Christmas is now behind us, and we can finally relax. I think I prefer the few days right after Christmas as much as the few days before the big day.

Picture frames: how much is too much?

This year, I ended up making more gifts than usual. I decided to make a couple of frames for my wife, but that snowballed into making a total of 16 frames for a total of seven different people. I find picture frames are one of those things that are more worthwhile in quantities. If I was going to make two, I might as well make 16.

Turns out that logic only makes so much sense. While making one or two frames isn’t the most efficient project to do, making 16 frames, all of different size, species, styles and finishes can get tricky. It ended up being a bit of a nightmare at times. Not only did I make a couple of frames the wrong size, but the prints we ordered didn’t turn out quite as I expected. Even the glass I ordered wasn’t perfect, but I only have myself to blame for that.

At any rate, pretty much everything came together nicely and the frames brought lots of smiles to many different faces on Christmas morning.

My kids and I made some drawings for a few of the frames. We made simple animal shapes, coloured them in, then added thin black lines to accentuate the shapes that make up the animal forms. My wife is an avid birder, so we drew three birds for her. My mom loves all animals, but especially elephants and giraffes, so that’s what my kids drew for her. I thought they turned out great, as did everyone else. It was a fun project for us. When it was complete, and the framed artwork was in the hands of the recipient, I’d say it was this gift that gave us the most satisfaction.

Mortar and pestle

My wife wanted a Japanese mortar and pestle for Christmas, and since regularly cooks me wonderful meals, I thought I better keep her happy. I ordered a mortar, but couldn’t pull the trigger on a pestle. Since many of them were simple designs made of wood, I thought I should make her one. It would mean more to her and I’d have fun doing it. It’s often simple projects like this that are the most enjoyable to make, and this one was no different.

I started with a piece of 6/4 hard maple, ripped it to 1-1/2″ wide and crosscut it to 12″ in length. The finished pestle was going to be about 6″ long, but the extra length made it easier to hold while I rounded the stock. After trimming it to an octagon cross section, I rounded it further with a block plane. Once it was round, I shaped the end so it would grind spices, cut it to length and shaped the handle portion. Rather than leave it plain, I added a few shallow V-grooves and used my pyrography pen to add a thin line to the bottom of the groove. Finally, I added the Japanese symbol for ‘love’ to the handle. It was a simple project that was a lot of fun to make which turned out great. That’s what good woodworking projects are all about. To top it off, my wife loves it and can’t wait to use it.

Fridge magnets

The last project I tackled was also a simple one. Like the picture frames, this was going to be a joint venture with my kids. My son cut out some small hearts out of 1/8″ thick Baltic birch, then we adhered magnets to one face of the hearts. Once they were dry, we spray painted them different bold colours. Last, but not least, my daughter used her steady hand to write the names of dinners we often have to the faces of the hearts. The custom magnets are holding all sorts of photos, cards and other things to our fridge as we speak.

It’s always a lot of fun to plan and make gifts for people and the reaction is always so positive. I hope many of you had the same experience I had over the past few days.

Back to reality

Last week, I wrote about a vanity installation I was wrapping up. In the early part of the column I wrote “Today, I just got back from installing a vanity and some shelves. The job turned out well and the clients are happy, so it was a good day, even if I didn’t enjoy it.” The second sentence was all true, but the first might have included one little lie. I had to get my column in to be published, so I glossed over a few small details. In fact, I wrote the column while I was home for lunch. The install was going well, but it wasn’t complete. I didn’t think anything would get in the way of my finishing it up that day, but sadly I was wrong. It was almost like I was getting punished for stretching the truth a little bit.

I’ll tell you what happened next week though, as I’m still just trying to ride the holiday high I’ve got. No sense bringing my mind back to what was a frustrating install.

Happy holidays, everyone.