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.

Year's end

The end of another year of framing, thank you to all my customers, clients, the framers I work with, and suppliers, and all of you who watch and visit the blog. Next year will see the launch of a blog/site for selling antique, repro, old, and new frames. There are various ideas for improving the workshop, production, and the frames and services we offer. These will no doubt be shown on the blog!

Happy New Year to everyone.

Last few jobs

Here are a few of the frames that have been finished off this week, some of our typical gilded and painted frames, and a stained and waxed frame. The three gilded frames are all the same moulding profile, just with different sections gilded or not gilded.

Finished Neoclassical frame

Cut down

It can be a little nerve racking cutting down antique frames. The timber is often less than straight, compo can be brittle and prone to breaking very easily, the gesso can be also be fragile and poorly secured to the wood.
The last part of this Watts frame was relatively easy to cut down, the compo and gesso was very secure, so no bits broke away as it was cut. Now for some small repairs and it will be ready to frame an antique painting.

2 cut down, 1 to go

Nearly finished this sample

Frame sites

I haven't done a link to interesting framing websites for ages, so much for my regular feature of linking to great frame sites! Maybe I will try and do more in 2012, and maybe one day I will even get round to updating the links on my website.

There are quite a few good articles and papers on frames and framing on the V&A website, this link is to a detailed article on making a replica tabernacle frame for a 15th Century painting of 'The Virgin and Child' by Carlo Crivelli. There are lots of good photos covering each stage and it's interesting to see a museums methods.

Conservation case studies: Building a frame for 'The Virgin and Child' by Carlo Crivelli

Antique frame cut down x3

These three frames make up a classic Watts frame; an inner husk type compo pattern, a flat oak veneer, and an outer acanthus leaf compo pattern. It will be cut down to fit a 19th Century painting. Always a bit of a shame to cut down an antique frame but it will be a good period frame for the painting.

Now for some....gilding

The reproduction neoclassical frame has been water gilded this week. The top photo shows it with the yellow bole base layer, some red bole was put on top of the yellow. Although as is traditional, no red was put in the recesses of the egg and dart as this makes gilding the carved areas much easier. 

Second Empire

Another antique frame for some little repairs, we will also cut some glass and fit in a print. It's another French frame, in the second empire style, although I usually just describe this as neoclassical, anyway it has some nice original burnished gilding and is in pretty good condition.

Corner and centre frame

This wonderful 17th/18th Century Louis XIV frame is carved from oak, it looks as if it has been cut down during the 19th Century to fit the current painting, (which is by a French 19th Century artist) this fits in with the practice at the time of using earlier frames, especially this corner and centre style. Interestingly the artist actually worked as a picture frame maker, along with his Father. Who knows, maybe this frame was chosen by the artist or maybe by a dealer or gallery, either way it is a lovely antique frame.
My favourite detail on this frame is the variation in the cross hatched ground, it uses four different types of pattern for the centres, the corners, and the areas between the two. It's subtle but shows some extra time and thought went into the making.

Draught exclusion

The roller shutter door is not the most insulated or energy efficient, especially in this windy weather it is really quite draughty, so this giant tarpaulin has been put up to keep out the breeze. It still needs some work at the top of the door, but it will help keep in a little extra heat.

Great antique frame

This lovely 19th Century French Barbizon or Salon frame came in today for some repairs, I think it's just about as good a compo or plaster ornamented frame as you could hope to see. The ornament looks as if it could have been carved, instead of looking moulded, the gilding is highly burnished and all round it's a quality frame.

Lots of old frames

We are working on quite a few repair, restoration, a re-finishing of antique frames at the moment. There are three Watts frames, one is a frame of mine which is being cut down to fit a 19th C painting, and the other two have both had the wire/hangers fail resulting in lots of broken areas of compo. 

The top two photos (the red frame) are a carved frame which is being re-finished. There is also a photo of the neoclassical frame after it has been gessoed.