One of our favorite social media accounts is this.little.aframe on Instagram. Click their link for lots of beautiful pictures of their cute a-frame cabin and the surrounding Colorado scenery.
We decided it would be fun to make some wall artwork inspired by their account. Even better, we'll be surprising them by gifting the finished piece at the end of the project!
THE DESIGN
Our design plan for this a-frame decor was very simple:
Create a miniature wall replica of this little aframe, with details inspired by its real architecture.
This plan meant that the main challenge was deciding which details of the cabin to highlight and copy in our own design. We chose to do a few things:
- Get the shape right! Specifically, those signature angles of the a-frame design
- Highlight the cabin's shape with contrasting trim
- Bring out the unique, quirky details of the door and windows
- Frame the overall design and create a space for engraving the artwork name with the deck and its railing
MATERIALS
If you want to craft a stunning piece of artwork with wood, making good wood selections is important! Choosing wood varieties with contrasting and complementing grain and color helps make details "pop" with interest.
- White Maple (cabin walls)
- Dark Walnut (trim and doors/windows)
- Oak (base, deck trim)
- 1/4" dowel pins
Later on, tasteful use of stain, paint, and epoxy fills can also be a great way to beautify the design.
BUILD TECHNIQUE
The angled maple body and walnut trim of the aframe were all cut by saw. However, some of the intricate detailing we wanted was created on our CNC mill. With a small .0625" diameter end mill, we cut precise details in our walnut door and windows. Later on, we used the same method for engraving "This Little Aframe" into the sign's base.
If you look closely you may be able to spot the toolpath marks from our endmill! No problem. These are sanded out before we assemble them into the body.
After building the main body of the a-frame, we carefully placed and glued each of the walnut accents.
We took a nice piece of oak and cut the letters as a debossed feature.
Thin oak strips and a handful of dowels made the deck railing, which we first glued to the engraved base.
LETTERS
Engraving or V-carving text into a wood blank is best combined with a technique to highlight the feature's detail. For this artwork, we chose to fill the letters with black paint. Now the letters have a nice visual "pop"!
FINAL ASSEMBLY
The last step in the build was to join the house to the deck and base. Not shown in these pictures, we added our standard keyhole slots on the back of the artwork. This makes the artwork easy to hang on a wall if desired.
FINISHING
Our final step was to oil the entire artwork. We like oiling because it's a natural finish that bring out depth and figure in our woods very nicely! Over time the lustre of oiled wood may fade, but it can be easily restored with an oil reapplication.
WRAPPING UP
That's it! Thanks for reading about another Curioganic project. We are getting this one packed up and ready to send to this.little.aframe. We hope they love it!
And, just one more time for comparison:
