Friday, September 6, 2013

News flash! Flat file finished!

Alan at work.
(Bet you can't say that 10 times fast.) A few months ago I acquired a used oak flat file for $100. It stood on its side in our dining room collecting dust and clutter while I hemmed and hawed about what kind of stand I wanted. My husband offered to build one, and last week we finally decided on a good design and Alan got right to work. Using his borrowed ancient Craftsman table saw he "milled" 4x4s into 3x3s for the legs, attached 2x4 cross braces and shelf supports, and installed locking rollers so I can move it around and then stop it in its tracks. We went to Portland's Rebuilding Center to pick up a $3 scrap of Formica to cover the new plywood top and shelf Alan built. After staining the wood to match the oak color of the flat file and applying thin strips of oak to finish the edges of the top and shelf, we moved it yesterday up into my studio. Wow! It's beautiful! I've lined the drawers with glassine cut to size (along with extra sheets to put between paintings) and put works in progress in the top few drawers. Finished large-format works will go in the lower drawers until they're ready to be framed. Smaller finished work is stored elsewhere, another story for another day.
Drawers lined with glassine
Ready to go!