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DSCN0594 reduced (495 x 293).jpg (35.43 KiB) Viewed 4674 times
I have framed some of the most exquisitively modeled icing by very creative people and the icing is usually very hard, robust and will stand up to vertical framing.
The above example was too soft to risk being in an upright position, so the customer settled quite enthusiastically for the idea that horizontal framing, creating a table center feature, was a suitable alternative.
Glass was preferred to plastic for the cover, which was made from 3mm float, a simple slip over box cover in 6mm MDF lined with a pink cotton velvet to match the moulding was used as additional protection from light fading, when the display was not on show.
The method of construction of the cover uses Silicone sealant, the panes of glass do not touch and actually float on the silicone bond, I call this method of cover construction the Enigma Method.
Mementos displayed like this must keep you pretty busy and also, a skill in it's own right! Looks very well accomplished and I'm sure was received with great pleasure.
Thanks Geoff for that, must say I am really impressed with your pre-Raphaelite frame that you recently posted. I do not try to hard to stay very busy as I retired a few years ago and do not have the workshop space and equipment to do the work I used to do. The example shown is still much appreciated, the method used to construct this cover, I taught to a very successful picture framing business in Bath, The Framing Workshop owned by Martin Tracy, who has given some talks on artifact framing at seminars at the NEC Gift Fair.
The craft of 3D framing goes further than artifact framing as your work illustrates, with the framing of pictures, the framing can become part of the artwork it displays. To understand this it is necessary to have a knowledge of the history of the craft and the objectives of former craftsmen.
Hi A3Dframer, a wonderful and very impressive piece of work, may I ask about the silicon as you say the glass doesn't touch, does that mean it is used to stick the glass together, it must be a nightmare trying to clean it up, or is there a secret way of doing it??
Only secret because I figured out the procedure nearly 30 yrs ago and no one else has managed to copy it, unless I have actually shown them how to do it. At the moment I am wrestling with software trying to learn how create the images to demonstrate the techniques involved, not so easy with a brain that is nearly 3 score and ten and a pension that is more use being spent elsewhere, than on tuition that I will probably not get the full use of. But I am learning!
Silicone sticks fiercely to glass, but silicone that needs removing is misplaced. The Enigma method as I have named it is a procedure involving two types of joint, both effectively the same as the silicone bond is only on the cut edge of the glass. One joint I call a hinge joint because it folds and the other an injection joint, for obvious reasons. Avoiding getting silicone, where it is not wanted is achieved by a careful sequence using masking tape.
I designed the method around 1980, when I met the PR man for Aerofix, they wanted me to come up with a cheap way of making glass cases for models, I proved that I could make 100 units a day per person, but Aerofix went into liquidation. Since then this procedure has proved a useful method of constructing simple glass covers and also a very useful learning curve that has shown me that there are many ways to create transparent covers that lend a more creative approach than the accepted methods that have evolved out of the display case industry.
