Day 8: Sutton
Today was very exciting.
The first thing I did when I got to school was unwrap the tape from my frames. It felt like Christmas in January. The sides stuck together perfectly and the frames looked awesome. I then measured the back of my frame and cut out my chipboards using the laser cutter. Since I always manage to run into some issue that is never my fault, one of my chipboards was a tad too big and was not fitting into the back of my frame. I reluctantly told Mr. Grisbee that I had a problem (for the 57th time this week) and he fixed it using the table saw. Now I have a custom made chip board. Beat that.
I then moved on to sanding my frames. Fortunently, I love sanding so I was very excited. Unfortunately, I had to use the battery-powered sander which weighs as much as a newborn baby. That doesn't sound very heavy, but try holding it with one hand as it vibrates like crazy. My wrist felt like it was about to snap and Mr. Grisbee was making fun of me for using two hands. Well I'm sorry that my arm resembles a drinking straw. After sanding with the 150, 220, and 320 grain, my frame felt SO soft. I then had to go in and dust it off using a handheld broom that looked like it was from the 1820s. I did this to get all the sawdust off so the finish would spread on perfectly.
Just when I was about to rub on the finish, Mr. Grisbee told me I should sand the top of the frame again since there was still glue and roughness. I know - so demanding! Just kidding - I totally agreed. To my delight, he grabbed the frame and did it himself. I then went in and finished it with the 220 and 320 grain.
Now I was ready to apply the finish. It comes in this sort of Campbells soup can but replace the Creamy Mushroom with tacky mucus. It smells like beeswax plus Home Depot and feels like very thick honey. I slid on gloves and began spreading finish on both frames using my fingers. Once I was done, I had to balance the frame on these tiny red pyrmids so that it would be suspended in the air to dry properly. Here is where my hand-eye coordination failed miserably.
After our lunch break, I used my exacto knife to cut out two paper frames to place immediately behind my acrylic. This covers the edges of the shadowbox so it looks like it sits perfectly in the frame. I then took this steel wool, that for some reason smelled strongly of fish, and varnished my frames before doing a second coat of finish.
Once the frames were dry, my screws for the chipboard had been screwed, and my fingers were crossed, I began the final assembly. I peeled the tape off of the acrylic and was very tempted to pull my phone out and make a satisfying TikTok. It definitely would have gone viral. After cleaning the glass with extremely-strong-and-dangerous-smelling alcohol, I said my final prayers and tried to slide my shadowbox in. WALAA! It fit perfectly! I was thrilled! And the awesomeness didn't stop there - my diorama fit in its frame too!
It feel so crazy to be this close to the finish line - all I have left is putting in the LEDs! I am very proud of myself and now have a recognition for the work that is behind every piece of wood you see in a store. Tomorrow we will have time to do our own project and I am thinking about making a charging station. Bye!
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