This outer section of a Watts frame has been cut down, and is having a few repairs to the composition ornament.
Saturday
Modern British
An example of a modern British water gilded and distressed paint frame, this one has incised details at the corners and centres, which you don't see very often and add a nice touch. This frame was made by a very long established London framemaker.
Black oak
An oak miniature frame which has a black stain finish and shellac sealer, it will be waxed and polished.
New neighbours
We have some new neighbours, some very inquisitive young cows have moved into the field behind the workshop.
Corner joints
Here are a few examples of corner joining methods, first below is dovetail keys, useful for deep box frames and wide mouldings, also provides a good, strong joint.
Below is the most common joining method in modern picture framing, it is the underpinner 'V' nail, these little metal right angle nails are fired into the mitre joint using a underpinner machine which drives the nail into the wood, these machines are either manually powered by foot pressure, or pneumatically. These nails are really only intended to hold the joint together while the wood glue sets, the photo below shows the front frame has 5 nails in each corner, this was made by a trainee who thought that more was better, when in fact this number of pins is excessive, wastes money, and even creates a poorer joint. The frame behind shows the 'V' nails on the inside and outside, a much better example.
The example below shows how not to join a frame... looks like an artist has been making his own frames...
Below is a common method of joining large profiles, used extensively in the 19th Century and early 20th Century in England, mitre blocks with nails cross-pinned through the sides of the corners.
Lastly for now (there are other methods I will show later) is another old method, the mitre spline:
12ct distressed finish
This frame has 12ct white gold water gilding with a distressed paint and waxy finish.
Flamingos by Jeremy Houghton
This gilded and painted frame was made for one of my regular artist clients; Jeremy Houghton, you can see lots more of his work on his website:
Distressed finish
An early 20th Century Louis XIV corner and centre frame with a very distressed, layered gilt/paint finish, sometimes called a decapé finish.
Monday
Song of the Sea Exhibition
As a treat for my recent birthday, and to mark 20 years of working as a picture framer, I decided to give myself a Monday morning off work... to visit an art gallery to look at frames and paintings.
Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery has a really interesting collection dedicated to the Worcestershire military regiments, and also varied collections covering natural history, geology, archaeology, ethnology, art, and social history amongst other areas.
The current main art exhibition is called:
More information on the exhibition can be found this website:
It is a really good little exhibition, with some lovely paintings and frames, the St. Ives school is a fascinating and important area of British art history, which still influences today. Here are some photos of my favourites frames in the exhibition:
Thursday
Leeds Museums and Galleries
A detailed post on the Leeds Museums and Galleries blog about making an oval frame:
Madonna and Child - Oval Gilded Frame
Madonna and Child - Oval Gilded Frame
National Museums Liverpool
The National Museums Liverpool website has some frame restoration and conservation information:
The Frame Department section of the website has a number of frame articles.
Google search
It's interesting what comes up when searching, I was looking for 'felt frame rebate tape', which is used to line the rebate (rabbet) of a frame to cushion and protect the painting, and I found the excellent Knole Conservation Team Blog, which has some frame related posts. It has some fascinating snippets and insights into the handling and treatment of frames at a National Trust house.
The first link is the page I landed on from my search, the text is hard to read in places due to the background images, but still interesting frame related posts:
Second link is the home page:
Saturday
Overpainted Empire Frame
This antique frame is a distinct style from the early 19th Century, related to the Empire style which originated in Napoleonic France. The frame has composition ornament Greek scrolling corners featuring the caduceus from Greek mythology, and a deep scotia shape. I believe this particular design came after the Empire period during the time known as the Bourbon Restoration, (the period marking the two occasions when Napoleon lost the throne). The general Empire style was also adopted in German and was known as the Biedermeier style.
This frame has clearly been over-painted, this will be removed and the frame will be restored to an original condition.
Friday
Polished fruitwood
I saw this polished fruitwood frame in a gallery today and thought it was great. The style is Dutch, popular from the 17th Century, and original examples of Dutch frames are highly sought after.
Original and Repro
Here is a comparison between an original 17th Century Louis XIII flower corner frame (the style overlaps into the Louis XIV period) and a modern, 20th Century reproduction. The style is also referred to as a Lebrun frame after the French painter who was the first painter to Louis XIV, and was declared by the Sun King as "the greatest French artist of all time"
Paint texture
I mentioned in the last post about fine mess or netting being used on some antique frame styles, here is a contemporary version of this way of adding surface texture. This frame was made by another framer, I like this effect and will be trying something similar myself.