Monday, October 12, 2009

Building a Pochade Box



bottom of box with t-nut inset for tripod attachment



hinge detail



This is a pochade painting box I started building two years ago, and just recently finished after reading and viewing Jim Serrett's blog. His blog http://www.pochadeboxpaintings.com/2009/02/how-to-build-your-own-pochade-box.html gives detailed directions with great photos of how to build the pochade box and panel carrier. I also constructed a carrier which looks pretty much like his so I did not photograph mine. I have a small $100.00 table saw that I use but one can go to a real lumber yard if possible and pay to have the major pieces cut if you do not have a table saw. Since I made my box over a period of time, I do not know how much time it took and I did not keep track of the cost. I enjoyed making it and Jim's cost seems fairly accurate. (Scavenged materials probably helped keep the cost of mine down.) Thank you Jim for your great directions.

I put my hinge together about two years ago from brass pieces I found after looking at a lot of photos of ready-made pochade boxes. . It actually seems to hold if I make sure to tighten it well. I will probably use a small bungee sometimes to hold a painting instead of the two wood pieces in the photo. If I paint a small 4 x 6" painting I cannot use the bungee, as it is too big to hold the panel tight. I then have to use the two pieces of 1/4" thich wood pieces that slide up tight to the 4 x 6 painting. I am gradually fine tuning the box.