The tapestry holder

This project went through a lot of design changes.
I have a very old crib blanket that my grandmother made years ago and I wanted to display it. The challenge was to find a way to secure it without damaging the fabric.
First, I looked at commercial tapestry rods to get a sense for what is available and how they work. There are many methods used, most involving  spring-loaded mechanisms that clamp the fabric in place. I thought about using a system like that, but it became over-complicated and my designs looked silly.
Another method is to essentially have two parallel dowels that hold the tapestry into place with gravity. That might work, but I wanted something a little fancier.

I decided on a system using a dowel split down the middle which would then be pressure-fit into holes in the ends of the turned finials. This seemed like a simple, elegant solution, until it came time to drill one inch holes two or three inches deep into oak endgrain. I got about an eighth of an inch before deciding this was ridiculous.
I woke up that night with a plan that seemed perfectly simple. The next morning we got to work. Why "we"?  I had a special guest to help me out with this project.