What would you have done?

[prospero]

Had a lady in last week-end with a Hockney print.

It was 50" long by 20" wide inc 1" white border.

First thought: bigger than 48" = PITA. Now I don't keep BIG sheets of glass in stock. 4x3' like most other framers I suspect... I also don't keep Jumbo mountboard in stock. Nowhere to store it for one thing and I only ever need it once in a blue moon. There is no way I could cut a mount with a 48" window anyway. All these factors would make it a very expensive frame. Plus the fact that she wanted it for Thursday at the latest.....

Oh, and with a 'simple black frame'.

Working with what I had, I mounted it onto MDF. (losing the white border). Ideally I would have used a two sheets of std thick mountboard laminated. (I don't like foamboard for mounting). No Jumbo board, so that was no-go. Of course it was too big for my vac press, but fret not - I could use my olde hardbed press. A long-winded exercise but possible.

I found some nice oak moulding. 2" wide, flat with a radius back. That would look OK. One piece I had tried to strip with Nitromors in the past. Unfortunately I found that rubbing with wirewool resulted in lots of balck spots where the stripper had reacted with steel particles caught in the grain. Been waiting ever since for someone who wanted a spotty oak frame..... But this was black, with would cover a mulitude of sins.

So I did it like that. I was a pain to do all along. Trying to get the print to sit in the frame with spacers and not covering too much of the image - trimming a smidge off the MDF to fine-tune it - dust - eek. Had about six goes and best part of a morning arsing about.

I quoted the lady £150 which to be honest was just off the top of my head. She nearly fainted. With all the arsing about I could have charged 3 times as much with a straight face but I stuck to the quote. And I got it done on time. I realise some folks are geared up for this type of job and with more space and the right equipment it would have been a piece of cake. But like a lot of framers I don't have a huge workshop and anything remotely oversize tends to monopolise the work schedule while in progress.


So what would others have done faced with a job that you know is going to be fecky and you know whatever you charge is not really enough?
I would have been better business from my point of view to turn the job away. The only good thing was finding a good home for that spotty oak that I have been shifting from pillar to post for ten years.

But I did it.

[GeoSpectrum]

I suspect most framers would have taken the job on and cuffed it as normal. 'its a learning opportunity' I hear them saying...and of course the customer may comback with some more so 'i'll be able to use up up the additional stock I had to order in' ( because of the large minimum purchases with most supliers).

I suspect I would have done the same.

[strokebloke]

Will you see the lady again? And will she turn up with another advertising hoarding under her arm?
If the answer to the first is 'Yes' and the second is 'Probably not' or 'No', I'd say pocket the 150 and spread the deficit over the next 10 years

[Graysalchemy]

Even with my large workshop and machinery I find large pieces a PITA especially as I work alone. I do remember making 2 2500mm x 100 mirrors which I lifted into the frame on my own that was not fun.

The last really big frame I made was two 1800mm square in a gloss white frame. fixed in the acrylic the artwork and back taped it all up turned it over (on my own ) only to find Sh*$ inside. This happened three of for times. Then did the second one only to find I had cut it two large (it was actually smaller than the first). Remade the frame, finished it and slid it off the bench not realising there was a screw left on the carpet on the bench. .

I was glad to see the back of them when they finally went.

Give me 50 20x16" any day over a couple of big ones.

[fineedge]

I have something like that lying in the spare bedroom ( customer says it's an investment - expensive Paul Emsley drawing of Rhino) Have to drive 50 km to go fetch a piece of Flabeg glass for it too - I solve the outsize window mount problem by dismantling the Keencut (taking off the rail with the cutting head ) and drawing lines on the back of the board, positioning the rail and presto - no need for a bigger machine.

[astraios]

I had an interesting conversation with one manager of IT company about "difficult" jobs. They strategy is never to tun off the job even if customer ask for something they have to outsource ... but they adjust the price accordingly, even much higher then the normal market price. In this way the customer has option to spend more money and do everything on one place or spend more time in searching different supplier. In this way you build reputation that you can handle everything instead of that some customers start thinking "that is to complicate for them". We are doing things in this way and must say benefits are good reference, new customers and new knowledge - we even introduce some new services because of this approach ... but most important thing is not to forget to adjust the price !!!

[Jonny2morsos]

I have one of these to do after the weekend. In truth I should have done it this week but like you it is finding the space. My only 8' x 4' bench is in my frame cutting area which is not a particularly clean area so I have to have a spring clean before doing oversize jobs.

I told the customer I don't have dry mounting or mount cutting facilities to do that size and I have ordered in a piece of glass and back board cut to size. It will just go straight in the frame and she has accepted that. Not ideal but if only people thought of these things before buying.

Another customer is coming to collect a job today and she told me they were going to the Hockney exhibition last weekend. I am just hoping she does not turn up with another of these oversize prints.

[prospero]

It's not the really big job that irk me. It's the ones that are just that little bit too big. The ones that need a 49" piece of glass or a mount that is 1/2" bigger than std size.

Still got my big double map to do. The two halfs have to be spliced together. They overlap, so I have to line them up in perfect register and then make a cut 64" long with a scalpel. Haven't got a cutting mat that size and also not got arms like a gibbon. So I'll have to do half the cut and them shift the whole issue without disturbing the alignment to complete the cut. Tricky. When I have done that, I have to tape the halfs together at the back.....
Not until I do this will I know the exact size so I can build the subframe and order a piece of perspex. I'm going to lay it on 5mm foamcore which will lay on the subframe. The cross bars in the subframe will reinforce the joins in the foamcore. The glazing will sit right on top of the map - no friggin about with spacers. It's only a repro, so should be OK.
After all that I have to make the outer frame. It's 3.5" wide so the outer measurements will be about 78" x 72". Much bigger and it won't fit thought the door.
I'm hoping for another spell of nice weather so I can do the frame outside.

Fortunately I quoted high and the people aren't in a hurry.

[Jonny2morsos]

Wouldn't you know it! She has just been in "We couldn't resist the poster and thought it would go great in the study"

"Oh and we only want a narrow frame"

I am encouraging her to go for aluminium and she has borrowed some samples for hubby to approve so we will see what transpires aftyer the weekend.

Also talking of RAF maps one came in yesterday. I knew it was coming but did not know the size. It plots the flight paths over France and Germany showing targets and locations of the Luftwaffe, Flack and Searchlights. It is not original and was done in the seventies but the old chap has just died and his family want it framing for the Pathfinder Museum. As it is not original we have agreed to dry mount as it fits on a standard 32 x 44 board with room to spare for a mount.

[JamesC]

I have jumbo everything luckily and have even done single mounts "bigger than jumbo" thinking outside the box, but more things to consider doing for an oversize picture frame:

Get the glass or plastic in cut to size from a van supplier e.g. wessex/glass and mirror (same group) or go to local glass merchant. Some van suppliers even frame now.

For oversize mounts you can get a Logan handcutter and long rule for not too much money, which can be moved with the cutter in place. Fine for odd jobs and cheaper than getting a jumbo cutter. Packs away neatly and not much space needed.

Check with customer but you might use a spray craft glue to stick it down if it's not high value - goes on nice and thin and allow to dry a bit first. A key thing is it's not so wet it wrinkles the paper.