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w00dward wrote: This is something I wish to learn to get away from my current career
Paul,
There must be a reason other than money for you to want to get out of IT and it's none of my business, but I'm a bit shocked that you want to get out of an industry that is booming into one that is not well known for making squillions of money!
Anyway, I wish you well in your venture and hope that it lives up to your optimistic expectations.
I would be happy to swap qualifications and experience with you in an instant if it were possible!
osgood wrote:There must be a reason other than money for you to want to get out of IT and it's none of my business, but I'm a bit shocked that you want to get out of an industry that is booming into one that is not well known for making squillions of money!
I don't know Paul's reasons, but I would suspect they're similar to mine. Imagine what it would be like if you had to change your tools every year to make sure they were compatible with each other and having to change your locks on the shop on a regular basis to make sure criminals can't get in. Imagine also that 70% of your training and experience is defunct after two years so that you have to keep relearning your trade to keep going. You'd soon get P'd off.
Apart from that, there's no real end product in IT. I'm into framing because I want to do something that has a visible and lasting result, in other words having pride in my work! Money's nice, but it isn't the be-all and end-all of living...... I want a life with purpose. Framing has it, IT doesn't.
I don't know Paul's reasons either, but word for word mine are exactly the same as Steve's (very eloquently expressed!). I particularly echo Steve's sentiment about the contrast between the enduring nature of the fruits of one's labours in the framing craft, and the "built-in obsolescence" of today's technological world. Framing enriches my life: the IT game was sucking it dry. The best "payment" I get these days for my labours is seeing delight on a customer's face when they pick up their work. All the squillions in the world can't buy that!
Getting a big fat payment for designing a new call routing system? Rewarding.
Being dropped in some freshly homebaked soda bread after restoring and framing Mammie's vintage communion portrait? Priceless!!!
........Áine JGF SGF FTB .Briseann an dúchas trí shuiligh an chuit.
All you ex and soon to be ex-IT people need to wait 22 years then see what you think!
I admire all those wonderful statements about 'life with a purpose' and seeing 'delight on people's faces'. I remember those things very well. As time has gone by it's not quite the same as it once was so watch out in about 20 years!
I too can identify with the motivations and attraction which other have mentioned in coming into the framing business. I had long planned to become a framer, but there was one defining moment which really made it for me.
I went to the spring fair at the NEC a few years back (2001'ish) and while wandering around I came across Pete Bingham doing his hand-finishing demos. I was completely hooked and knew that was what I wanted to be able to do too!
I still hooked and enjoy framing customers special things and making them happy. Many of these customers also become real friends too! There isn't anything else I would rather do! Perhaps I could earn more doing something else, but it wouldn't be the same. I'm in this for the long haul!
I think the fortunate ex-IT'ers have got it spot on.
I'm a jack of all trades at my company. If its telecoms, networks, software, support it all ends up at my door. As the others have said that gets very tiring after a while.
One of the biggest things which affect IT people who support users is that you are always seen as a bad guy. When people contact you it is always in a negative context because they have broken their computer again and the department enthusiast has been playing around with it to try to help. When securing networks you are a spoilsport as your stopping users doing what they want. After 15 years of this it starts to wear you down.
OMG I've started to rant here and my mouth is talking quicker than I can type.....
Anyway, if after 20 years of framing I start to feel the same way then I'll have considered it a success as its 5 years over IT. A couple of years ago I started woodworking and after producing a few pieces for my daughter I decided to get into an profession where my work will be enjoyed for years to come. Framing has that for me and finding this forum confirmed it. So, in a way, you are all to blame.
Paul.
Alcohol does not make you FAT
- it makes you LEAN ….
against tables, chairs, floors, walls and ugly people.
It's got very much like 'work' for me over the last few years.
But there are times, like now, when it's silly busy that I get reminders of how grateful I should be that what was once a dream has come true, with knobs on!
Also times like someone going completely with an unusual design idea.
And like getting a great big hug yesterday from a tearful lady, after rescuing (wash, press, sew on new edges) 2 halves of a tea cosy embroidered by her gran - framed 20 years ago - against glass - Harboard backing had burnt all over the back and spots were on the front too - now like new and reframed properly.
Like framing 28 cigarette cards in a multiple aperture mount, with fillets ...
..."I've left it a bit late, it's for tomorrow....."
I did it same day and 2 days later the lady is back with a huge Victoria sponge she had made!!!
Grahame Case wrote:
£1.00 an aperture John? have you got a CMC? surely all the time taken to mark out and cut a mount that big would be much more expensive than that..
although it is a uniform shape.
I would also charge £1 per aperture. I always try to do as much marking out as possible on the mountcutter, if anything I would say that's the easy bit. I would expect my price for the whole mount to be quite similar.
My quote for John's mat & fillet job:
Mat price $24
27 openings @ $2 each $54
Fillet material cost x2 $48
Cut and fit 28 fillets 1 hr $60
Total A$186 + 10%GST + A204.60
I've been fairly conservative with the estimated time to cut and fit 28 fillets.
osgood wrote:All you ex and soon to be ex-IT people need to wait 22 years then see what you think!
I admire all those wonderful statements about 'life with a purpose' and seeing 'delight on people's faces'. I remember those things very well. As time has gone by it's not quite the same as it once was so watch out in about 20 years!
Ormond, this may very well be a case of "greener grass." If, instead of framing for the past twenty years or so, you had been working in the technology field, you might feel the same way as we do/did.
I admit that even after two years as a framer, there are some jobs, and indeed some customers, that are not as inspiring as others, and there are are frequent times when, boy, do I miss the money!! But I still prefer what I do now for most of my waking hours. It gives me a great sense of personal fulfillment: I love being able to see and touch what I have given some of my life energy to create, with the possible exception of something that has a hideous design scheme that - despite my best efforts to the contrary - a customer has insisted on selecting. Even then, I take pride in having used the right materials and techniques to execute the job to the best of my abilities, and in having given it a professional finish that is technically better than the work of many of my competitors.
John, how long did it take to make that ubermount??
........Áine JGF SGF FTB .Briseann an dúchas trí shuiligh an chuit.
£80 = A$184, so we're pretty close. It was probably £80-odd, so closer still. So how do you work out 'very inexpensive?'
Graham - if I had a CMC I'd charge the same.
What neither of us did was charge to hinge an extra 27 items!!!
I'd say it took no more than 30 mins to plot & cut that mount - only 18 lines. Same again to cut & fit the fillets, if that. (RoboFramer - tough job but....... and all that)
I start at an extra £3:50 per aperture up to 4. I would not have sold that job at that rate - well I might have, but I wouldn't be doing many like it.
we charge an extra £3.50 per window, and would probably remove a bit of money if we were cutting say 16 windows in perfect alignment, but as so often happens they aren't the same size or orientation.
when i get into work in the morning i'll do a quote on the system see what it comes out at.
