The Framers Forum

I've been lurking a little on The Grumble lately, and they have a thread going about the weirdest/ most gross/ most unique things people have framed. I was reading this about 10 days ago thinking 'If only i had a weird story to share'. Then last week 2 jobs came in from different customers -

- 3 victorian human foetuses pickled in little jars, to be put into bespoke cabinets with hinged doors, so the jars can be taken out for closer scrutiny(fascinating, but a bit on the yukky side!)

- A collage made from all the tampon applicator tubes the artist used in 2007(the artist said"i love the way the blood is changing colour as it degrades" !). Definitely a latex glove job!



So - what have you framed?

Gross! In all honesty, I think I'd have passed on both of those jobs, (And hasn't that artist ever heard of Lil-lets???? )

I've not framed anything weird. As an animal lover, the worst job I had in to frame was a photo of a hunting party together with the deer they had killed. I kept my eyes off the photo as much as possible during the framing process, and covered up the image as and when I cound. It didn't get deflumbed...

The most poignant items I have framed are mementos for parents who have had late miscarriages. My parents lost my sister at 14 months old - after waiting 13 years for their second child - and she spent most of her short life in Great Ormond Street. Having seen the effects first-hand, my heart goes out to anyone who loses a child.

Moglet wrote:Gross! In all honesty, I think I'd have passed on both of those jobs, (And hasn't that artist ever heard of Lil-lets???? )

I think the tampon tubes piece is very good(although fiercely conceptual)work - and its for a friend of mine(in fact the wife of the guy i share a studio with). The foetuses are for my landlord, and I like to do the non-standard framing jobs like cabinets and suchlike, so I'm happy to do both jobs. I might have drawn the line at the hunting photo though, but i don't get many customers like that in Hackney!

I really found it upsetting...

One of my earliest jobs, when I was plugging calligraphy as well as framing, was to write out and frame two things.

A wedding speech and a poem.

The poem was about a baby that had died - most lines ended with 'because (name) is dead"

I painted a rose and transposed the poem over it (man - I would never take on anything that like that these days - no time) and the wedding speech over freesias.

I got the full story when I delivered the items (I only did collection/delivery in those days and I kind of miss those days)

The couple had met and married within one week - and 1 year later their baby had suffered a cot death - the poem was a 'mantra' written by some sort of therapist to help them accept things. I still have roughs of the speech, but not the poem, I also still have their contact details - assuming they are the same - and would love to know how they are.

I've been asked to frame some huge insects, including a butterfly about 6" or more wingspan. I'm not particularly squeemish, but things like that give me the creeps, so I declined to do it!

With you on that one, and doubly so because I'm extremely squeamish!

Weirdest :

Airline sick bag (unused thank god)!


pain in the arse :

8'x5.5' American flag (American Banker's office) Yeah!

most fascinating:

Original typed poem by Lennon (a response from a folk mag request for a poem)
Entirely composed of the word F**K a few hundred times signed
"John & Yoko"

gesso wrote: F**K a few hundred times signed
"John & Yoko"

I presume you mean

folk
folk
folk
folk

and not

f...
this post has been edited for reasons of decency

the later...

Would have bought it myself but the price tag was 10k...."F**k off"
That Tw*t Chris Evans was interested. I heard the sound of bones turning in their grave.

Strangest thing for me was a piece of a cardboard box that had been shredded by a cat. They've recently brought me some duck feathers to do as well.

Plenty weird stuff gone through here but the most gross was a set of warthog tusks plus a bloodied knife used to slit the throat because the bullet failed to kill the poor animal. Weird - a woman brought in a porcelain faerie which in itself was a straightforward job but customer insisted on a door at the back so that faerie could come out at night.

fineedge wrote:Weird - a woman brought in a porcelain faerie which in itself was a straightforward job but customer insisted on a door at the back so that faerie could come out at night.

I like that.

It didn't did it?

Old photo of a Japanese officer beheading four men. Really gruesome - the officer was wiping his sword clean surrounded by a jumble of headless corpses and the severed heads. My wife refused to have anything to do with it. It belonges to a chap who writes books about the Japanese army. Went out to the collection area of the shop carefully placed back outwards. Didn't want to scare the customers.

markw wrote:Old photo of a Japanese officer .... My wife refused to have anything to do with it.

With her 100% on that. Just the thought of it makes me shudder.

prospero wrote: I like that.

Me, too!

Moglet wrote: Me, too!

It's a fairy-flap.

if the fairy flap opens outwards - then when the frame is hung it wont be able to open it - more fairy in a flap at that point.

Unless it's a very DEEP frame opening in is just as bad as opening out, problem solved a sliding door

prospero wrote:
It's a fairy-flap.

Almost as good as a cat-flap!

The oddest thing we have framed is a 'G String'. We didnt ask any questions apart from had it been washed!!

The following image has been posted here before, so is really not odd. Just different.
The request was made by the husband. It stands some 5' 6" tall, 3' wide and 4" deep. He stipulated 6mm plate glass - hence the reflections- I did ask why the 6mm glass. His reply was "Just in case anybody falls against it. It will not break"
Apparently it is pride of place between two wardrobes in the master bedroom.