The Framers Forum

I had something like this to do once. I made up 4 long thin frames, with a mirror in each, and 4 tiny square frames for the corners, and then one bigger frame for the print in the middle, and one bigger frame to go round the whole lot. it was all held together by screwing through a plywood back into...

I am strongly in favour of large samples. A 2" or 3" wide moulding just looks silly with a 6" chevron. (My theory why some framers never sell expensive mouldings - if you have 6" chevrons, only the skinny mouldings look right). Chevrons should all be the same length so they look ...

Oh, and to answer your specific question.

I always allude to the difference between buying a suit off the peg, and having one made to measure

The first, and most important point is to be confident in your own mind that your price is good value for what you are doing. The more confident you are, the less customers will question your price. Another issue is how you calculate the price. if you lick your pencil and get your calculator out, mo...

Ok, so how should I deal with this one? I am signed up for the TPS which works fine if it is a real person calling you - you ask them who they are so you can tell the TPS - haven't been bothered by this type of call recently. But what about the recorded message calls - we are getting a couple each d...

Very sorry to hear that Sam.

Our thoughts are with you

It sounds as though this is a push fit connector. The orange bit should be pushed in to release the pipe. To put the pipe back in, don't use insulating tape - make sure it is clean and grease free, and using a sharp knife or razor blade, make sure the pipe is cleanly cut at 90 degrees, and then push...

This is interesting

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I got a score of 11, so maybe I've been bluffing with mount colours all these years!

I was in Asia last week, and visited some framers. There's some pictures of framing shops in Bangkok here

www.framingmentor.co.uk/blog_index.html

Next week I will be posting some more from Hanoi in Vietnam

I would expect most small retail framers will be paying in the £500 - £1500 per annum range for insurance.

Don't go on price, though, and make sure you are getting the cover you actually need. I use NFU

Take full-payment up front, or at a minimum a 50% deposit. And you will find the problem will virtually disappear. I say virtually, because there will still be the odd person who moves away, dies, or whatever - but if you have been paid for the job it is not so bad. If I was owed money on pictures n...

To answer your question Keith. Yes this is exactly the sort of thing the FATG should be doing . . . . . . but I do think there is a bit of a mountain to climb when it comes to educating the general public about picture framing. I tried to educate a 'customer' in my shop yesterday, and was told to &q...

On the other hand . . . . . . I would say GET YOUR CHEQUE-BOOK OUT! If you are serious about this business, invest in decent equipment. Using an old foot operated underpinner and a load of home-made adapters will add an extra 2 or 3 minutes on every frame you make, not to mention the limitations you...

I didn't like BNI for most of the reasons listed above, however, I am a great fan of 4Networking which is a less formal version with no commitment to attend.

have a look at their website, and invite yourself along as a guest - much less cringe making than BNI (IMHO)

Since you have the right hand arm, but just dont have the scale - you could buy one of the 'stick -on' measuring scales(ebay) for the right hand arm, then all you would need to concoct would be a moveable end stop. Otherwise, you might be able to find someone on the forum who has some or all of thos...

Try www.dreamkeepers.co.uk

This is a clip from the CCTV footage from one of my neighbouring shops in Derby.

These are the sort of idiots that we have to contend with after our shops are closed.

Interestingly, I pronounce gesso with a hard 'g' but I believe both are acceptable. Bole is pronounced 'bowl'.

I pronounce obeche like (O) Beachy (Head)

Why not consider using a blogging platform? Free software, VERY EASY and user friendly to update, and all you need to pay is a few £s hosting fee (I use www.1and1.co.uk) My site is on a Typepad template - www.gessoandbole.co.uk and this one os on a Wordpress Template - www.keithwilkinsonframes.co.uk...

Morning Adam. So if your sea container is full up with £100s worth of stock of thin moulding that you never use - is that OK? I would suggest that if you analyse your sales of different mouldings, there will be only about 20 that justify keeping stock (obviously each business will be different, so i...