Reusing an old frame.
Posted: Fri 06 Jan, 2023 5:15 pm
This piece was for a printmaker customer, who knows only too well the cost of framing. He likes to hunt out old frames for cost saving but I think for his aesthetic too.
A lovely old carved oak frame came in with a hideously damaged gold painted slip.
So, a full clean up of the back of the frame, I added some obeche spacer to the back to increase the rebate depth and metal corner brackets for added strength. Although the corners were gaping, structurally it felt very strong (while the nails hold).
It was only after a thorough inspection once the customer had left that I found how out of square the frame actually was. I replaced the slip with a nice new gilded slip (from Wessex..). Obviously the mount dimensions had to fit the frame. The headscratcher (for me at least), was working out a final glass size based on the wonky frame. Eventually I realised that I could cut the back board until I had just the right fit. That then gave me a safe glass and mount size to work with and helped get the gold slip size right too. The wide gold slip hid the out of squareness pretty well in the end.
A lovely old carved oak frame came in with a hideously damaged gold painted slip.
So, a full clean up of the back of the frame, I added some obeche spacer to the back to increase the rebate depth and metal corner brackets for added strength. Although the corners were gaping, structurally it felt very strong (while the nails hold).
It was only after a thorough inspection once the customer had left that I found how out of square the frame actually was. I replaced the slip with a nice new gilded slip (from Wessex..). Obviously the mount dimensions had to fit the frame. The headscratcher (for me at least), was working out a final glass size based on the wonky frame. Eventually I realised that I could cut the back board until I had just the right fit. That then gave me a safe glass and mount size to work with and helped get the gold slip size right too. The wide gold slip hid the out of squareness pretty well in the end.