The Framers Forum

There are two things you can do but both involve treating the WHOLE frame and not just the scuffed areas. For one, rub the whole frame with 00 wire wool, now rub with clear (or black) wax and when dry, buff up to a high shine. Then recover the satin finish by rubbing back with 0000 wire wool. For an...

Ruth Tapin would indeed do a very skilled and comprehensive job. I would think that a repair bill of several hundred pounds should be expected. Perhaps your customers will think this perfectly justifiable. If not you could indeed do a serviceable cover-up job with a mix of Liberon Chantilly and Ramb...

Wonderful to see you've made that. Can I ask, how long would it take to run off a lenght, say 3ft of ripple moulding?

Ten points to team Prospero.
Buy some activated carbon from e-bay and seal it together with the book in a plastic bag. God knows how long it takes.

I'm guessing we use brandy, distilled from wine, because it's the cleanest liquor. I know that by having it in the gilder's liquor mix, it accelerates the evaporation of the water and pulls the gold down onto the gesso/bole. And it smells nice. I get mine from Aldi, the cheapest price.

Speaking of... as I'm here, could I go back to basics and ask what you use to lay gold leaf? I've been variously told: - a plain 13:1 water to rsg size - dabbing it with a wet cloth to reactivate the rsg in the bole - mix of water, rsg size and some meths Good grief! Where do you learn things like ...

Sorry to hear the first attempts didn't work out. Whatever reason aside I'll put up here the procedure I would follow if that was my project. Soak 40gm of RSG in 660ml water for 4 -5 hours or overnight. Heat up to melt no higher than 70C, DO NOT BOIL. Decant 400ml aside and pour the rest into a yogu...

Good mention of Das Pronto for repairs. The other stuff to consider is Fine Surface Milliput. Restorers use it a lot for ceramics but it is very soft and maleable before setting and so would be able to be cast. In fact you can use it to make a cast and then - cast from it! Tiranti would have a relea...

You were saying that you'd priced a sander at £300. Whilst I was looking at the e-bay post mentioned by Bertie, I noticed a Sia sander with 20 boxes of discs for £189. That's the sander I have and it's still going strong after 25years! It is pneumatic however and does drink a lot of air.

Well the material cost of a compo beading is a few pence compared to the price of slicing the casting off a moulding you had to buy in. But that would be an ok thing to do if it's a one off or a repair situation. If however you're producing several frames with added ornament - compo is the way to go...

Overnight - in summer. If it's a really thick layer, then 48 hours. I don't spray large panels like that, only frames, but when its all dry you could wipe over the surface with a wet sponge to flatten things out a bit and save some effort on the sanding. The water from the sponge will be quickly abs...

I've got a pneumatic disc sander and use the standard discs from Mirka, because of a large remaining stock but I'll be trying the mesh ones soon. You're right in that the standards clog up quickly. Whats more important is using the right grits. Also wearing a pair of blue vinyl gloves to protect you...

You can spray over that as it cools. The surface goes a bit matt as this happens. It's a case of little and often. Too close and too early can blow the wet gesso off! Just spray from a little more distance as you build up the surface. Gets easier once you get used to it.

Yes, I think that's right. I can never get my head around the one part solid to one part liquid ratios. Weight to volume is more straight forward. Anyway it's the glue strength that determines everything else. You'll find the liquid gesso slightly translucent compared to paint but it dries very opaq...

Hi GeoSpectrum. It's actually the ratio of RSG to water you need to think about! No matter - the ideal weight to volume is 30gm RSG to 500ml water. If you know to what proportions you've already soaked, then you can add more water to make up the difference if necessary. Then, for gilding I use a 1:1...

I would bet that the Liberon solvent is white spirit. Thinners is a very hazardous solvent and I doubt it would have been used in these wax fillers which are usually applied by hand. Add about 25% more volume of white spirit and warm the jar in some hot water. Work the solvent into the melting fille...

Thankyou Mark.
It's flattering to know someone gives a bit of notice now and again.

Two points to look out for before we all rush out to buy pine stretchers. The surface needs wetting to raise the grain and then sanded smooth. This is because the prominent grain lines can print through paint and even gesso. The other thing is that the same grain lines can make it difficult to see s...

I actually use the pine stretcher from Rose and Hollis. It's machined from good quality pine and has a generous weight to it. Whilst I was initially worried about all the knots, I've found hardened gesso has a remarkable stabilising effect on the pine surface. Prospero's right in observing that pine...

Good old obeche is the sort of work-horse for the hand finishing trade. I suppose most of the profiles are cut in obeche because it's so easy to machine and economical on a cost of weight to volume. And then a lot of the profiles are used in the gilding trade where just a few coats of gesso will fil...