustable so that the easel can tilt at various angles.  easel_inuseThis is accomplished  by using two lengths of wood, one of which has a through groove ran down most the length.  The other has a knob to hold the two pieces together.  A third piece links the to the lower length of wood and to the main a-frame of the easel.  This makes for a very stable support leg.

I decided to keep the wood unfinished.  This is because I honestly didn’t see the point of finishing it.  With being used to paint on, it is going to get messy.  Also, there is a good chance my daughter will want to paint it to make it her own.  She is the artist after all!  For this reason, I used poplar for the wood, both for the economy as well as it takes paint nicely.

This was a fun project to build!  In addition to that, I am looking forward to seeing the wonderful works of art my daughter will create on it!

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