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Jim Becker
12-27-2007, 9:29 PM
A close friend of mine recently brought her new daughter, Nola Diana, home from Kyrgyzstan. It's been her life-long dream to be a mom and she finally made it. (The travel was tough, but her mom went with her to assist on both trips) I've done a lot of photo retouching for her and one in particular really jumped out as needing to be something more permanent and, well...wall mountable. So in between the two other projects I have going in the shop right now, I put together a quick picture frame for the shot from a short wenge board that my cabinet maker neighbor gave me awhile back.

Two things...the frame turned out nicely, despite my frustration with the material and...I'll never work with wenge again. There are just some materials that you can learn to hate really fast and this was the one for me. Splintery, nasty dust, tears out too easy, etc. Love the look, but not the work!

At any rate, this will be a special holiday gift for my friend. The picture shown in it is a quick comp print for sizing, but I think you can see enough to understand why the picture is so special...a one in a million shot that after removing a hand in Photoshop, etc., that just says, "wow"!

78008

Jim O'Dell
12-27-2007, 9:32 PM
Nice work, Jim. And a worthy subject!! Pass along our congrats tot he new parents. Jim.

Micah Carter
12-27-2007, 9:38 PM
Beautiful work Jim, I feel your pain with the wenge. I've unsuccessfully tried to turn a couple bowls from it and thought maybe flat work would be more suited to the medium, but I guess not!

Still, the frame looks very clean. Good job.

Rick Gooden
12-27-2007, 9:39 PM
Jim,

What a beautiful baby and an excellent display. I'm also touched by your thoughtfulness.

Peter Stahl
12-27-2007, 9:46 PM
Very nice job there Jim. That's what good freinds are all about.

Mike Cutler
12-27-2007, 10:22 PM
Nice work Jim. the frame is very nice. It already is a very special holiday gift.
Nice work.

As for "never working with wenge again". We'll see. ;)

Gary Herrmann
12-27-2007, 11:03 PM
Agree that wenge is nasty. But what a picture. The new parents will be forever grateful. Well done, Jim.

Don Bullock
12-27-2007, 11:43 PM
That's a great picture that I'm sure will be cherished by the new mother for many years to come. Having it in a frame made by you will make it even more special. Please let her know that those of us on Sawmill Creek send along our congratulations.

Ken Shoemaker
12-28-2007, 6:58 AM
The Mom is gonna tear up... Get ready!!! Well done.

Lori Kleinberg
12-28-2007, 7:33 AM
Very nice frame, Jim, and an exceptionally nice gift.

Happy Holidays to All

Rob Blaustein
12-28-2007, 11:50 AM
Beautifully done Jim, both ww'ing-wise, photo-wise, and thoughtfulness-wise. You mentioned that this was a temp print for sizing--the only thought I had was to make the real print a bit smaller and place it in a matte. This is obviously a personal preference sort of thing, and this is not meant to be a criticism at all, but I tend to like framing matted prints. It would be easy to try, and if you don't like it as much, you can just use the original size.
--Rob

Dick Bringhurst
12-28-2007, 11:56 AM
Jim, The quality of the frame is only surpassed by the beauty of the picture. Dick B.

Jim Becker
12-28-2007, 12:07 PM
Rob, this one will be better served without the matt...I've tested it both ways.

Dick, I agree...the photo is amazing. 'Just a good example of someone clicking at just the right moment. My friend's mom had her hand in the lower left side of the photo, so it did require a bit of work to bring it to that point (and learning some new Photoshop techniques) but one of my co-workers gave me some good advise on how to manipulation things. BTW, the photo was taken not long after my friend and her mom met Nola for the first time in the orphanage. She was just more than 4 months old and a tiny thing, being a premie.