The Framers Forum

I've got 2 portrait postcards to mount in one frame. The customer wants a 4cm border. Is there a rule of thumb about the size of the mountboard between the two postcards? I'm thinking slightly less than the border, eg 3.5cm, but I'm not sure and I'd welcome opinions from those with more experience

This is not any kind of recognised way of doing things, but just something I often do. Getting two postcards in frame to look good is a bit of a challenge, I feel that they need to look connected, which for me starts with the spacing between the two cards being noticably less than the spacing between the outer edges of the cards and the frame.

There does tend to be a bit of a problem getting narrow mountboard sections between the cards to be rigid and flat, while at the same time avoiding excess width for the intervening border, but I still like to keep this division between the two cards relatively small. To do this I like to use a mountboard from the Arqadia alpha-cellulose solid core range (numbers 401 - 406). This board is very stiff indeed.

I also like to use a double mount, with the outer mount having a window enclosing the two windows showing the two postcards, so that this outer mount ties both cards together. My general preference would be to use the same colour for both mounts, as I want to give the postcard maxium impact. If the customer wants a bit of colour somewhere, as some do, I have on occasions included an extra mount inside the outer mount, with a hand painted very narrow reveal, which again helps to tie the two postcards together.

This narrow reveal only needs to be 3mm wide and I include painting the bevel when I do this. I stipple two coats of acrylic paint on to do this and I am particular to use paint colours that are rated on the paint suppliers colour chart as having the highest level of lightfastness / fade resistance. There is an art in choosing the right colour to be sympathetic to the cards and the frame moulding, where this is particularly difficult to get the right match some degree of muting of thecolour, will tone stronger colours down and help things to soft and blend better.

As many of you may understand, I do quite a lot of handfinishing and hand painted mounts, is a bit of a signature feature that I am known for. I repeat this from time to time in my posts, that I aim to be a bit different, so that my work stands out from my competition. This makes a lot sense, because it increases my chances of repeat business from previous customers. Getting repeat business is not always about price, but setting a standard that stands out.

Customers like to fill their houses with special things, which say the right things to their circle of friends and particularly that demostrate not only their good taste, but also that they don't follow the crowd, or the taste of the masses. You see plenty of run of the mill, mass market looking stuff, just about everywhere people go shopping, including many of the trendy up market shops. Classic and classy presentation and finishing always stands out, because it's not only hard to find, but everybody can see the difference.

My shop is not in the busiest location and my sales volume reflects this, so I need an edge. That edge is being different, classy and attention to little details that others ignore. There's no reason why others in quieter locations, should not consider something similar.

This should help, starts at 3min50secs.
http://www.harlequin-frames.co.uk/harle ... dimensions

Or Vivian Kistler's "Mat Cutting and Decoration" shows 1.5" outsides and .75" between windows.

If you do 3.5 between and 4cm around the edge, then once you put the frame on all the boarders will look the same, as 5mm of the mount will be hidden by the frame rebate, so it's up to you, it's a personal thing, I would make it 2- 2.5cm between and 5cm around the edge.
Soon somebody will come on and say that the bottom border need to be 5cm

If it looks right, it is right.


With a spacing = to the outer margin they would look unconnected, as if they had an argument. About 20-25mm
sounds right to me, but it depends also on the content of the images. Lay it out 'dry' and eyeball it first before you
start cutting.

*Putting a V-Groove around both windows can help to tie them together visually. Again, eyeball the spacing first.

"Exeter framer", who use to be a member of this forum, before she retired used to do grouped V-grooves on stuff like this and they always looked amazing. She had a gunnar F1, so it was easy to do this and a V-groove likes as good as a double mount, without the extra mount. A well executed V-groove always adds a nice touch of class and if you have a CMC, it's extra money for only a few extra mouse clics.

I was always impressed when I saw her grouped V-grooves, besides looking the business, they were different as well. I think that being different ialways looks special.

one V-groove around both windows would look good, but too busy if each window had it's own V-groove IMHO

I did not make myself clear, but usually this was a group of three, or even four V-grooves closely spaced and all together, not around different windows. One of the benefit of this was that it looked great with larger mount borders and therefore made it easy to sell a larger mount and frame at a more beneficial price. She was a very clever lady, when it came to up-selling, but she also did the some of the most stunning framing in Exeter. She was a good friend and we both learnt a lot from each other.

She and her husband bought their business from a framer called Mike Jeans-Williams, who was an amazing framer, who set up a number of very successful framing businesses and sold them and moved on. He taught "Exeter framer" just about everything she did and was kind enough to teach me some of his techniques, while he was at an early business in Torquay, while I was working just around the corner at Triton Galleries.

Steve N wrote:one V-groove around both windows would look good, but too busy if each window had it's own V-groove IMHO

A groove round each aperture and another round them both might look cool if you spaced them right.

.

Some great advice and ideas there for mounting postcards

Like ciggy cards, I love framing postcards. The subject matter and colors of postcards old and new allow endless ways of mounting and framing attractively. I find they sell well and I have around ten examples on my workshop walls at any one time.

When it comes to the bottom border of the mount I keep it simple as pos' for the customer and only use terms such as keeping the cards (or any image) in the "visual center" rather than the "mathematical center" and then point to examples on my walls."

Peter.

Lots of great advice here - thanks ever so much for all the comments and the link

I used to make a bit of extra earnings at one time mounting up reproduction WW1 parisien postcards that were considered at bit naughty in those days, but in modern times they really rather tame. There were about 15, or sixteen in a set and I mounted them individually and sold then from time to time in local auctions in lots of six.

They sold like crazy and they were backed with self adhesive mountboard, so nobody could see that they were modern repros. it never ceased to amaze me how much people were willing to bid for them. Eventually the shop I bought them from could not get anymore and that was that, but for many years, half a dozen cards that cost 50 pence each regularly sold for about £30 at auction.

I quite miss those days, making money through the local auctions was my thing in those days. Framed pictures that weren't that interesting, were bought from the auctions for peanuts and then the frames were handfinished and used for framed mirrors. I did loads of stuff like that, eventually eBay came along and my local market for re-working what I could get cheap slowly died. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

"Making money is like taking taking a cold bath. Get in quick and get out quick".

~ Nathan Rothschild ~

I think it looks better if the distance between the post cards is less than the border. If I was working with a 4cm border, I'd be thinking about how much of it will be under the rebate of the frame? Maybe 0.5cm? That would make the space between the cards and the boarder about the same. If I was doing this I'd make the space about 2.5cm. D www.turnerframing.co.uk