Oval Mirror Repairs

This table standing oval mirror frame had a few areas of damage, which have been repaired.

Pre-Raphaelite Frame

Another example of a 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite style frame, this one made from composition with a bold relief pattern.

Gilt Oak Rossetti Frame

This is a really super example of a 19th Century Pre-Raphaelite frame, called a Rossetti frame after the artist. It was made by W.A. Smith who made frames for many of the leading artists of the late 19th Century. A simple design but one of my favoutite styles of antique frames.

Carved Oak Frame

A nice example of a 19th Century carved oak Pre-Raphaelite type frame, with the gilding applied directly on the open wood grain. 

Gilt Paint Finish

A frame with a distressed gilt paint finish.

Carved Hogarth Style Frames

A selection of carved 18th/19th Century frames, known as Hogarth frames.

Ornament Mould

Here I am making a simple mould to copy an egg and dart moulding. It will be used to decorate a cassetta profile frame.

Distressed Antique Gilding

A great example of beautifully aged and distressed gilding, seen on this continental fluted second Empire frame.

Restored Watercolour Frame

This 19th Century watercolour frame has just been repaired and restored. It had numerous losses to the ornament, and had been overpainted, it had also been gilded a couple of times. It has been cut down to fit a smaller painting, the composition missing has been replaced, and it has been regilded.

19th Century Composition Frame

This very ornate Victorian frame is in good condition, considering how most antique frames suffer damage and losses, this example is in surprisingly whole condition. 

Thin Gesso Frames

The two outer frames seen here will be used to make a cassetta frame, with a walnut stained wood flat used in-between them. The outer section will have an egg and dart ornament applied, with some acanthus leaves at the corners.

Wide Handmade Frames

Here are some pictures of most of the stages involved in making a handmade frame.

Another Large Frame

Here are a few of the stages involved in making a large frame, a wooden slip frame is used in place of a mount. 5mm Acrylic will be used for the glazing. A subframe is also used which is fixed to the foamboard backing, and will be screwed into the main frame to increase the strength and rigidity.

Blue Silk and Gilded Mount

The inner mount is gilded in 23.5ct gold leaf using an acrylic gold size on dark brown painted base, it is then sealed with shellac. The top mount is blue silk. 

Old Studio Photos

I found and scanned these old print photos recently, they are of my first studio/workshop in Broadway. I think this would be about 2003. The room was for many years a grocery shop and made a really nice framing studio, the old stock rooms out the back were my workshop. The huge frame in these photos was made by a cabinet maker and was brought to me for gilding, it only just fitted through the double doors. I really liked this studio but being in Broadway it was very expensive and really I needed more work space instead of a studio, also as my work was/is predominantly trade based I didn't really need a location with passing trade.

Large Painting

A large painting on board that has been framed in a box frame, with a gap around the inner frame and then another outer box frame.

Oxford Frames

Here is a good selection of antique Oxford frames, the description for this type of frames being:

'A picture-frame the sides of which cross each other and project some distance at the corners' - (Oxford English Dictionary).

An in depth article about these 19th Century frames can be found on the National Portrait Gallery website: Oxford Frames by Jacob Simon.

Finished Gilded and Painted Frame

Broken Rebate

This antique slip (re-gilded at some point with metal leaf) has been damaged during shipping, pressure on the back of the painting has caused the rebate (rabbet) to split. 

Gesso Trays

A couple of tray frames coated with gesso. The inner sections only had 3 coats, but the face and sides had 7. Next comes sanding and smoothing, probably the least enjoyable aspect of making handmade frames.

Round Mirror Frame

This 18th/19th Century round mirror frame had many layers of later applied gilding and paint, here it is being stripped and a more original gold leaf finish will be restored. This is another frame for the Belmont project.

Large Tray Frame

A large tray style frame for a painting on board.

Painted and Gilded Frame Wash

 The next stages for this frame are to have some colour washes on top of the painted middle and side sections. The masking tape is then removed it will then be left to dry overnight. 

Deep Canvas Tray Frame

Deep canvases are often hung without a frame, which I think is how they are intended to be displayed, sometimes also with the sides painted. But occasionally they need to be framed. Here I am making a tray frame for a deep canvas by using some strip wood for the sides/front, and the back is made from a profile that is usually used as a slip. This frame will be gessoed and the face will be gilded.

Painting a Frame

This frame is just being painted on the middle section and sides. The gilding is burnished on the outer section but the inner part is not burnished. The gilding is masked off while I do the painting.