Name Plaque

An example of an antique name plaque, this one is a little unusual because the letters are stencil cut from the metal. 

Cassetta Frame

This 20th Century reproduction Italian cassetta frame has a lovely aged and distressed look to the gilded and painted design on the flat section. 

Water Gilded Frame

Back Construction

Interesting backing frame construction on this 19th Century frame.

The Royal Household - Frame Technician

The Royal Collection Trust, which is a department in the Royal Household have a two year position available for a Frame Technician. Full details on the Royal Household website:

Frame Technician - Painting Condition Survey Team

Antique Carved Wood Frames

Four examples of antique carved wood frames.

Gold Beating (1959)

An amazing video from 1959 showing how the gold leaf we use to gild frames is made. 

Display Case Frame

A carved display case frame that needs to be repaired and restored. It is fitted with bevelled edge glass which is very thick and heavy, far too heavy for such a frame that is intended to be opened and on small, and rather inadequate hinges.

Gilded and Painted

Icon Frame

A Russian (probably) religious icon frame, with lovely distressed and aged gilding, not sure of age, I would guess around 18th C.

Antique Frame Styles

Good quality 20th C carved repro straight sided Louis XV frame. 

19/20th C Barbizon frame with an inexpensive metal leaf refinish.

Distressed Paint

I love seeing other framers work, just seeing what other people are doing and getting ideas. I get a lot of inspiration visiting art galleries to look at the frames, and I think this is one of the best ways to develop your own style. This distressed paint and gilded frame came in to the workshop for some minor repairs, and I like the overall effect.

Carved Frame

A fine carved 18th Century frame that has some damage to be repaired.

Pair of Frames

A nice matching pair of 19th Century composition frames that are sold, and now waiting to be restored.

Flammehøvl by Jan Brøndsted

I have managed to find the other ripple moulding video from a few years ago that I mentioned in my previous post. I originally saw it via Berit Møller's Frames of Interest blog which is sadly no longer running. There is a second video as well, really fascinating to see the process:

Making Waves - A framemaker re-engineers a 17th century artform

An interesting video about the making of a replica ripple moulding machine. There was another good video on YouTube about waveform machines but I can't seem to find it now. There is some more info on these mouldings in a blog post from a few years ago, here: Ripple Mouldings.

Met Museum Online Archive

A quick search on the Metropolitan Museum of Art website brings up a large number of frames, some on display and others not. Below is a tabernacle frame by Stanford White (which is not currently on display), and the wonderfully decorated 17th C French cassetta frame. Great to see Museums putting the frames in their collections online.

 http://metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/461445

http://metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/130

Water Gilding in White Gold

More Frames seen in Birmingham Museum

19th C Gadroon Frame

Moon Gold

22ct Moon gold on brown bole.

Aluminium

Another old work example, a box frame finished in aluminium leaf.

Old Work

Throwback Thursday to this frame made years ago, blue and green bole with 12ct white gold gilded finish. I liked how this one turned out.

Antique Frame

A 19th Century frame to fit a painting 55" x 40"

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Here are a few frames I liked on a recent visit to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Last time I went a couple of the rooms were closed, and they now have a new Baroque gallery display. The post about my previous visit (here) complained about the lack of anti-reflective glass and this is still a nuisance on many of the paintings, and for me negatively effects the viewing of the paintings.