Thread: Artist's Easel - Prototype

My 10 year old daughter decided she wanted to start painting last weekend, so out came the poster paints and brushes, and a piece of paper was Blu Tacked to a Melamine board and propped up on a chair.
After a short while there was a major uproar as the water-based poster paints were shriveling up the paper, so being the good Father I am , a quick trip to the big green warehouse was made and a couple of stretched canvasses were purchased.
Then came the question I knew was coming... "Daddy, could you please make me an Easel?"

First port of call was the computer... What can you get on eBay? What plans are available to make one?

After trawling through the vast range of different styles, and some of the plans of some seemed quite overly complicated for their task (this project called for something simple to do a job, not an award winning piece of furniture), I came across an auction for these...

Easel plans 01.jpg Easel plans 03.jpg

They looked simple enough as well as sturdy enough for what we wanted. So a couple of drawings were done, and I made a trip out to the shed to measure what timber I had. I figured out how I wanted the clamp mechanism and I needed a couple of threaded Tri-Knobs, coach bolts, some threaded rod, and a packet of screw on floor protectors for feet. And a day and a half later, including help from the future owner, I had an extremely pleased young artist.

Easel - prototype 001.jpg Easel - prototype 002.jpg Easel - prototype 003.jpg Easel - prototype 004.jpg Easel - prototype 005.jpg

Both the top and bottom rests are adjustable, and the lower one can be placed below the diagonal stay for much larger canvasses. Also, unlike the eBay ones, I only wanted three points of contact so there's no chance of it rocking, so there's a plastic foot on each end of the front rail, and one in the centre of the rear one.

I already had all the timber, so this easel (which I'm calling the prototype) cost me $15.00.

Thanks for looking.