Finishing Encaustic Substrate

My shoulder is feeling so much better. My 60-min professional massage yesterday made a huge difference and I was able to use the chop saw without an issue. Yay! So, after having the 1/2" plywood cut and sanded to size (18 x 22"), I cut a frame for my plywood, as well as a center bracket for additional support.

I used 1 x 2 1/2" wood for beefier support since it's a larger substrate, instead of 1/4" round as seen here. I puttied up a few blemishes in the plywood and it's some crazy waterproof epoxy that takes 24 hours to cure (overkill, but I had it on hand), so once it's dry I can glue and screw my frame to the back of the plywood. After that I'll sand the wood putty and gesso the front of the plywood twice with sanding in between. (It's a bummer that I need to wait until tomorrow on the gesso due to the crazy overkill putty. You can apply it underwater, so you can imagine how viscous and sticky it is.)

I wheeled the chop saw out to the driveway because it's a beautiful day and I could then skip vacuuming. I had a ton of stares by the neighbors and road crew working around the corner. I'm not sure if they were appalled or impressed.