Parcel Gilded Frame

On this frame only the inner section is coated in gesso, bole, and then water gilded in 22ct moon gold on grey bole. The rest of the frame will be painted directly on the wood grain.

Next Batch of Frames

A pile of frames that are the next batch to be made, most of these will be gilded all over.

Liming wax

A simple but favourite finish of mine is liming wax on a natural wood frame. The wood used here is obeche, which sometimes has dark streaks in the grain. Sections of wood with these streaks are not really suitable for limed finishes.

Pile of frames

This pile of 10" x 12" obeche frames have been made in various shaped profiles. They will be used at a practical gilding workshop at an upcoming framing event:

Framers Forum Live! 2012

Yearly order

We have a number of orders that repeat annually for long standing exhibitions, these obeche frames are one of them, and make up half of this order. These frames are just waiting to have a size coat of rabbit skin glue brushed on, and I am just going to the workshop to do this now... 

Frames in progress

These are some of the next batch of frames being worked on, some to be gilded and some with paint finishes. All are in obeche wood except for two which are made from oak. The nice reproduction frame on the table was not made by me, but is just getting a repair done, and having some museum glass fitted.

Modify a moulding

This bevel shaped obeche moulding has been run through the table saw three times to create a new profile. It will have a gilded and painted finish. A saw is very useful for easily and safely modifying mouldings, even just being able to make a moulding or slip narrower makes it possible to meet different requirements.

Ripple in gesso

This ripple style moulding is made from obeche with the two ripple patterns being made from a material called pasta, which is basically wood pulp and binders. The patterns are created with an embossing wheel, (I waffled on about this in a post about a month ago) this moulding is bought unfinished, and in this photo the first coat of gesso has been applied to the frame.

The genuine and original 17th C European, (commonly but not exclusively Dutch) ripple and ebonised frames are highly sought after, and go for high prices. The mouldings have quite an interesting history, with carving machines being developed to create the repetitive waveform, flame, or ripple shapes. The first reproduction machine used to recreate the ripple mouldings was built by the legendary frame expert Paul Levi. 

A fascinating article on the ripple mouldings and waveform machine was written by Professor Jonathan Thornton, who also made a reproduction "waving engine machine". The article says that the ripple type moulding was probably first developed in Germany around 1600:

http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/wag/2002/WAG_02_thornton.pdf

If you want to make a reproduction frame in this style now, there is a very good supplier of pearwood waveform mouldings in Salzburg, Austria, called Jakob Schiffer.
http://www.flammleisten.at/index%20englisch.html 

Holding the corners together

The corners on most frames are joined with small metal wedges or V-Nails which come in various sizes. This rather wide moulding also has a dovetail key fitted which will add to the strength of the joint. This particular profile is really quite tricky to work with, but it is very popular with my customers, and I will be framing several paintings with it in the coming weeks.

Waiting for gesso

These 3 obeche frames have been sized, and tomorrow will be covered in gesso. I have 11 gilded and painted frames to get finished before the Christmas and New Year holidays, and another 4 to be done when I'm back at work in January. There are 5 frames waiting to be repaired/restored, and probably about 55 'normal' to 'awkward' jobs which includes cross stitches, prints, a medal with a certificate, acrylics on board, pastels, and various other pieces of art, which all need to be done before Christmas.