The Framers Forum

You can buy a gadget online making it very easily, mine cost £8. I use it for exhibitions, and can hang a whole room in an hour or so. Hang your picture onto the gadget hooks. Position it against the wall level with your other pictures (I have a £40 Stanley spirit level light projector). Press a but...

Zoiks. They're gonna need quite a few trips to the tip for so much stuff.

to return to clean metal This was the phrase I was looking for, thank you. And as usual, thank you for the pro tips. I'm ruthlessly going through the garage, and adiosing my excess bloat. I'm leaving myself 6 x big plastic boxes of stuff for painting and framing, plus my 3 styles of moulding. I've ...

Not terribly big problems. But I wonder if you can help please with my 1960's Morso, that has legs not the full skirt style. To be honest, it's been great for 10 years of service, and I want to make it just that bit better. 1. How do you clean the surface to stop marks getting on the mouldings. Mine...

Every day is a school day Correct. Unfortunately for your client, I would say ink is not OK. Only acrylic, and oil on paper. That's what I'd deduce. By the way, I'm getting involved in this with a lot of interest, as a student of mine on a workshop wants to know how to do this, and I'm making tests...

Excellent point about the varnish and wax. Looking this morning, I'd definitely just use the wax and not use the varnish. I've never seen a hot pressed picture before. Do you press it to board? And then it can be framed without glass? If yes, that seems a far better substantial way to go, if your ar...

I'm not absolutely recommending that one paints and frames pictures on paper without glass. But what I can say is, it can be done. Quite often an artist will make a belter of a picture on paper, but the glass is a detraction. The only reason I had 4 oil paintings on paper, is after a workshop, and I...

Sure thing. I haven't decided whether to frame this one St Ives, or a normal frame which will keep those edges away from the elements. 1 thing, I cannot stress enough to try this out on a piece of unimportant test paper first to get the hang of it. My biggest fight with glueing canvas or paper to bo...

I have recently done this with 4 x oil on paper paintings. Not sure about mdf, I never know if it is ph neutral or not, I buy birch trays that are gesso primed and totally smooth. Apply pva glue to the paper, but not the wooden board. Lay it straight and remove any air with my hands, and then a sili...

Update: In the end, I've given up. The finish was too rough, my own inabilities, and not your advice given. I guess I could have worked with shabby chic, but my paintings struggle to sell within those sorts of frames when I've tried before. And I've simply ended up reframing them. I was rather impre...

Hello Prospero, and Mark. I did manage to get it off, using my Dremmel. But as you both say, what a mess and a faff. And the surface wasn't perfect. https://i.postimg.cc/NM3Z2vHn/IMG-20190903-134258.jpg I like the idea of using shellac after a sanding, for a key. That's certainly worth a shot, bette...

Thank you for that excellent bit of advice. You are spot on about the time element. In my previous inexperience, I've tried putting things onto mouldings surfaces, with varying success. At the moment, I'm doing an experiment with some chopped pieces. I have to keep my frames pretty light anyway (in ...

I've got a lot of Palladian white moulding. On offer, seemed like an excellent buy. But I have gone off the white look of it for my pictures. https://www.lionpic.co.uk/p/34090/53mm-Palladian-Mono-White%2c-FSC-Mix-70--- However, it does suit nicely when it is sanded down to the light pine wood. But i...

Thank you.
I've "submitted". Although I don't know if I'm the right calibre of framer, my being a self framer artist, who frames also for a local art school.
But it all sounds jolly and interesting.

This is really kind of you. I've ordered 10 x A2+ greyboard. To have a play. Your slightly off white instructions are great - white can be too stark. A framer chum who's retired showed me how to achieve the layered mottle effect. And some gun metal effects too. For larger paintings, I will need an A...

I think liner is the answer I was looking for.
I've been thinking "slip" and "fillet". I've not heard of liner before.
Thank you.

Yes I prefer a bevel to a cove. I believe that's what I'm looking for, Prospero. Thank you. The problem with sticking with the existing mountboard or chopping mdf, and covering or painting it, is I get bowing. I've also tried covering with linen myself, and it looks pretty crap. Probably because I c...

is there a way to frame an oil painting, usually on panel, that has the look of a mountboard? To explain, I've got a couple of oil paintings behind glass. Small, but with an ivory mountboard surrounding them. I'd like to take the glass off as they are a bit lost, but of course, mountboard cannot be ...

Impressed.

For curiosity, as I was doing so well, I tried a sliver of about 2cm. On the edge of a 20cm piece. I've seen a framer show me how to do it. I may have another go tomorrow with more pieces. And also practice an S freeform cut, now that I'm on a roll. I can only envisage cutting a sliver if I get my m...