How to Make a Bamboo Easel

Easels come in many styles, suited for novice to professional artists.

Purchasing an easel, like many art supplies, can be pretty expensive. Store-bought easels are usually made from wood or metal in simple to complex multipurpose designs. If you are a professional painter, you may want to consider investing in a heavy-duty, high quality easel. However, if you use an easel only to display artwork or paint small pictures, you can save money and make an easel from bamboo.

Things You'll Need

• 4 bamboo sticks of equal diameter
• Marker
• Saw
• Drill
• Short metal rod
• 2 screws
• String or hemp

Instructions

1. Lay the bamboo sticks on the floor in the easel design. Two sticks should meet to form a triangle, the frame of the easel. Place a third stick between the first two. The third stick will help the easel stand upright. Place the fourth stick horizontally across the triangle frame to provide support for the easel. It should be below the middle section of the frame because you will also place your artwork on this stick.

2. Mark the spot where the support stick crosses the two bamboo stick frames with a marker. You will attach the support on this spot.

3. Use the saw to cut two bamboo sticks of equal length. The length of the stick should be catered to your height. If you will use it to only display artwork, 4 or 5 feet should be high enough.

4. Cut the third leg slightly shorter than the first two. The easel needs a leg that is short enough to stay propped up without falling over.

5. Cut the fourth bamboo stick for the cross-support. Cut the cross-support stick to a length that extends a few inches off both sides of the easel when you lay it horizontally across the triangular frame.

6. Drill two holes slightly bigger than the diameter of your rod. The rod joins the three legs so that the easel can be opened and closed for display or storage. Drill a hole in the two sticks that form the triangular frame for the easel, in the spot where the third leg will be joined. Remember, this location determines the angle in which the third leg props the easel up. If it is too high, the easel will sit up too straight and fall over. Don't drill the hole completely through the sticks, and make sure that the holes on both sticks are aligned.

7. Drill a hole completely through the third leg. This leg will sit between the other two.

8. Drill a hole completely through both ends of the cross-support.

9. Drill a hole through the marks that you made on the two bamboo stick frames from Step 2. You will connect the cross-support with screws over the holes.

10. Cut two filler pieces of bamboo stick from scrap sticks. The filler pieces will fit on each side of the rod to hold the third leg in the center of the rod. Each filler piece should be about 1/2 inch shorter than half of the rod. Drill a hole completely through each piece.

11. Assemble the easel. Push one end of the metal rod into one of the sticks used for the triangular frame. Slide one filler piece on the rod. Slide the third leg on the rod and then the second filler piece. Press the remaining inches of the rod into the hole of the second stick used for the triangular frame. Put a screw in each side of the cross-support and screw it into the holes on the frame.

12. Secure the easel. Use string to reinforce the easel by wrapping some around the two side legs at the location of the rod and filler pieces. Wrap the string around the filler pieces and back around the two side legs. Tie the string in a tight knot.

References

• Sustainlane.com: How to Make 15 Minute Bamboo Easel