How did you start?

[Comfyjumper]

Just out of interest as an absolute beginner in comparison with many on this forum....how did you get into framing? Where did you learn your skills?

[barefaced framer]

I started when a friend of mine told me she knew of a picture framer who wanted some part-time help for Christmas, and thought it might suit me.

The then owner and his other part timer(a teacher) taught me all they knew and I'm still learning now.Every day.

11 years on I'm still at the same gallery but am now on my 3rd boss. Must have been something I said.

BTW I never worked that first December as I got very bad Flu til Christmas.

[Roboframer]

Army - lots of letters home from far flung places - handwriting evolved in to 'prescription hand' - took up calligraphy - got good - got 'commissions' - they'd sometimes get FRAMED - thought .... Hmmmmmm - maybe there's a living in that when I grow up - selling my framed calligraphy.

Left Army and tried it - more interest in the framing than the calligraphy and far far more profit.

Proper day job then with half the garage as my studio/workshop

Got so busy that one or the other had to go. Whole garage and most of the house now!

Shop in village came up for sale (not this one - we expanded since) - needlecraft, wool, haberdashery, dry cleaning agency.

Was getting plenty of needlework to frame, so - nice sideline?

But just offered a promotion at the day job - DECISIONS!!

Deep breath - gave up the day job and took on the shop.

Summary - I am a framer because my handwriting sucked!

[Roboframer]

I took a framing course that turned out to be a hobbyist level course - I didn't know - I mean I thought it was all saws, mitre boxes, vices, nails, stanley knives etc etc etc anyway.

It wasn't until I had to start buying supplies that I saw pro mountcutters, the Morso, wall mounted cutters, point guns, etc etc etc.

That was at Euro Mouldings - and I was so lucky to have a major framing supplier right on my doorstep - the showroom staff knew about making frames as well as selling and I got to meet and chat with many other framers there too as I nearly always collected - hardly ever used their van or a carrier. Craig Finn was my rep and the first ever framing rep I knew - he used to come to our house - and now he's my Nielsen rep and is blown away by my Valiani!

I suppose I do owe something to the Fine Art Trade Guild - picked up a copy of ABT at Euros - subscribed, JOINED!! bought a load of books - many by Vivian Kistler. Found out about the Spring/Autumn fair - and I remember the very first time it was mentioned to me by another framer before I found out about it....

....... "So - you going to 'THE FAIR' on Sunday?"

I never knew there was a fair in town and what's this framer wanting to know if I'm going to it for? - Maybe he's some sort of pervert!

Then came the internet and The Grumble and that's when I became a born again framer -

I have seen the light my brothers and sisters, and it has Faaaaaaaaaydid mah pictures - Lemee hear ya say NANOMETERS - oh yeah - LEMEEEEEE HEAR YA SAY MAAAAAAAASKIN' TAPE - C'MON SAY IT

MASKIN TAPE
MASKIN TAPE
MASKIN TAPE


Cleanse yourselves and repent - THERE IS STILL TIME .......

Er, where was I? Oh yes The Grumble - well I got stuck in good and proper and as a result have bought a few more books and DVDs from fantastic educators, some of who I have met after two visits to The States to attend classes/seminars - reckon on going over every two years - and if I could find my dream framer/manager would be going over twice a year!

[Keith Hewitt]

I suppose I do owe something to the Fine Art Trade Guild - picked up a copy of ABT at Euros

John,

Never expected to read these words on a post from you
If Rosie sees this she will fall off her chair
She will probably frame it

[Jonny2morsos]

My (now) wife trained in art at Norwich but never made a full time living at it so trained in nursing but she did do a lot of tuition in her spare time.

I was working at the same hospital and when I became single I went along to her art classes and after a few years she also became single and the rest as they say …..

One venue for her classes was at an art and framing shop so she was around a framing environment a few times a week. Some of her commissions were framed at the shop and considering what the framer was charging relative to what she was started her thinking. The shop offered her the opportunity of exhibiting in their gallery but she had to produce thirty items all framed.

We were living together by this time and had sold two houses and bought one (with a double garage) and as we has a bit of spare cash we bought a morso, mountcutter and undepinner. Initially we planned to frame her work for the exhibition and then perhaps extend the framing to her artist friends.

She continued art tuition but the framing shortly took over and I was helping evenings, weekends and on my days off. It grew to the extent that I was able to go part time in my work. At this stage we outgrew the house and garage. Our dining room became a show room, there was a plan chest in the lounge and a CMC in the conservatory.

We moved the business to a small industrial unit 2½ years ago which we are now out growing as well.

I would like to move into a high street location but it would treble the rent and rates.

I have always invested in training to improve my skills.

John.

