Swept frame repair

This swept watercolour frame has a damaged centre, the corners and centres are easily damaged when frames are moved around, as is often the case when galleries exhibit at art fairs or the gallery is being re-hung. A repair like this will take about 30 minutes to fix.

Super rack is finished

Glass cutting bench is finished

The glass cutting bench has been covered with carpet at last! The dividers underneath are split into sections with different types of glass, such as: museum, anti-reflective, float, and antique glass to name a few.

Different jobs

Now and then I get jobs that are nothing to do with framing. This head sculpture had broken at the base. The metal bolt and all the areas around the repair were sealed with a reversible and stable conservation acrylic resin adhesive, then a two part epoxy adhesive was used to repair the damaged section. The conservation adhesive can be easily reversed in the future if required.

The same technique I used on the head sculpture was used on this glass artwork. All areas around the repair were isolated with a reversible barrier adhesive, then a two part epoxy was used to make a strong repair. 

These two jobs above were done some months ago, but this week I have been working on these turned rosewood columns for a furniture maker. They are being oil gilded in the flutes of the spiral column. I am at the workshop now, waiting for the gold size to reach 'tackiness' before I can put the gold on.

Big children's map

This large children's map of the world is glazed with 3mm acrylic to reduce the weight and make it safe for displaying around young children.

Carved Italian mirror frame

This carved Florentine style mirror frame was repaired last week, now I'm just waiting for the mirror glass to be delivered...

Making a triangular frame

Here we are making an equal sided triangular frame. We (VERY CAREFULLY!) used the table saw to cut the mitres. The moulding was too wide to cut on the other frame cutting equipment we have (Morso and OMGA saw), so a simple sliding jig was used. The corners are then joined with Hoffmann dovetail keys. The frame is for a mirror, and will be finished with silver leaf and grey painted scoop section.The frame behind the triangle is a custom made walnut profile, and the frame to the left is an antique oak frame which will be cut down to period frame an early 20th Century painting.

Glue on the glass bench

Here Phil is inspecting Ian's work at covering the glass bench in glue before the carpet is put on top, and then weighted down with a few 8'x4' MDF sheets.

Artist Jeremy Houghton

This fun and cheeky watercolour by Jeremy Houghton came in last week for a new frame. The painting is called 'The Synchronised Swimmer Who Forgot Her Costume', and it recently appeared in the The Daily Mail. It will be in an exhibition at London Heathrow's Terminal Five.

frame restoration

I finished restoring this set of four delicate little Victorian frames last week. They each had lots of little bits missing, and are now good and complete without any missing sections of ornament.

Big rack and under bench storage

I knocked together the framework for the big storage rack today, it will hold frames up to 6ft long, it still needs some uprights fitted, similar to the under bench racks in the photo above. This will allow 2 or 3 frames in each rack, so it should be able to comfortably fit 12 to 16 large frames. 

Once this rack is finished, that will be it for frame storage in the workshop, next job on the list is a display shelf unit for the ready made frames in the reception room.

More storage space!

Today has been really busy at the workshop, with customers coming and going non-stop. I have just about managed to finish rack number 3 this afternoon, it just needs a bench top on the part beneath the window, and a few bits of carpet, but its basically ready to go. I have managed to use up and recycle lots of offcuts, scrap wood, and timber to make the racks and other fittings in the workshop. Next up is a basic rack for really, really big frames, the base for this will be an old and rather useless door! I may try and get this started tomorrow...

Work on third storage rack

Finished silk framing

Damage to woven silk artwork

These collectable woven silk pictures were framed many years ago, sellotape and double sided tape were used to fix them and this has caused damage and marking around the image. You can see in the bottom photo, the adhesive in the tape has badly marked the front of the material.

Lots of slip frames

This week Ian and Phil have been working on these slip frames for the Duncan MacGregor paintings.

More repairs

Nearly finished repairing various frames this week, I've had a bit of a cold since the weekend, so have not been able to get as much done this week as I hoped.

Gluing and clamping the broken frame

Frame repairs

The frame at the top fell off the wall and was badly damaged, with one section breaking away and about 8 large pieces breaking off. The 3 little frames (there are 4 all the same), have various areas of damage. The green stuff is a mould making silicone putty. The Florentine frame above has some gesso missing along the bottom edge, gaps in the corners and some small missing sections. 

Storage rack No. 2

The second frame storage rack is now finished, I also did some more work on the third rack, which I plan to finish in the next week or so...

A week of restoration

  
I will spend most of the coming week working on antique frames, I have 11 to repair and restore, including a couple of Florentine mirror frames, a 'Hogarth' frame, a nice carved French frame, and an English veneer frame.

Moulding racks

I put up some more moulding racks today, just in time for a delivery of moulding for a large exhibition order. In the top photo, all the moulding against the the right hand wall is for Duncan MacGregor paintings, that's alot of frames! The second photo shows some storage for offcuts of moulding.

The samples are on the walls

I have finally got started on putting the frame corner samples on the walls. They are nearly all up, I still have the barewoods, whites and coloureds, and all the ornate/antique style handmade samples still to do. I need to cut some more MDF panels to mount the samples on, as I've run out, so I should be able to get them all up by the end of next week. Then its onto getting some framed pictures, certificates, and examples of framing on the walls. I will have a little space to display some paintings by local artists, in order to get them some commissions and sales.