The Framers Forum

Today's delight was brought to me recently... it 'fell off the wall' so he said.
Bottom left of the frame had crumpled and the glass broken.

OK, here's a few statistics:
22 * 22 mm dark finish deep scoop Obeche moulding - so its effective size is about 15*15mm,
Landscape orientation with the cord stretched tightly between single-screw D-rings,
2.15 mm glass
Double mount
Print glued to undermount
MDF to rear
Contents held in with staples - that is the ones you'd clip a couple of sheets of paper with,
2 off 7mm V-nails to each corner

Now the good bit....



Frame size 1090 * 625 mm
Weight 6.1 Kg.

...and...
9mm pan head screws, one each side.


Strangely, one of the screws had wrenched out of the moulding!

Yes, over a metre wide, 6.1 Kg, tight cord, 9mm screws - one has to stop and ponder what the original framer was thinking - ah! he wasn't!

Apparently it had been hanging for the better part of twenty years before crying 'enough'

So the owner will get a new frame in 38*15mm Ash probably black-waxed and three double-screw D-rings (sides + bottom rail) and shortened 16mm screws. The cord will have some slack and do two laps of the 3 D-rings.
Cheers,
John.

At least it had D-Rings. Screw eyes were the norm around that period of history.

When I first started framing I only made 16" x 20"s and 8" x 10"s, a die cut mount with one piece of masking tape holding the print in place (for a short time anyway), hardboard and glass was cut to size, masking tape on the back with two screw eyes which the customer had to fit themselves, just about the bottom end of the market with nothing selling for over £9.95

Next I moved up to slightly better prints (£20 to £95 retail), where a long strip of double sided tape was used to hold the print to the cream core mount, we later upgraded to dry mounting the prints to greyboard

I actually quite enjoyed this type of work, they were super value, disposable artworks, and the general public were very happy with what they got for the price. I bet a few of these beauties have been taken in for re framing over the years.

When I started out, any moulding over 30p a foot was up-market.

is it still not ))))

No. They are sleeping tablets.

Repair jobs can be a useful source of extra income and credibility, There are many different aspects to repairing frames which can be well worth learning more about and adding to your list of abilities.

In a recession some niche specialities may make a real difference to your bottom line.

Here's a picture of a restoration job I am starting for a matching pair of antique frames. All four corners on both frames need repair and replacement of ornamentation. I took the plunge on this sort of work about seven years ago and get a good level of regular jobs like this.
There's a bit of filling, sanding, smoothing and finishing before it will look anything, but perhaps it gives the general idea.

These particular frame appear to have had a rather chequered history and if I am right it may have had some bits of ornamentation removed and mutilated to replace other missing bits. Originally the corner ornamentation would have been more extensive and impressive than whats left.

None of the corners are complete enough to know for sure, but I'm doing a better compromise job than whoever bodged it before and for what the customer expects it will look great. Generally it works quite well, but if there was more money available, I would have replaced all the ornamentation with a new and more consistent grouping of compo pieces.

Sooner you than me Mark.

I tend to save old ornate frames even if they are beyond repair. You can often cannibalise then for small pieces to fix others.

That's an impressive repair, Mark.

Here's one of my repair efforts from earlier this year for a local bric-a-brac shop.
Before: After: The replacement decorative fillet on the right side was derived from an old framed mirror from the local Salvage centre.
John.

Here's the result of the reframe in my original post. It's Ash with Liberon Black wax: John.

prospero wrote:Sooner you than me Mark.

Hi Peter,

I'm well stocked for replacing missing ornamentation on antique frames, so it not that difficult.

pixnut83 wrote:That's an impressive repair, Mark.

Hi John,

If you do this sort of work on a regular basis, then you will learn the most effective methods for doing such tasks. This not only enables you to produce repairs that will impress, but it also will enable to make a sensible profit out of each job.

I know that I keep banging on about this, but skilled and expert specialities including hand finishing are things that more framers should be looking into and considering doing. In a recession any extra income stream in any area not significantly affected by local competition, will help your busioness survive through these difficult times.

Mark

prospero wrote:Sooner you than me Mark.

Hi Peter,

Did you recognise the Renaisance pasta leaves cut in half and added onto either side of the original compo corner piece? I still have some of the old Renaisance pasta ornaments, including both sizes of the leaves, corner pieces, bows and flourishes. I can't say that I like the bows and flourishes at all, but the leaves and corners are still useful.

Eventually when it comes to pasta, I expect to be limited to the range from Lion. Not that there's anything wrong with the Lion range, I've just been spoilt for choice all these years. Unfortunately pasta never looks as good as the genuine compo ornaments and finding old frames to rob for nice compo bits is not as easy as it once was.

I used to use the Renaissance pasta leaves. They worked fine on my style of finishing. But two probs. They were expensive and I found a high proportion of bad ones.

I also tried the Lion ornaments. As you say, the bows and swirlly ones have limited application and they do tend to be rather thick. I made a nice frame using the two-part corners. But for everyday use it took too long to do. Lots of filling needed to blend them in.