The Framers Forum

Everyone of us should be able to get good results with mounts and slips, but the first requirement to do this is accurate and square mountcutting without hooking. Over the years I've really struggled to maintain top quality mountcutting. I have artharitis in my hands, shoulders, neck and can't alway...

Thanks for the useful advice everyone but when I saw that photo from Roboframer with 28 hand cut windows with slips I started to feel a bit faint and had to go and have a lie down ..... :sweating: Hi Bagpuss, It's often not so bad as you might think! The first one is a bit scary, but practice does ...

Hi Johnny, I see that you are in Manchester. Well, there's a company in Manchester called "Red Bridge" and they make textiles used for bookbinding. There is a type of canvas which is sometimes used for bookbinding called "Crash canvas". It's one of the most durable materials used...

Hi Aine, These days most of my dry mounting is done with Hot press easymount pre-coated board or one of the pre-coated foamboards, so I don't need to use dry mount tissue. I do this because it's cheaper and less fuss to do. It might be a solution to your problem. Actually now I come to think about i...

Hi Aine, There are supplier's who provide 3mm thick polished aluminium sheets to companies which make front panels for electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers. It's available in either polished or matt anodised finish. They are produced to have a flawless finish. A front panel manufacturer...

I would reckon that you have to do a lot more frames per week to make a living, if you are aiming at the bottom of the market. Too stressful for me, as a heart patient I'm a bit slow these days. Slow but steady wins the race! I'm currently doing a hand-finished stacked moulding job for £425. So do I...

I use something which my local hardware store sells, it's just called "Waterproof wood glue" and it appears to be some kind of PVA derivative. The guy in the shop says that it's what used to be called "Dunlop resin W". A major reason why I use the stuff is that the hardware shop ...

This stuff is easy to use and provides a pretty good bond I wondered about that too! It would be nice to know more about it, such as how long the stuff will stay stuck, the factors govening it's performance and it's environmental limitations, (such as effects of temperature and humidity, etc). Acce...

I believe that the smart business model for many of us, is to price as many better quality jobs as we can towards the top end of what our local market will stand. Lower end jobs should be priced reasonably, but not cheaply as you have gain a worthwhile return for your time and materials. Charge an a...

You'd be right, but look at the price! I thought the price was not bad. What you are offering the customer is a highly specialised conservation procedure. Now since when did that come cheap? I'd bet you can do lots of jobs like that from one small size can and why limit yourself to just treating ne...

My last Conservation Resources catalogue is bit out of date, but from memory it lists a product called "CHC" which must be a very similar product. If they still stock it, their UK branch is based in Oxford.

I would guess that PEL can probably supply something similar.

Since Cow Gun is obviously not a conservation grade product, does anyone know something non water based which provides a reliable bond and is suitable for easy safe use on very thin paper which is also satisfactory for conservation use. There's gotta be something!

I'm sure it's made from moo-cow's hooves! Also pretty sure it's not got its name from being used to stick cows together. Hi John, The name came from the company which made it. There were two related companies, which were P.B. Cow and Cow Polymers. I think Cow Polymers was also known as Cow Industri...

Moglet wrote:Does it smell as bad as Copydex? That stuff's e-vil...

Hi Aine,

No it didn't smell that bad, I think Copydex contains Ammonia. Cow gum was solvent based and I think it contained a mixture of ethanol and heptane. It was not horribly smelly and a lot less smelly than Evostick.

Hi Aine, Thanks for the kind words. I didn't say that it was perfect, but it will be a more reliable bond than Pritt stick (which is not difficult). Give it time and someone else may suggest something even better. I think this would be a good product for one or more of our framing suppliers to add t...

Trouble is that they have a circular picture of Herr Ratzinger (or previous pontiff) that is printed on a lightweight medium, which is either ready to fall off, or has already done so (they curl spectacularly, too! :roll:)...................... Since the photo medium is so lightweight, I've had to ...

If I'm bored, I like to wind them up a little, by asking all sort of questions which they would not know how to answer. Good ones like: Their companies mission statement, policy on carbon emissions, policy on ethical matters, equal opertunities, which charities they support, etc. Afterwards I tell t...

There's some kind of rule about this, which says something like this: If you increase you prices until you lose perhaps 5% of sales due to the price then those sales which still remain will result in far greater earnings than if you priced your work to please all possible customers. When I had a hea...

Hi Mary, I think that the easy way out of this one is to dry mount it on to Artcare Restore, but only if the media she has used can withstand dry mounting. In theory Artcare Restore is supposed to be fully reversible and hopefully she will never ask you to reverse the dry mounting. I think I would w...

I was told that a simple Pritt stick is as good as anything, which keeps it's adhesion for years, alternatively a neutral pH adhesive. That's not my experience and to me it does not sound like advice you should give your customers if you want to give them a favourable impression of you as a profess...