Build your own easel.
A handmade easel is a thoughtful gift for a budding young artist or a more accomplished creator. A simple three-legged model will accommodate up to a 3-foot high, 4-foot wide canvas. Three-legged easels are better than four-legged ones because not all floors are perfectly level; a four-legged easel will inevitably wobble. You can get wood cut to size for your artist easel at the lumberyard.
Instructions
1. Assemble the wood pieces in an area large enough to be able to work freely. Take the two 82 3/8 inch pieces. Measure up from the bottom 78 inches on the front of the wood. Drill a 3/8-inch hole on one of the wide sides of the wood at a 90 degree angle to the top of the wood. These are the first two legs. Mark them 1 and 2.
2. Measure the 81-inch piece of wood. Drill two 3/8-inch holes through the wide side of the wood. One hole should be 39 inches from the bottom and the other 74 inches from the bottom. This is the third leg. Mark it with a 3.
3. Lay the three legs on the ground with the rear leg in the middle. Line up the holes in the tops of the legs. Put the 5-inch bolt through the holes and loosely tighten the nut on the end of the bolt. Spread apart the legs marked 1 and 2 and tighten the nut as tight as you can.
4. Leave the legs spread with the front legs facing up. Measure up the front legs 38 inches from the bottom of each leg and draw a line on each leg. Draw corresponding lines on the 4-foot piece of wood and drill through the 4-foot piece through to the line on the legs. Bolt with the 7-inch bolts to the legs and tighten the nuts. This is the bar.
5. Put a generous layer of glue on the part of the legs above the bar. Nail the plywood on top of the glued surface. The 33-inch sides are the width and they should be touching the bar.
6. Screw the eye into the center of the bar behind the front legs. Loop the rope through the hole 39 inches from the bottom of the third leg you drilled in Step 2. Pull the loop tight. Latch it onto the eye on the bar. Cut of any excess rope.
