I'm usually thrilled to find ways to speed up my work without compromising quality. The less time I spend on making frames, the more I have to paint.  Recently I've been using 2 part epoxy on some projects, for both adhesive and gap filling applications. I was skeptical at first, but the more I work with it the more I see its strengths. 

Epoxy won't interfere with wood finishes, like regular wood glue will (if not completely removed after drying), it's very strong and seems to hold well.  The slideshow above shows the major steps in putting a frame together with epoxy.  This might become my preferred way to adhere frame corners, depending on how strong the joints turn out to be.  If my results are good I'll use epoxy on corners when I need the frame quickly (24 hours from the time ordered). For this frame I used some poplar molding I milled a while back (I'll end up painting or staining this frame).  The whole process from cuts to clamping took about 30 minutes, and I should be able to remove the frame for sanding and finishing in an hour (we'll see). 

The epoxy claims a 5 minute cure time (a slight exaggeration I've found, more like an hour to harden) and high tensile strength, which I tend to believe it has, based on my experience so far. Using epoxy with a wood finish like spray lacquer means I can cut out the dry time of conventional wood glue and oil based finishes. In summation, faster woodworking through chemistry. 

My latest pastel is a large version of Hidden Lake in Glacier National Park. I did a smaller version 6 months or so back. I am again enjoying the freedom the larger scale affords and the overall impact of the scene. So far I've put in about an hour.