Progressing to the Finish

The frame was made out of maple wood to mimic maple basketball flooring. I first made it out of a single layer of wood but I eventually had to make another thickness as the items being framed were too thick for the single depth of wood.

I was asked to use the Spaulding notebook cover to create a mat for the photo.  It was made from the same material as that of a basketball.

 I had to mount the basketball material on foam core then cut it into strips.  The material spliced together fairly well leaving a minimal seam lines.

The basketball work on the front and back of the folder seemed to belong on the mat plus it guaranteed that I had enough material to cover the mat.

A double black mat had to be cut to cover up the edges of the basketball material. I had to keep trying the mat into the frame so I wouldn't get done and have to trim it down, which would have been difficult.

I had to add a second thickness on the front frame to give it enough thickness to get the frame to hold the matted work. Spar varnish made the wood look like gym seal that they use to have on the gym floors.

I had to engineer a way to hold in the work with one more set of strips of wood. on the back.

Flipping it over and it finally is completed.  The time on this work was more problem solving that actually doing the work. A custom job requires engineering that one may only do once.  The job reminded me of a frame job we did once of a full sized American flag. The inventing of the frame and creating a backing and plexiglass covering required designing as you go.

Within the week this will be headed for a neighboring town where a guy will have bragging rights to share the print that he purchased at an auction.  His vision of how the frame job should look did become a reality and now he can enjoy his one of a kind framed print.