[Not your average framer]

I was a design engineer specialising in high precision analogue electronics, areospace, electro-mecanical and thermal engineering. I had been made redundant on a number of ocassions and always assumed I would quickly and easily find another job. Well, eventually the day came when I was made redundant and could not get another job and this led to working for a couple of years as a bookbinder and paper conservator and on another ocassion for an antiques and furniture restorer. From time to time I worked through agencies as a consultant engineer working on short term contracts.

During this period I bought a secondhand bookshop, which also sold antique prints / engravings and this started my interest in picture framing. I also went to the Spring Fair, saw Pete Bingham demonstrating hand finishing and started hand finishing myself. The bookshop was more of a burden than an asset and eventually it had to go, but by then I was able to get work restoring and hand colouring antique prints. I also started restoring old frames and re-sizing / hand finishing frames for antique prints, but only at a small level.

I latery got involved in microwave communications, became a normal employee again and in time was made redundant, when Nortel (a telecommunications company) became bankrupt. This time I could not get a job of any sort at all, not even stacking shelves at Tesco. They all said I was over qualified for the jobs I apllied for.

The Job Centre offered me the chance to re-train and I took at test to see what kind of job I might be suited to. One of these was picture framing. It's was arranged that I would have a six months training placement at Triton Galleries in Torquay, plus additional training which Mike Royall and a very helpful grant for buying books and training materials.

I took to picture framing and found that this was the perfect job for me. I had never enjoyed any of my former jobs like this, but in spite of all my efforts, I could not find an employer who would offer me a job and this meant starting my own business. My wife and I are committed Christians and believe in praying for help in all things. We both think that we've had a lot of help in answer to our prayers and that the business would never have happened without the right things happening at the right time.

I also owe a lot to the help and advice from members of the forum.

To anyone who is just starting out, I would say to them that you never know where the business of picture framing will take you, or what you will later find that you are capable of. Don't be put off by starting off knowing very little. That's where we all start! Just keep going and enjoy the learning process.

[framemaker]

My Dad opened a print gallery in 1984. To begin with he bought the stock in framed from D&W in Kidderminster but he soon set up a manufacturing side to the business, opened other galleries, and employed a number of full and part time framers. So in 1992, at 14 I started to help out at the weekends. One gallery sold a simple range of 10” x 8” and 20” x 16” framed prints, with nothing sold for over £15. The glass, backs, and mounts were all bought by the crate pre cut, and the frames were made up by a one of the full time employees. I would just have to assemble the prints that were sold each week.

At 16 I joined the business full time, for the first year I only dealt with this budget range, then I started making the framed prints sold in the other gallery, these were a range of bespoke open edition and a few LE prints (sold by Rosenstiel's, Soloman and Whitehead, and Buckingham etc), with nothing over £100 - much more interesting than knocking out 60 odd 16” x 20”'s a day. We didn't do much customers framing but this gradually increased over the years. At the peak there were 4 galleries and a large framing workshop. We used only one framing supplier - Simons

The business was sold in about 1997, and I carried on working for the new owner. He was interested in aiming for more bespoke framing of customers work and trying to move away from the selling of open edition prints to selling originals. This was good for me as I learned new skills and better techniques of framing, but the attempt to change market by the new owner was very poorly executed and the business gradually failed. As the business declined my hours were cut so I worked part time at another bespoke framers and gallery in a local town. In 2001 I started to gild and took a City and Guilds course in gilding and restoration and started to really experiment with hand finished frames.

In 2002 I quit my jobs and went self employed. Since starting up and working from home I have moved from a back room to an off the main high street shop, to my present workshop on a small industrial estate where I have been for 3 years. This year I am moving into a new workshop on the same estate. Which will hopefully be built by April/May. What I do now is a world away from the mass produced framing I started doing, but it was all good experience, and I have enjoyed every moment.

[LeFrisp]

In the process of starting as we speak,,, Im working from the dining room and hoping to expand into one of the reception rooms in the near future....... (will have to wait unil SWMBO is looking elsewhere)
What got me into it...... I can retire from my current job in 6 years time... I will be a mere 55 years of age.
This is my post retirement business with a six year plan to leave the dining room.... Oh and so far Im enjoy it immensely.

[Steve N]

I trained as a engineer when I left school, but art was my first love, when my apprenticeship finished I work as a photographer on a holiday camp. Then I went on to do many different jobs, ending working at the hospital, but the art was still there. I was doing portraits as a past time while at the hospital and painting local land marks. I made some frames for my local landmark pictures and tried to sell them to local gift shops, they were more interested in the framing than my pictures. So I applied for a job at a framers (part of a chain) which was just about to open in the town where I lived, thinking that I would get some cheap frames for my pictures. How wrong can you get, I've not painted anything in twenty years, I got into framing, wanted to learn as much as poss, not had the time to paint anymore. Framing can certainly change your life.