The Framers Forum

Wow! Sore fingers after mounting the dress, I'll bet, Merlin!

How much did the finished frame weigh?

It wasnt the weight that was the problem. It was the size of the thing. Certainly needed two people to man handle it out of the shop into a rather large pickup.
Then it had to go up two flight of stairs into the bedroom. It survived the whole ordeal with the stitching and the T tags remaining in place.

Ok, the weirdest thing i ever framed albeit rather reluctantly was a very old tatty stuffed squirrel wearing a mini chelsea football kit with a cigarette in its mouth, wish i had taken a pic,

Now that was weird!

Squirrel Nut-kin ell!

About 15 years ago we had a customer who was retiring to Florida and was opening a shop selling memorabiia to do with American History (nothing too old then!)

We had loads of newspapers from 1776 with reports of the troubles in the colonies, lots of vellum documents with wax seals from the same period, swords and other weapons again from the same period, but the best was a pair of shackles that he thought were from a slave ship (and he was intending selling as such) We found a few old pictures from The Illustrated London News of the slave trade and did a superb job setting off this piece of history, using sackcloth as a backing and a chunky distressed oak frame to replicate the ships timber- in the event he bottled out of selling it and gave it to his unfortunate son as a gift for him when his son joined the Coldstream Guards! Poor Son!

We framed loads of bits of concrete from the Berlin Wall, bits of astroturf from Preston NEs football ground when they had a new proper pitch laid in the 90's, and 20 years ago we framed a football shirt signed by the Liverpool Team that was presented to a young man who was in a coma for some time following Hillsborough - he recovered fully and still calls in from time to time. The shirt had been worn and smelt of sweat.

RobinC

Oh, we have just framed 3 pair sof knuckledusters that a lady brought in ( I think her husband was too embarassed!)

RobinC wrote:Oh, we have just framed 3 pairs of knuckledusters that a lady brought in ( I think her husband was too embarassed!)

Is this what you mean when you say, “knuckleduster”?



If so, wouldn’t one set be sufficient? Why would anyone have three, I wonder – one each for casual, informal and evening wear?

That is exactly what they are. One pair was a plain brass pair, one was in steel and embossed with the signature of "Dodgy Dave Courtney" (more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Courtney)
and the third pair was in brass with imitation diamonds embellishing them - a lovely thing - I wouldn't want my jaw broken with anything less!

The things we do for money!

RobinC

I met Dave Courtney once a few years ago at the Private View of an exhibition by a friend of a friend who makes 'special interest' films and was branching out into printmaking. I lost out on the framing work so turned up to cast a critical eye over the work of the guy who beat me on price(you get what you pay for!), and to drink the free booze, obviously. Dave Courtney was there looking every inch the gangster. Dressed in a very expensive suit of distinctly dubious taste, and sporting a complexion which looked like it owed a great deal to either the Costa Del Sol or Cherry Blossom Light Tan Shoe Polish. My favourite quote of his - 'I have under my command five hundred six-foot flat-nose geezers'. It goes without saying that i did not express my view of his attire at the time.

Just framed the new oyster card reading circuit board for the designers.

Some years ago an artist client of mine was commissioned to do an oil of 'Mad' Frankie Fraser one of the Kray twins henchmen. After I had framed it the artist asked if I fancied going with him to the presentation of the portrait and it it was fairly local I went.

What a charming man Frankie Fraser is! After the usual formalities and a few drinks and nibbles Frankie mixed with the small number of guests and regaled us with stories of his time with the Kray twins plus very detailed instructions of how to carry out a 'kneecapping' (his speciality). Also after his stories of how and where the Kray's opposition were disposed of I now look at the foundations of the pillars holding up the bridges over the M1 in an new light every time I drive past one.

They do say Epping Forest used to be quite flat but is now quite lumpy.


I don't think I have ever framed anything that could be described as 'odd'. Now that is odd.

I wish there were more posts on here its very entertaining