M
Madbrush
Guest
Before I continue with this I should probably explain why there is so much going on in my new studio, just before Christmas last year I found from my doctor the there is a very good chance I could lose my right leg due to artery problems, I have medicine which I have to take for one year and the deal was to see what it does, although it stops further problems it does not cure the existing one, the year is almost up and there is no change, I still have difficulty walking and although an operation will take place before any decision is made to amputate I have been told to accept the fact that the chance is very real and great.
I don't wish for sympathy or well wishing, I just want make it clear why I'm spending so much time getting my studio straight, it's a simple case of "while I still can", if it comes to it, my flying hobby will have to stop, so I will spend more time airbrushing or or doing some kind of art instead, I spent the first part of this year feeling sorry for myself and generally being an arse, but now it's time to just get on with it, there are many suffering a lot worse than me and still smiling, so why not me? LOL
Anyway, as most know I have made a lot of changes to my studio, the main reason as some will guess after this bombshell is that normally I stand at a magnetic white board to do my paintings but obviously if I want to continue I need to do it sitting, I always loved my white board and the freedom it gave and I wanted all the positives in a "desk top easel" so I designed and built my own and here is a run down on what I did.
The first thing I did was to go to Ikea and pick up this cake stand;
View attachment 30989
This cost only €7 and the reason I bought it was to cannibalise it and retrieve this part;
View attachment 30990
This is the rotation bearing mechanism, as you see it here, it is already attached to my main working board or front of the easel, it is fixed to a backplate later which is part of the angle adjustment plate connected to the base.
This photo is the back of the finished easel, I used the original under base of the cake stand and screwed my back plate to that you can see the four screws at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, I made the angle adjustment arm from two pieces of aluminium pipe, one fits snugly inside the other, I drilled some holes at 15 mm intervals which allow working angles ranging from 90 degrees from the table to around 45 degrees, I also used two pieces of "U" profile aluminium to make the securing brackets , the black screw you can see in the photo allows me to lock the board in portrait or landscape mode, I can leave the lock off so that the whole board can rotate a full 360 degrees which I find handy for scratching and dagger strokes and such, the base of the easel is the original top of the cake stand with a piece choped off the front so that it is in line with the front of my desk, I have made two small brackets and screwed these to that part to stop the easel sliding backwards if I have to lean on it;
View attachment 30991
Here is the finished easel from the front, to make the front I butchered my original white board by cutting it in half, it was originally 120 cm X 90 cm, it is now 90 cm X 60 cm and I carefully replaced all the trim and corner pieces so that it looks just as it did when it was new, the main surface of the white board is a wafer thin sheet of steel on top of cardboard with a similar thickness galvanised sheet behind, I removed everything from the back leaving the white sheet and glued this to my board by means of contact adhesive (evostick) smeared onto to both surfaces and attached when almost dry;
View attachment 30992
And here are some photos of the easel with the magnets in use and in portrait landscape and somewhere in between, as I said, I can rotate a full 360 degrees, this gives all the freedom and pleasue i had from my white board but allows me now to work sitting down, I thought about height adjustment but since my chair is adjustable this wasn't necessary.
View attachment 30993
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View attachment 30995
I don't wish for sympathy or well wishing, I just want make it clear why I'm spending so much time getting my studio straight, it's a simple case of "while I still can", if it comes to it, my flying hobby will have to stop, so I will spend more time airbrushing or or doing some kind of art instead, I spent the first part of this year feeling sorry for myself and generally being an arse, but now it's time to just get on with it, there are many suffering a lot worse than me and still smiling, so why not me? LOL
Anyway, as most know I have made a lot of changes to my studio, the main reason as some will guess after this bombshell is that normally I stand at a magnetic white board to do my paintings but obviously if I want to continue I need to do it sitting, I always loved my white board and the freedom it gave and I wanted all the positives in a "desk top easel" so I designed and built my own and here is a run down on what I did.
The first thing I did was to go to Ikea and pick up this cake stand;
View attachment 30989
This cost only €7 and the reason I bought it was to cannibalise it and retrieve this part;
View attachment 30990
This is the rotation bearing mechanism, as you see it here, it is already attached to my main working board or front of the easel, it is fixed to a backplate later which is part of the angle adjustment plate connected to the base.
This photo is the back of the finished easel, I used the original under base of the cake stand and screwed my back plate to that you can see the four screws at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, I made the angle adjustment arm from two pieces of aluminium pipe, one fits snugly inside the other, I drilled some holes at 15 mm intervals which allow working angles ranging from 90 degrees from the table to around 45 degrees, I also used two pieces of "U" profile aluminium to make the securing brackets , the black screw you can see in the photo allows me to lock the board in portrait or landscape mode, I can leave the lock off so that the whole board can rotate a full 360 degrees which I find handy for scratching and dagger strokes and such, the base of the easel is the original top of the cake stand with a piece choped off the front so that it is in line with the front of my desk, I have made two small brackets and screwed these to that part to stop the easel sliding backwards if I have to lean on it;
View attachment 30991
Here is the finished easel from the front, to make the front I butchered my original white board by cutting it in half, it was originally 120 cm X 90 cm, it is now 90 cm X 60 cm and I carefully replaced all the trim and corner pieces so that it looks just as it did when it was new, the main surface of the white board is a wafer thin sheet of steel on top of cardboard with a similar thickness galvanised sheet behind, I removed everything from the back leaving the white sheet and glued this to my board by means of contact adhesive (evostick) smeared onto to both surfaces and attached when almost dry;
View attachment 30992
And here are some photos of the easel with the magnets in use and in portrait landscape and somewhere in between, as I said, I can rotate a full 360 degrees, this gives all the freedom and pleasue i had from my white board but allows me now to work sitting down, I thought about height adjustment but since my chair is adjustable this wasn't necessary.
View attachment 30993
View attachment 30994
View attachment 30995
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