My niece is expecting her first baby in June. My mother put together a puzzle for the baby’s room and asked me to make a frame for it. I used Inkscape to make the svg files and Easel to place the svg files on the four sides of the frame. I carved the images into the wood and sprayed them with black paint. Then I sanded the painted surface leaving the carved images black. I hope my niece will be pleased. Not a very difficult project but I enjoyed doing it. Sorry for the reflections on the glass; I’m not a photographer!!! Any critiques that can help me improve will be appreciated!!
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Those are some tight miters. It looks great. The goat is my favorite of all the critters appearing on there.
I’ve seen the spray-then-sand technique used a few times before but haven’t tried it yet. Did you use a sealer between carving and spraying to keep the paint out of the wood grain?
Regarding painting and then sanding. Would it be possible to cover the project with masking tape or some other protectant before carving? Carve, paint, and peel?
No I did not use a sealer. The paint I used is a rattle can lacquer that is not very thin so I did not worry about it bleeding into the grain. I had done a test piece first to see if that would be a problem.
Actually, Ward, I did cover most of the frame with masking tape mainly to prevent wasting any paint I did not have to, and have less paint gumming up the sanding disc.
Thanks for the reply. My X Carve is waiting for me (still in boxes) when I get home next week.
I guess what I’m asking is if you covered your frame parts before you carved. This would leave only the carved characters exposed for painting.
Yes, I covered the uncarved areas as well as I could.
Makes sense. Thank you.
Thanks Phil. That’s awesome and I think it might be easier! If I have some oil based paint around here I will give it a try.
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It’s not one of our more popular products(I don’t know why?), but our vinyl paint mask is really helpful for saving you sanding time when you are going to be painting the inside of carved shapes. It’s better than masking tape, for sure.
Essentially, you put it over the surface you’re carving, carve your project (down-cut bits are best with the mask), paint, and then pull up the mask. Viola!
Other than that advice…I love this project! I’m especially pleased that a chicken made it onto the frame 
Nice work!
Thanks Mo. Glad you liked it. Somehow I didn’t think anyone would pick the chicken as a favorite but I like it, too. But I kind of like all of them to tell the truth! Guess I would since I picked them!! LOL!
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@RobertCanning LOL!! Maybe I’m not the only one old enough to remember The Irish Rovers???
@rob @GordRock My mom’s side of the family is full-blown Irish (I’m named Maureen Patricia and conveniently born on St. Patrick’s Day). I know more Irish songs than I care to admit 
I’ve tried masking and then routing. My experience is that the tape doesn’t rout cleanly leaving a lot of trimming. I didn’t find it worth it.
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Nice gift 
I was thinking you could have put an animal in each corner (instead of one on each side of the corner) and that way, you would have had even spacing between them.