Gilded Tray Frames

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.

Large Tray Frame

A large tray style frame for a painting on board.

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.

Tray Frames

I have lots of orders for canvas tray or float frames at the moment, some will be painted, and others gilded, this is just a few of them cut to size and waiting to be joined together.

Gesso Painted Frame

 Gesso frame with distressed paint finish, the mdf panel is floated on black backing.

The frame after it has been painted with gesso, and was then painted with a number of different colours.

Flamingos in a tray frame

A painting by Jeremy Houghton in a gilded tray frame.

Canvas float

A finished canvas tray float frame, showing the 1/4" gap around the canvas. It is worth pointing out that framing canvases in this way can often be troublesome. Even high quality stretcher bars can be unsquare, this means that measuring the canvas along the edges will appear to give the same dimensions on each side, but the measurement from diagonal corners will show if the bars are square or not. Canvases will also often be slightly narrower in the middle compared to the edges.

The cheaper canvases favoured by many artists are often dramatically unsquare, and even warping in each bar can mean the canvas won't lay level on a flat service.

Grey tray

The canvas tray frame from a few posts ago has been painted with a dark grey paint, it will need a couple of more coats before being sealed with a matt acrylic varnish.

Canvas tray

It is often the case that a moulding is not quite the right depth or width, so a custom profile can be made or an existing moulding can be modified to suit. This canvas tray needed to be a particular width and depth, this was created from an existing moulding which can be seen in the top photo or the right. The face and bevel edge rebate was cut off leaving the basic tray profile that was needed, the section that was cut off was used as the back of the tray, to which the canvas will be screwed.

White float frame

This box canvas is framed in a 2" deep white painted box frame, this is mounted to a white painted MDF backing, then another white painted frame which is about 2 1/2" deep, surrounds the outside of the backing. The outer frame is a wide flat frame which has been cut on its side or at right angles to how it would usually be cut and joined. This general style is sometimes called a 'St. Ives frame', although now this can refer to almost any white framing, some people also call this style after the artist Ben Nicholson, although I think lap or butt joints and natural wood finish would be more typical of Nicholson frames. With the example here no glazing is used, although you can also have them with glazing, by having the outer (or inner) frame made from two parts; a rebated frame and a space or fillet.

Float frame

The finished canvas float frame from previous posts, with distressed and burnished water gilded 22ct moon gold. Below are some more float frames which have been painted.

Moon tray

This frame is actually a repair job, as the gesso was flaking off all round the edges. When it came in I was concerned it was one I had made, as I have done similar frames for the gallery and artist before, so it could have been one of mine. But upon sanding back the gesso I thankfully saw it was not one I had made; the corners were joined with cross pinned nails and no underpinner wedges were used, and the fillet was also nailed into place; both techniques I have never used before. The next post on this frame will show the distressed and burnished 22ct moon gold. This style of frame is used with canvases or panels, where a gap is left around the edge of the artwork giving a floating or shadow effect. The profile has lots of names: tray frame, float frame, canvas tray, floater frame, float tray, and L frame to name a few combinations.

Floated panel

An easy and effective way of float mounting the thin panels that some artists paint on. The 3M Velcro on the back of the panel is fixed with a small amount of Evacon R adhesive. On thicker panels like 6mm MDF this can be backed up with 3mm staples. The Velcro holds the panel in place but it can be easily removed with minimum damage or alteration to the panel. It is useful if artists want to be able to swap over paintings. For heavier or larger panels, or more critical applications 3M also make a product called Dual Lock which is a high performance reclosable fastener.

Trainee projects

These are three frame projects finished today by the work experience trainee. Excellent work for a teenager, and I was impressed with how quickly she learnt and picked up the basics of finishing. 

3 frames from ages ago.... finished

 

These are just some finished frames that I posted about a while ago. The swept frame at the top was water gilded with burnished sections and a soft antique finish. The big tray frame had a distressed paint finish, and the bottom frame was a simple bronze powder gilded and waxed paint finish.

Corner detail - float frame

Painted frames

Here I am painting these various tray and float frames, they have been sprayed with gesso and sanded, painted with acrylic primer undercoat, and now they get a couple of coats of Farrow and Ball paint. The last stage will be a coat of acrylic sealer.

Moon gold tray frame

The canvas tray frame from earlier posts has been sprayed with gesso, sanded, and then painted with brown bole and water gilded in 22ct moon gold. Next comes the paint finish on the sides.

Size coat of glue

This tray frame is made from obeche, the sides are made from a conventional wide flat frame that has been mitred on its side, the back part is made from a fillet 9mm x 73mm (refs: Rose and Hollis A104 and F7 if anyone's taking notes). The fillet was underpinned first on the inside and then the outer frame was underpinned through the fillet to join them together nicely. The sides of frame were also drilled and cross pinned close to the top (the face) for extra strength. Here I am giving the frame a size coat with rabbit skin glue.