Tag: frame

Remembering Ninja with our 2025 Homemade Christmas Ornament

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When Brandi moved in she brought her black cat, Ninja, with her. I wasn’t too sure about him because I’d never liked cats. With my job working from home, he quickly became my little buddy and turned me in to a cat guy.

Ninja got sick and we lost him at the end of August, which was really hard. 😿 He was such a good kitty! The vet sent us a sympathy card with his paw print.

Since holidays are always a good time to remember, we decided to preserve the card in this year’s Christmas ornament and we’ll always have it. Brandi wants to start learning to use some of the tools in the shop, and she got to use the band saw, scroll saw, and sanders while helping to make the frame.

Check out our previous ornaments from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Frames with a Friend

Nick Momrik1 Comment

The new fence and proper alignment of my miter saw was just in time. My buddy Casey asked if I could help him create some frames last weekend. He didn’t know what he was getting into doing a project with me. 🙂 Probably took longer than it should have, but we were using pre-finished trim/moulding so I wanted to make sure the result looked nice.

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This was the first time I used a strap clamp and it was by far the easiest of the 3 clamping methods we used. The blue tape on the large frame actually worked well too. I was worried when none of my clamping options would fit that frame since it was so large and the trim was over 3 inches wide.

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This really gives a sense for how big this frame is, a little over 3′ x 4′! Below is a shot of it installed in the play room. The wall is painted and has vinyl stickers.

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The 2′ x 3′ frames got magnetic chalk boards mounted in them.

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They went above each boy’s desk.

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The frames turned out better than I expected and it was fun to have someone else in the shop for a project.

If It Looks Straight It Is Straight

Nick Momrik1 Comment

I bought this small poster from Jimmy DiResta’s shop, knowing it would be a good opportunity to make my first frame. When the poster is purposely printed crooked, there is no pressure to create a perfect frame and any build mistakes fit right in.

The wood is cut-offs from the sanding station drawer resizing. The plastic and backer board were cut from an old poster frame I had in a closet.

I experimented by using several router bits to make the frame profile and then burnt the wood with a torch to bring out the grain. I didn’t do any sanding and gave it three coats of spray lacquer.