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.

Stained Oak

A stained oak frame that has a gilded sight edge which is 23.5ct gold leaf.

Making a Cassetta Frame

Parcel gilt cassetta

This cassetta frame sample is another one I made ages ago but never put a photo up of the end result. Made up from three mouldings, the walnut flat section has a heavy dirt patina, and the corner scrolls are intended to look rustic and provincial. The gilding is quite rubbed through with wax and rottenstone finish. I think I may do some more distressing on this sample, really just give it some more authentic dents, scratches and aging effects.

Black and white gold

In the top photo I have gilded the inner and outer edges of this frame in 12ct white gold which was lightly distressed to show the red bole. The gilding was then masked off, and the middle panel was painted with black Plaka. Once dry the next stage was to add some speckles/splatters in watered down grey/black and the whole frame was then sealed with a semi gloss varnish.

More mouldings

The last two mouldings have been cut for this sample, they will be oil gilded and then fixed to the frame. The next photo of this will be the end result.

Samples...

The two samples from a few posts ago, a little further along. The walnut offset corner has been made nice and smooth and two ripple mouldings have been glued in place. The poor fitting of the rosewood insert was intentional as my original idea was to have a moulding going around it, covering the join, although I now wish I had made it perfectly flush. This would have not taken much more work and I think the extra moulding may be a little too much. Anyway we will see how it develops.

Samples and mock-ups

These two samples are a little different to the usual handmade frames I make, they are amongst 6 samples I am making up for a very good client. There are no strict design ideas, just a guide, so I can try some new things. The more traditional cassetta frame will be quite conventional, with the outer egg and dart moulding and the inner shaped with shot beading moulding being water gilded and given lot of ageing and antiquing. The walnut flat will be polished and I may add some gilt patterns although I have not quite decided on this yet.
The offset corner frame will have the little rosewood square inlaid in the hole, and some shaped mouldings on the inner and outer edges. The other four samples have not been started yet, and these two may end up looking nothing like my original ideas!

Parcel gilt

The inner, outer, and sides are water gilded, and the middle scoop section is stained and waxed.

Gilded wood

These two frames are slightly different to my usual gilded and painted frames that I make every week. The top frame has the centre section masked off, this will be a stained finish and the inner and outer parts of the moulding will be gilded. The frame above is oak which has been painted with bole and will be gilded so that the wood grain will be visible.

Wood and gold

These frames are parcel gilt. This is the old fashioned description of gilding combined with natural wood, or something that is part gilding and part some other type of finish. So the inner and outer sections are water gilded in 23.5ct gold, and the middle scoop is stained and waxed.