Encourage your children's creativity by building an adjustable easel to help them paint or draw. Because it's adjustable, they can keep using it as they grow. Materials:
Eight 1" x 2" x 36" finished boards
One or two 1" x 4" x 8' boards
18 carriage bolts with matching wing nuts
Drill, with drill bits, driver bits and a countersink bit
Handsaw
Measuring tape
Clamps
Two dry-wall mudding trays
Short Phillips-head wood screws
Safety glasses
You can attach a variety of work surfaces to the easel. For example, you can place a dry-eraser board on one side and a chalkboard on the other. Each leg of the easel is made from two 36"-long 1" by 2" boards placed flat against one another. Each board has a series of holes for adjusting the easel's height. - Begin by drilling adjustment holes for the legs. Draw a line down the center of one of the boards. Starting 6" from either end, make 25 marks, one at every inch (figure A). Your final mark should be 6" from the other end.
- Drill a pilot hole at each mark (figure B). Then use a larger bit with the same diameter as the carriage bolts.
- Use the board as a template for drilling holes in the remaining legs. Clamp the finished leg section onto an unfinished section (figure C) so that it's flush on all sides. Then drill matching holes in each board.
- Secure the boards with carriage bolts and wing nuts.
- Drill a hole in the top of each leg so you can attach the hinges. The holes should be centered 1 1/2" from the end of each leg. When you're ready to connect the hinges, place two legs together, with the carriage-bolt heads facing each other. Use a carriage bolt and a wing nut to attach the two legs together (figure D).
- Determine how wide you want the easel to be, and cut center braces from 1" by 4" boards. Keep in mind that the boards for the front of the easel should be 1 1/2" longer than the boards for the rear. That's because the front braces will be attached to the outermost legs and the rear braces will be attached to the innermost legs.
- Drill two pilot holes 3/8" from the end of each brace. Use a countersink bit (figure E) so the screw heads can be recessed below the surface of the braces.
- After you attach the hinges, place the two leg assemblies at the appropriate distance from one another, and set the braces in place. Start by attaching the braces for the front of the easel. The pilot holes of the front braces should be centered over the innermost boards of the outermost legs (figure F). If you attach the braces to the outermost boards, you won't be able to properly adjust the height of the easel. Attach one brace to the top of the easel and one brace about 18" below.
- When the braces are in place, cover the screw heads by pushing decorative wood buttons into the countersunk holes.
- For added functionality, attach a dry-wall tray or other similar container to the front of the easel (figure G). Drill pilot holes in the plastic, and attach the tray with short wood screws. Position the tray so the lip is above the top of the center brace. That way the tray will support whatever the child is working on and prevent it from falling off the easel. Attach a tray to both sides of the easel.
- Determine how far you want the easel to open. Use screws to attach a small chain between the front and rear center braces (figure H) to prevent the easel from opening too far.
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