Metal Inlay Picture Frame

I bought a really cool Spiderman poster. What wasn't cool was the frame. It was terrible. The miters were coming apart, the poster was held into place with t...

Here are some of the tools & materials that I used:

• Aluminum bar stock

• Aluminum powder

• Aerosol Activator

• Stick Fast thin CA glue

• Jet Table Saw

• Dewalt planer

• Jet 8” Jointer

• General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Semi-Gloss

• Howard Wood Polish & Conditioner

• Diablo Ripping Saw Blade

• Forrest Woodworker II Saw Blade

• Titebond Quick & Thick

• Microjig Grr-ripper

• Woodpeckers 851 Square

• Starrett 6” combination square

• Starrett 12” combination square

I bought a really cool Spiderman poster. What wasn’t cool was the frame. It was terrible. The miters were coming apart, the poster was held into place with tape. It was a mess. I knew that I wanted to build a replacement, but I wasn’t sure what style I wanted so I sat on the project until inspiration struck.

Then, one day it hit me. I should do some sort of spider themed graphics! I decided to try cold casting. Cold casting is mixing metal powder with a binder, usually resin. In my case, I used aluminum powder mixed with thin CA glue.

I built my picture frame out of walnut. To strengthen the mitered corners, I added splines using aluminum bar stock. This gave the frame such a cool look! I will absolutely try this technique again.

The frame is too large for my laser so I took it to a friend’s house who has a CNC. He carved out the webs and spiders for me. You can find his work on Instagram @disbro.designs and on Facebook.

After the glue was dry, I sanded the remaining aluminum away until the engraving was revealed. I think it looks fantastic! I could use a little more practice to my technique. There were a few tiny holes that I back filled with more powder and glue. I can’t be too hard on myself since this is my first cold casting project. This was a really fun project and I learned a ton.

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