The Framers Forum

I had a chap who brought a 36x24" canvas in a Merc C class coupe. No problem.

When it had a 5" wide frame on it he could not understand why it wouldn't go back in the car.

It didn't help having wife/teenage son/Christmas shopping as well.

I have an oil on canvas (by me) that's been hanging on my wall for the best part of 30 years without a frame on it.
No cord on it either. It's just gamely perched on a picture hook.

I refill Cassese cartridges, but use Cassese 'Uni' wedges. Never a problem.

Have you thought of getting a matt silver one and spraying it with auto paint from a rattle can?
Never done it, but it could just work.

Welcome Zac.

I knew a chap who did restoration once. I went to his house one day and he had a big painting of Queen Victoria that was 10' x 6' in an enormous frame with all sorts of ornaments on. It must have been a 12" wide moulding. He had it propped against a wall in his front passageway which was only a...

People tend to expect that we have magic ways of doing things. Framing and Restoration are two different skills. While we might have little tricks, it takes years of experience to be a restorer and working with paper is fraught with danger. I've learned just enough about restoration to know when to ...

Putting it in a heat press can work sometimes - but not always. It depends on the nature of the paper and exactly how it has deformed. A lateral wave is fairly simple, but if there is a localised 'bump' then it's more difficult. The fact is that the paper will have swelled and the surface area of th...

Float mounting is not the ideal way to mount paper art. It's a relatively modern fad.
Frankly, with a piece that size I would be surprised if you didn't get a ripple here and there.

We aren't magicians.

Update: I read 1.5m instead of .5. So not quite as scary. My bad.

The first thing to do is source the Acrylic. (Polycarbonate is a good alternative). Nail down the cost including delivery. This is a seriously OTT project and it's worth doing a lot of thinking and planning before launching into it. There are many sneaky ways to make the job easier, but it's the she...

This is what I would do (take it or leave it) :P Find a piece of suitable fabric in a contrasting colour - maybe drab olive green or whatever. Stretch this over shallow bars, maybe 2" bigger all round. Lay the piece on this align. Temp pin it in place. A few stitches here and there until it is ...

I don't do many floaters (hate them) but scraps of foamcore are good for this. I also use them as temporary spacers
on the sides to hold the canvas in alignment. Screw though (not too tight and slightly enlarged holes) from the back
and the remove the side spacers.

I've posted this a few times but it does illustrate the best way I've found to make a BIG subframe. It's made from pine tongue&grove cladding with the tongue edge ripped off with a table saw. The timber is only 8mm thick, but gluing/screwing it together in two layers allows you to form half-lap ...

What quantity? For a company to make custom strut backs they would have to spend a considerable amount 'tooling up' which would mean making thousands or hundreds of thousands of backs to make it financially viable. It's more involved than you might think. :roll: The alternative is to make them yours...

When doing the top-edge hinges it is a good idea to make one with longer 'leg'. The so-called pendulum hinge. This allows the section between to expand. Sometimes what ever you do it will still wiggle about and bow. Float mounting is not really the ideal way to mount paper art. It's popular, and peo...

Well done. :clap: It's better not to 'over restore' frames like that. It has acquired character over the decades and a few slight dings or gaps it the ornamentation don't really detract. As long as areas of bare white gesso are touched in and blended they like fine. It's a good idea to go round and ...

Wessex (and others) do a subframe moulding that is also handy for building up backs of frames. It is maybe 20mm thick with a 45º bevel. If you mitre it 'wrong way' and fix it to the back it's not really noticeable but it does block the view of the sticky-our canvas. Paint it black for best effect. B...

Late Victorian I'd say.... 1870s (?) Maybe a little later....

I have flattened watercolours in a vac press as you suggest and it can work well. It can also go badly wrong. It depends on the nature of the buckling. Extreme bumps will generally not flatten well and you end up with a tight half-moon crease (This has happened to me with buckled prints - never an o...