The Framers Forum

Steve, I'm sorry if I've upset you by what I said. This was meant as no criticism of the work you do nor how you have successfully run your business. My criticism is only directed at the way the pricture framing trade has been presented to the paying public. We all know how to conserve and frame up ...

NYAF says it in one. One's spirits sink when I hear anyone express any enthusiasm for a factory finished moulding. Now is the perfect time to try make a REAL picture frame. As Mark suggests, it's not going to be hard to find the raw materials. Thinking you might be no good at carpentry is no excuse....

I still consider silicone a reversible solution. First use a long bladed knife to remove the fixing then a flat sharp blade to remove the silicone from the glass.
But I may be wrong!

Very sad to hear.

Very wise advice - but .. If you really had to do it, then cut out a 6"square of 15mm pine or even a piece of melamine faced chipboard. Stick that to the mirrored wall with glazier's silicone. It would need supported for the 24hours to go off. Then screw in a suitable hanging point and hang your pic...

For me, the best thing about that video was the inspired use of a wooden moulding plane. He could have just fed the wood into a moulder but instead created a hand worked, slightly irregular cutting that gives the whole frame a beautiful organic shape that's probably imperceptible but still strikes t...

Ah-ah! You are now one of the enlightened. You have a mop. As I said, you'll get the best results by using diluted shellac. Apart from the obvious use of disposable gloves, you'd find it useful to buy a pack of those aluminium foil takeaway trays. Home Bargains are cheapest. Plunge the mop into the ...

I usually allow 20min between coats of shellac. So say I was painting shellac onto a well primed frame. This could be a painted or stained wood surface. First I'd be using a high quality brush to apply the finish. With shellac, the higher the quality of the brush and higher the quality of the finish...

That's the way to go. You'll notice how that little element of silver lifts the whole frame and painting. And another thing to notice - if you isolate that first inner 10mm or 15mm of frame, it can pick out the painting as a stand alone frame and then have the further black surround as an element of...

As regards joining a frame to be further gessoed, it's essential to use a good PVA wood glue. Titebond 111 is your only man. You can be as messy as you like with it and if it does squish out over the mitre, that does not matter. Use a damp cloth to clear it away otherwise the glue will harden to lit...

First of all, clean the glass. Any grease or grime is going to cause the cutting wheel to skid. I've never used any oil with my Toyo cutters. I just keep the cutter stored in 1/2" of white spirit, shake it off before cutting and always get a clean score without forcing it into the glass. Perhaps the...

Hi Rob. I've made hundreds of gilded frames over the years and like you now, have been using an underpinner to join the corners. All very fine if you want it to happen very quickly. But then after I'd spent how many seconds joining the frame, I went on to spend several weeks gilding and finishing th...

I'm getting hopelessly confused with the spelling and meaning of ormolu now. One meaning refers to metal gilding with mercury and the other the term used to describe a deadening varnish applied over freshly gilded surfaces. From what you've mentioned about gesso over toile fabric, I assume you're de...

Hello Corinna. I'm not sure I understand the question on ormolu frames. From what little I know, ormolu gilding refers to a chemical/ heat process of gilding metal objects with a mercury gold amalgam. Is this what you mean, and if so, sorry no - never had to deal with one. They were mostly used as p...

Fantastic that you've made one of those machines and have it producing brilliant work. From what I've read, it's hard physical work operating the machine by hand. Would you see it possible to run it off a well geared down electric motor?

First up, the underlying surface of the wood must be marble smooth. So that needs a few coats of RSG gesso and sanded back to a finest finish. Then a coat of red bole, or red oxide acrylic paint well thinned ( no brush marks). Then two good coats of clear shellac. After that it's best to use a 3 hou...

Transparency is key to a finish with any sort of depth. Whether you use black acrylic, black oil paint, or any other sort of medium, if it contains black pigment then the finish is opaque. Which is fine if that's all you're looking for. If you want something that has an optical transparency to show ...

I like what you're doing. A wide black frame always looks good around a small still life such as this. I think they were often referred to as cabinet frames and many of the original ones I've seen were cut from walnut or other prime hardwoods. The big problem with using a cheaper wood such as ayous ...

Congratulations there, you're making and designing your own frames. And knowing how you want things to look helps enormously. It's more often the case of, "let's try a bit of this on and see what happens". I'm going to agree with fusionframer here where he feels the inner black rail distracts from t...

Polyco GL890 are the gloves I use. Always best to buy 1 size larger than you need, then they can be taken off and on for easy re-use. But don't let the Thinners near any good brushes. Use Q tips or a disposable brush.