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Reader's Gallery

Easel

comments (8) January 27th, 2010 in Reader's Gallery

markcpreston, member

18 users recommend

Front view. The pulleys are brass. The turned knobs are purpleheart. The center frame moves up or down on UHMW polyeythelene guides.

Front view. The pulleys are brass. The turned knobs are purpleheart. The center frame moves up or down on UHMW polyeythelene guides.

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As an artist and woodworker, I have always wanted to design and build my own easel. This mahogany easel is finished with a water based dye, tung oil and 3 coats of shellac. It is done with Greene and Greene details including cloud lifts, ebony plugs, and through tenons. All moving parts of the easel slide on linear bushings made from black UHMW Polyethelene which allow for low friction gliding. The turned handles are purple heart.

Design or Plan used: My own design

posted in: Reader's Gallery, mahogany, ebony, purple heart, easel, Greene and Greene Style, Floating tenons, Half blind dovetails

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Kotatsu

Comments (8)

markcpreston writes: The easel does slide up and down on free floating UHMW polyethelene glides that are held in place by a dado groove on each opposing piece. It allows for low friction movement. All of the commercial easels I looked at had poorly managed this aspect of the design and I hoped to improve on it. I have been using the easel for two years now and the system still functions flawlessly. It is counterweighted by a similarly gliding narrow piece on the back that has posts that allow for the placement of appropriate counterweights to balance the weight of the painting. The plastic coated wire cables can be seen in the photos. The brass pulleys are actually parts made for sliding glass doors and can be found in most big box home centers. They are generally brass and/or stainless steel and corrosion resistant. I apologize, but there are no plans, I sketched it out and built the same way I do everything else, with no plans.
Posted: 4:45 pm on April 7th

FWBisaro writes: I'm also an artist. I would very much like to obtain the plans for such a beautiful easel.

fredbisaro@msn.com
Posted: 11:00 pm on January 21st

portalv writes: whooops....my email was eric.hambrick@comcast.net if you have further information for the plans or how to obtain....
Posted: 3:13 pm on January 3rd

portalv writes: i agree about the easel. great job, looks great and functional. do you have plans for it, or where i might obtain the plans? great job...
Posted: 3:08 pm on January 3rd

scottdwyer writes: I echo the three comments above and am in awe of your masterpiece! I find myself in a very similar situation wanting to build an easel like yours. As other have asked, is there any information you are willing to share about your design and build? I would be grateful for any input you can provide.

My email is scottdwyer72@gmail.com.

Thanks! - Scott
Posted: 9:19 am on September 12th

RogerDF writes: This is just the easel I am looking for. I want to make a stand for my 55" flat screen and I want it to look like an artists easel. I am at a bit of disadvantage in that I am not an artist, have no artist friends and have never seen a studio easel up close.

Would you happen to have any more photos or, better yet, drawings that you could send me.

my email address is rogerrdkfus

Thanks in advance.
Posted: 9:50 pm on June 21st

Art_Brazee writes: Nicely done - the Green and Green touch is very nice! This looks great and I appreciate the technical accomplishment too. My wife is an artist and I've been toying with the same idea. It looks as if you have some kind of mechanism to raise and lower the traveling center. I'd be interested in seeing how you accomplished that. I've considered some kind of gearing with a worm gear and track as my wife moves her paintings up and down a good bit. Anyway, beautiful (and technically great) work.
Posted: 6:55 pm on January 30th

zbop writes: Wow!! That is one serious easel! Besides being beautifully done, it is totally functional. You could never in a million years buy any easel as nice as this and you can smile and admire and appreciate its beauty and utilitarian elements and the fact that you built it every time you use it.
Posted: 8:26 pm on January 27th

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