The Framers Forum

It will be interesting to hear how that all works out. I'm sure you'll cope magnificently. When you mentioned that the customer has had all her pictures backed with hardboard, I decided to look up the subject a bit more. If you mention 'hardboard' to most people, they think of 2mm MDF board. Conserv...

I personally never liked the vague mixing terms such as 1 part of one thing mixed with 10 parts of another thing, especially when they are two different material phases, solids mixed with liquids. As I said, weigh out 40grm of dry RSG and soak it in 680ml of water. When melted then measure out 400ml...

Well done if you are just starting out finishing your own frames. There are a few things that might be worth pointing out. Let's start with the gilding. Whilst it's good to burnish and distress the gilding on the raised inner detail, the further inner flattish section should be left untreated. This ...

Thanks for your kind compliments. Do feel free to carry on. As I said earlier, every gilder will have their own habits and methods but I don't see the need to spend the extra time sizing the frame with RSG. All you want is to wet the wood with something sticky and gesso itself fulfils that purpose. ...

I've watched a lot of that video and it really does give you a good start to the process of gilding. Every gilder will have their own methods and formulas but they all converge on the basic mechanism of getting gold leaf to stick to a frame. I find it very useful to examine the more scientific reaso...

NO! White spirits and meths are NOT the same. Only use meths when dealing with shellac products. Use white spirits or turpentine when dealing with oil or wax finishes. A useful tip to remember is that white spirit has no effect whatever on water or shellacked surfaces. This means you can wipe over a...

Don't worry, no-one is born with this knowledge. We all start out knowing nothing. Shellac is sold in several solutions. Shellac Sanding Sealer is used as a base-coat and different shellac finishes or paints etc can be applied above it. So, if you buy a 500ml bottle of Shellac Sanding Sealer from a ...

Let's just say you've been to a Nat. Trust house and you've seen some really cool plain oak frames with a simple flat profile. So you take a length of plain oak moulding and try to recreate that look. First thing to do is always make the frame first. When that's done, blunt the sharp pointy edge of ...

Its usually done with one of these guns - https://pronailers.co.uk/products/omer-4097-16-21-gauge-type-97-fine-wire-narrow-crown-stapler-4mm-16mm You can fire these narrow crown staples in by holding the gun 1/2" back and at a slight angle to the moulding - https://pronailers.co.uk/products/typ...

That's easy - stop trying to use the Chestnut stains. And, as you said, you were hoping to do it in one wipe. If only life was that simple. This is called wood finishing and it doesn't really work like that. Look here on ebay - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325271062822?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3...

If you're going to use gold/bronze powders, then this is the way to do it.
Very skilful and convincing.

We shall watch this space with interest.

Do you know, Tim, what sort of gesso Compo mouldings use on their profiles?
In other words, can they be water-gilded?

I was shown a sample, some time ago, and the gesso wasn't water permeable. Maybe some sort of acrylic gesso.

I know this is between you and your customer but I do have to see it just as Prospero said. You are taking on a problem that your customer is wholly responsible for. You said the art works were created using scraps and other loose recycled components. Of course, bits are going to fall off. The artis...

Bambi is expensive because it describes itself as a 'silent' compressor. That's ideal if you have the compressor in the same room as you. However, all compressors will give you the same PSI and differ only in the CFM rating, ie that's the volume of compressed air you're using per minute. If you do a...

That's good to hear you're getting on well with the hide glue. And the beauty of using that glue is you can repair any blisters, easily with a hot iron.

As regards any sort of finishing, the best results are all in the 'cleaning' or sanding down to a fine finish.

Hi bookmark. I suppose this is a hangover from when i used to make a lot more veneered frames, mostly for an interior design company. We were used to spreading Titebond by the gallon, so making up that quantity of hide glue wouldn't have been so practicable. I'm also not so sure about the performanc...

Thank you, Ed. Much appreciated. I use Titebond 1 inside a vacuum bag for all my veneers with a heavy duty vacuum pump. There is a possibility of using an ordinary domestic clothes storage vacuum bag with a Henry type vacuum cleaner. Orde02, who doesn't come on here very much, said he used it for so...

Nobody seems to want to talk about 'hand-finishing' anymore. I'm sure there are lots quietly beavering away and not much interested in showing off their work. So,here's one that I'm happy to show off. IMG_0002.JPG It's a Birds Eye maple veneered frame with a thin inserted gold slip. Ask anyone who's...

Does anyone know why they bother?
It's obvious that the posts mentioned were AI generated, but why go to the trouble?
Is there some grand plan or just bored mischief?