Ribbon repair

The ribbon ornament at the bottom of this frame was broken into five pieces, the top photo showing after they have been fixed back in place, and the second once the gilding had been touch up.

White gold box

This is the box frame that had green bole to match a Farrow & Ball colour. It has been gilded in 12ct white gold, and the sides are painted in F&B Charleston Gray.

  

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.

Green bole

This box frame has been painted with light green bole (made by mixing from green, white, and yellow bole), the bole was to match a Farrow and Ball colour. The frame will now be water gilded with 12ct white gold.

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.

Antique mirror frame

This fantastic Louis XVI style antique mirror and frame has come in for a few minor repairs. Apart from these small areas that need attention, it's in great condition with lovely water gilded finish. 

A gilt and painted frame

Although I am an antique frame fanatic, I also love certain 20th Century styles like this gilt and heavily distressed painted frame. It is a design we try and replicate, and we have our own versions of this gilding combined with distressed paint and colour washes. This style of frame finish is something of a modern classic in my opinion, and I would be interested to know more about the history of these frames, and who first started making them.

This frame has a label of the framemakers and art shippers:
James Bourlet and Sons Ltd. I've always called these types of frames (gilded and distressed paint) 'Bourlet frames', something I picked up from an art dealer years ago. The company has a very rich history and continue to make some fantastic frames in London, maybe this style was even first designed by the Bourlet framemakers. 

As in the previous post, there is a lot of historical info on this company in the directory of British framemakers 1630-1950 by Jacob Simon on the NPG website, in fact the previous maker W.A. Smith was apparently taken over by James Bourlet in 1899:
http://www.npg.org.uk/research/conservation/directory-of-british-framemakers/b.php

Gilded oak and laurel leaf

This late 19th Century frame has a gilded oak inner frame and the outer is a triple run of the often used laurel leaf and berry ornament. This outer ornament is one of the commonest seen on old frames, but usually it is just a larger single run. This frame was made by W.A. Smith who has an extensive listing in the National Portrait Gallery list of British Framemakers 1630-1950, complied by Jacob Simon:
http://www.npg.org.uk/research/conservation/directory-of-british-framemakers/s.php

Nearly finished...

The Florentine style frame Mark has been restoring and regilding is nearly finished... thankfully! Lots and lots of hours have gone into this so it will be good to get it finished this week, in other words we will be glad to see it leave the workshop! only joking, it is great to have such frames to work on. Here you can see photos after it has been lightly distressed and the leaf tips have been burnished. Next comes a bit of patina and toning. 

Next weeks work

Here are a few of the jobs we will be working on this week. The piles of oak frames are for a regular contract order, we do about 100 to 200 at a time every few months. Hanging on the wall brackets are lots of different frames, some will be gilded and others will have gesso/paint finishes. Lastly the close up is a canvas tray which will be water gilded in moon gold. A busy week ahead!

Black box

These two box frames are made from tulip wood which has been gessoed and then finished with black Pelikan Plaka paint (a water based casein emulsion), they have then been finished with wax. It's a simple but nice looking finish, and I do love frames with covered mitres.

How I started framing....in brief

Sometimes customers ask how I got into framing, or how long I have been working as a framer. They are quite surprised to hear that I have been doing it full time for 18 years (this summer), especially as I don't really look as old as I am! I began framing when I left school at 16, where I started working as an apprentice in my Dad's print galleries and framing business.
I wanted to very briefly and without too much fuss, mark the importance of his influence on my work and business as he passed away on the 23rd January 2012. I very much doubt I would have ever got into framing had he not opened his first gallery back in 1984. So for this I am very grateful, to have had the opportunity to do a job that is interesting, enjoyable, and that I am reasonably good at is a real joy.
He was not a picture framer himself but liked the art and framing business and owned a number of galleries over the years, selling open and limited edition prints. His business was sold off in 1998 and 4 years later I started up my own little framing business.
OK, back to the frames and what we do at the workshop, of which he was very proud.

Gilding...

Here you can see that Mark has been busy gilding the carved Florentine frame. The frame is being water gilded in 23.5ct gold leaf over red bole.

Repaired frame

Florentine progress

The antique Florentine frame has been sanded and the carved detail sharpened up, it has then been painted with yellow bole.

My first jobs back at work

These are a few repair jobs I started today. The little swept frame above has a few losses to the compo, then the Barbizon frame has lots of small areas of damage to the plaster ornament, finally the pierced Rococo frame has a few losses to the inner ornament. The old label at the top is from the little swept frame.
Two of these frames (the swept and the Barbizon) have been repaired by me before, careless handling by shippers (taking the frames to and from art fairs and exhibitions) has caused the various damage which means they need repairing again.

Imitation water gilding

On this frame a centre panel with distressed paint and deep polish finish is combined with oil gilding, which imitates a distressed water gilded finish.

Canvas tray or float frames

These two canvas tray frames or float frames have been gilded in metal leaf, with distressed paint on the inside and outside, finished off with light paint speckles. 

Dutch ripple moulding

Here is another frame that has been made while I have been away. It is a classic ripple frame with a deep ebonised polished finish, (often called a Dutch or Flemish frame but this is an inaccurate association as the style was found in many European countries), with oil gilded inner and outer edges. I do like these styles of frames, even though they are often dark the polished finish and the ripples reflect light and create an interesting effect. The original antique frames in this, and similar styles command relatively high prices.

Anyway, back to this frame, the moulding is bought in unfinished lengths (between 2.5m and 3m long) in obeche wood with the ripple pattern already applied in a material known as pasta, which is made from wood pulp and binders. This type of moulding is made something like this; the base moulding is fed through a machine with a metal embossing wheel which has the ripple pattern carved into the wheel, the pasta material (in a dough like consistency) is fed onto the moulding, and as it passes through the wheel and the length of moulding moves through the machine, the ripple pattern is impressed into the pasta.

January jobs

I've been away from work for nearly all of January, and although I am back in England now, I have not really started work properly yet. Mark and Ian have been very busy at the workshop,  and lots of new work has been coming in, which is good as January and February are often quiet months.
Here you can see a nice carved Florentine style frame which is being totally refinished, it is probably late 19th Century, it was in a bad state and had a pretty poor metal leaf (imitation gold) finish. The gesso is being sanded and the detail is being re-cut using metal tools. Next it will be painted in yellow and red bole.