As many people who are interested in frames know, paintings are rarely reproduced in books or on websites with their frames, it is something I have mentioned on here before. This tumblr 'Art in Frames' has some lovely images of paintings with frames, the way all art should be reproduced.
Thursday
Metal Leaf
This frame has been gilded using acrylic size and metal leaf. In this case I used transfer leaf, which means that each leaf of imitation gold has been pressed on to a piece of backing paper, the leaf is easy to handle and is simply placed on the sticky size and rubbed onto the surface, the pressure adheres the leaf to the size and it is removed from the backing paper.
Saturday
Colours of Bole
Different frame profiles painted with various colours of bole clay, a good selection of colours are available and the colour chosen has an effect on the tone of the gilding. When distressed this colour is visible, and can be used to complement colours in the work being framed. The shade I use most often is red, but also grey, brown, black, and orange are used a lot, or combinations of colours.
Friday
National Gallery - Titian Frame Appeal
The National Gallery have an appeal to raise the funds needed to buy a fantastic Venetian 16th Century frame, for a painting by Titian called 'An Allegory of Prudence'. The image above shows a mock-up of the painting, with the frame that has been sourced to present the painting at its best. The painting is currently framed in a later 17th Century French frame which is considered unsuitable for various reasons. Details can be found here:
Tuesday
Frames in Progress
The larger frames are water gilded with moon gold, the small frames are acrylic size gilded with aluminium leaf.
Sunday
Same Profile, Different Finish
This is the same obeche frame profile but with two different gilded finishes, one is 12ct white gold and the other is 23.5ct gold.
Freshly Sprayed Gesso
A cassetta frame made from tulip which has been sprayed with gesso, this frame will have aluminium leaf on the inner and outer sections with the flat section painted.
Saturday
Friday
Overpainted gilding
A 19th Century Barbizon frame that at some point has had gold paint applied to the bottom length, probably because the gilding had been worn away and heavily distressed with excessive cleaning over the years. The gold paint has tarnished and is now a bronzy-brown colour, with the original gilding and aged patina clearly comparable on the rest of the frame which was not painted.
