Back in 1988, I won an autographed Van Halen CD from the Rockline radio show. It's hard to believe that was over 30 years ago! I think it's past time to build a display frame for it. I put my Inventables X-Carve CNC Machine to work to make a cool Van Halen striped frame out of cherry and maple. Watch the video below, then read further for more details and pictures.
This is a CD single for the song Black and Blue from Van Halen's OU812 album. It is signed by Eddie, Alex, Michael, and Sammy. Van Halen is my favorite rock band, so this is a cool thing to have.
I kept the letter that Rockline sent with the CD to prove the authenticity of the autographs. It has a sketch of an old phone plugged into a boombox to represent calling into a radio show, which looks dated but kinda cool.
I had to be really careful when preparing the blank for this project. The X-Carve is very accurate, so my frame had to be perfectly square so that the CNC could carve the stripes in the correct place and centered around the frame border.
The frame looks great in the EVH corner of my office. I should have framed this CD 30 years ago! Oh well, better late than never. I hope this project gives you some ideas for framing autographs or other memorabilia. If you would like to check out this project in the Inventables Easel software, click here to open my project. You can even carve one yourself if you have an X-Carve.
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My son is graduating from high school this year, so I made him a Graduation Picture Frame and Tassel holder. Check out the video below and download my template if you know a 2017 graduate who deserves one.
The picture and glass are held in by a thin mitered frame in contrasting wood. I used a plywood backer board and hot glue to secure the picture.
I used a brass cuphook to hang the tassel. Pre-drilling a small hole into the wood was a little tricky, but made screwing in the hook really easy.
Drill small starter holes in each letter and number, then cut them out with a scroll saw. I used a #3 blade, which cut through the maple nicely leaving a smooth finish. If you have a graduate from another year, just use MS Word to print the year and replace the 2017.
This was a fun project that was easy to complete in a weekend. If you would like to make one of these for your graduate, please subscribe to my newsletter and download the template below. When printing the template, select the ACTUAL SIZE option in printer settings to maintain scale. Have fun!
This week I had the honor of making a Shadow Box Display Case for a cane that belonged to a United States Army P.O.W.
This project was made from Poplar with Western Red Cedar splines. I cut a rabbet on one side of each board to accept the 1/4" plywood back. I also cut a groove on the other side of each board to accept the front clear acrylic panel.
This U.S. Army Veteran was a Staff Sergeant, so I added a stripes emblem made from Poplar and Walnut.
The family provided me some information to make a small plaque for the display case. I used my Inventables X-Carve to carve the plaque. It does a much better job at carving letters than I ever could. I sprayed the plaque with a few coats of lacquer, then sprayed flat black paint into the letters. I wiped off the surface paint with mineral spirits and sanded any remaining paint off, then sprayed a few more coats of lacquer to seal it.
I found the perfect U.S Army fabric for the background at Walmart of all places, and attached it with spray adhesive. I attached a picture hanging wire to the back for easy hanging. There is room for the family to add pictures or other items into the shadow box. This was a fun and inspirational project. Thank you Mr. Perkins for your service!
My son Matthew marched in the 2014 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the Georgia State Marching Band and he was given the Macy's logo drumhead he played as a souvenir. Watch me make a shadow box picture frame for the drumhead and see his reaction!
I never noticed before that all of the marching band drummers in the parade use drumheads with the Macy's logo on them. That's pretty cool! I'm so proud of my son and the GSU marching band for all of the hard work and effort that went into being a part of this legendary parade.
The drumhead is 14" in diameter and about 3/4" thick. I made the frame pieces out of a standard pine 2x6, and they ended up being 1" wide x 1.5" thick. This allowed just enough room for an 1/8" groove to hold the front plexiglass, and a 1/4" rabbet on the back to hold a backer board, with about 1" of space in the middle for the drumhead.
I used hot melt glue to stick the metal rim of the drumhead to the backer board. This worked great and I think it looks nice with no visible fasteners. Also, this method did not damage the drumhead in anyway and it can be easily removed later if needed.
I printed some 4x6 pictures from the parade and attached them with spray adhesive. I also made a plaque on my Inventables X-Carve and attached it with hot melt glue. I wanted the letters in the plaque to be black, so I sprayed it with black paint then removed the paint from the surface. This method worked great.
In this video, my son shows up at the 1:50 mark. He is the snare drummer with the beard standing right in front of the camera. (That's him closest to the camera in the thumbnail.)
This video shows Georgia State's televised performance. It's unbelievable how much practice, hard work, and organization goes into preparing for just a 2 minute performance. The band practiced several months leading up to the parade. Just the logistics of getting the whole band and all of their instruments to New York City seems daunting to me. Thanks to COOP3R DRUMM3R for posting this video on his YouTube channel.
Congratulations to my son and the Georgia State Marching Band for a job well done. You made us proud! Go Panthers!
Charles Dearing made a scroll saw portrait of me as a gift, so I made a scroll saw blade picture frame for it. Watch how I made the frame from a 10-foot 2x4 below. Thanks for the awesome portrait Charlie!
Below is Charlie's video showing the process of cutting the portrait out of wood. I know this took him many hours of work and I really appreciate this wonderful gift.
It was difficult to decide how to build a frame that would enhance but not distract from Charlie's beautiful work. I wasn't sure how the idea I had in my head would look in reality, but I am really pleased with how it turned out.
Please visit and follow Charlie at the links below and tell him Steve sent ya!
For Mother's Day, I made my wife a picture frame that features our kids' signatures cut out of wood. The frame is made from Western Red Cedar and the signatures are cut from Eastern Cedar.
I asked each of my kids to sign their name really large on a sheet of paper. To help keep them the same scale, I drew some guidelines for them on the paper. I cut around the signatures using my Craftsman 13" scroll saw and somehow I managed to avoid breaking them.
To finish off the picture frame, I cut a piece of plexiglass using a straight edge and a utility knife. The picture and backing board are secured in place with glazing push points. I also attached a picture frame hanger so it can be hung on a wall.
I think it's pretty neat to have our kids' signatures cut out of wood. This gift can be customized for many different occasions. The most difficult part of this project was getting my kids outside to take the picture!
