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by
Kathy Dalrymple
photos: Roger Yip
illustration: Len Churchill |
EASY EASEL |
Give
a young artist a gift of creative fun
with an easel that's inexpensive to build |
My nieces are big on colouring, painting and crafts, as most
kids are. But whenever I visit them, I notice that their crayons
and markers end up everywhere. I find them under seat cushions
and behind furniture. I’ve found out the hard way that
stepping on stray markers is almost as bad as stepping on Lego.
So, as a gift to both Sarah, a four-year-old budding artist,
and to my sister, who has to tidy up, I built this everything-in-its-place
art easel. It’s perfect for creative minds, tight gift-making
schedules and craft-frazzled parents.
I
designed this project around paper and storage supplies I found
in chain stores. The paper roll comes from Ikea, and its dimensions
determined the width of the project. I also bought some colourful
plastic storage bins with lids. These determined the size of
the supply trays. To make things even simpler, I also used standard
1x4s throughout. These materials are easy to find, so I’m
confident that you can make this inexpensive project in just
one weekend.
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| This
easel design offers both a blackboard and a whiteboard,
and you can add a roll of paper for three different
artistic opportunities. The tray can hold bins to
store craft supplies |
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Start by cutting all parts to the sizes listed in the box on
the next page. When you’ve finished that, I recommend
you apply one coat of finish, such as a water-based polyurethane,
to all the wood components. It’s easier to do that now
than when you have all the parts together.
Once the finish is dry, start assembling the basic frames. These
consist of two pairs of legs and two pairs of rails. Take a
look at the plans and you’ll see that they form a simple
kind of stile-and-rail construction, using #20 biscuits at the
corners. But before you cut biscuit slots, saw a 75º chamfer
on the lower back edges of the bottom rail for each frame. Apply
glue to the biscuit slots, add biscuits, then use bar clamps
to pull the parts together. Let the two frames dry overnight.
The hinges come next. When the frames are dry, place them face
down on your workbench, with tops butting together so you can
connect them with a pair of three-inch hinges. When you have
the hinges attached, the basic easel structure is complete.
Now it’s time to move on to the trays.
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1 | PART 2 | PART
3 |
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