Contemporary or Traditional? Making a Couple Picture Frames

Picture frames are awesome. Thats it. Just awesome. It is a single project that can be made into an endless amount of different designs. I was recently asked to make two frames by my coworker. She likes to make cross stitch patterns and had two that needed frames. She said she didn’t care what they looked like but just wanted two frames. Some people like a more contemporary style and some people like a more traditional style. I knew that if I were to choose just one style and go with it than I would end up choosing the wrong style. So I made one of each. For the traditional frame I just used a simple ogee profile on the inside and outside and mitered the corners. To stay more natural I stained the frame with an Early American Minwax oil based stain and covered it with three coats of spray gloss lacquer. After it sat overnight I buffed out any imperfections with a gray finishing pad and was left with an extremely smooth satin finish. For the more contemporary frame I chose to make the corners a halflap joint. This is an extremely strong and easy to make joint. To add a little bit of subtle flair I chamfered the back of the frame at about 35° to give it a nice shadow reveal all the way around. Because It is contemporary I went with a bright red paint to cover it up. The frames turned out great. Completely opposite. She did a great job on the cross stitching by the way! Check out the short video at the end of this post to see the build. Thanks for watching!

Traditional Picture Frame

Contemporary Picture Frame

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