Thursday, February 21, 2013

How to Recycle a Laptop to a Plein air painting box

Looking for a light weight, easy to use Plein air box? Recycle a broken laptop for the job. When I am in the field, I often carry 100 ounces of water and walk 2-4 miles, so I carry the minimum of supply's. I had made an 8x10 box, but wanted something larger.  A friend gave me a broken laptop for the project.

**Please use eye protection and gloves when working on this project.

1. The first step is to remove all the screws, (there are going to be a lot of them), and separate the shell from the components. Save the screws and set the shell aside.

2. I used a Dremmel to cut the extra plastic out of the mouse area, and filed the edges.

3. One of my criteria  was for it to be a light as possible, so I removed as much of the plate in the screen area that I could. Cutting and filing again.

4. I like to use glass for my pallet surface, since the bottom is not flat, I found felt washers to rest the glass on. Cork would work well too. I gessoed the bottom of the glass and used clear epoxy to glue it in place.  Around the edges I used thin plastic to make more of a complete box for the painting area.

5. At this point I reassembled the box. The sizes I usually paint on are 6x6, 8x10 and 9x12. So I placed my hooks, clips and one hook with a spring in such a way to hold those sizes.  Some were held with the screws that held the back plate on, and some were held in place with wire.

You are now ready to take your new box out and paint!



Have fun!

4 comments:

Cindy Loos said...

Such original and creative thinking!

Karen McLain said...

Thanks Cindy! It works very well-super easy set up!

Linda H said...

Very clever! I love your igenuity. And I feel privileged to have that little birch of Corona on the mantle that you painted!

Karen McLain said...

Thank you Linda, I'm honored to have that piece in your collection!