DiResta Glow In The Dark Frames
When Jimmy DiResta began working with his printing presses, Aislinn and I followed all the videos and vlogs that outlined the journey through restoring and using the presses. For Christmas last year, Aislinn bought me one of each of Jimmy’s limited release prints. I knew I wanted to frame the prints, but they could not be framed in something that was purchased off the shelf. It needed to be handmade but it couldn’t be just a simple wooden frame. This stumped me for some time and I couldn’t settle in on something that fit the feel of these prints.
When visiting my parents and sorting through their wood selection, my dad and I found a piece of white oak that had been bug damaged. There were tracks throughout the entire face of the board where the bugs had eaten the wood. I thought there was an opportunity to do something very different that celebrated a defect in wood products that is normally hidden or cut away.
I began by removing the dust that was left behind in all of the bug tracks using a stiff bristled nylon brush and a vacuum. I then mixed up 200 grams of epoxy that is normally used to cover table tops. I mixed into this about 10 grams of glow in the dark powder dye. After mixing according to the instructions on the epoxy, I poured the mixture over the board. I spread the epoxy over the board using a piece of scrap wood which allowed for the epoxy to fill the bug tracks without leaving too much on the surface.
After the epoxy cured, I removed any extra epoxy using a hand held belt sander. After smoothing the surface, I ripped the board into 1.5” wide stock that can be used to make picture frames.
This created an effect that hid the bug defect in full light, but showed the tracks in the dark. Unfortunately, the glow effect is not as bright as I would like it to be. If I had used more of the powder in the epoxy, the effect would be more prominent. It was a great opportunity to experiment and something I would like to try again. Just need a project and another piece of buggy oak from Dad.
- Keegan
