The Framers Forum

Hi Whynot, I've been going through all of my high resolution photos of this frame again. These are far higher resolution that the scaled down ones on the forum. I don't expect to get the chance of a second look at this frame again, but I'm starting to ask questions which the photos can't answer. As ...

I'm in the habit of leaning back against my old Ademco dry-mounting press while drinking my mid-morning cuppa. Until today, this was never a problem! Today the glass thermometer went "Ping". One of our regulars was in the shop and she sent round afterwards her husband with a little junk bo...

Osgood, I am not disagreeing with what you say, but I would like to point out that although I am an ex-engineer and focus very heavily on exactness. I usually get very good results with my presentation as well, I do paint myself, I was interested in art long before I got into framing and I think I'v...

Hi Whynot, Almost all, if not all of these paints are based on some kind of acrylic polymer. I am not aware of the differences, but the acrylic polymers used in paints can be optimised for different characteristics. There are water based and solvent based acrylic paints. The paints which I mentioned...

I learnt my approach to mountcutting from another framer, Mike Jeans Williams, who is a Guild Commended Framer. I had originally sold him some hand coloured local engravings and used to pop-in and see him from time to time. He had a lot of influence in me becoming a framer and he showed me his own m...

Thanks Osgood, I never run down other framers, but some of my customers like the fact that I do things the way I do. I was taught to work this way by another very well respected framer who uses the same technique to show people why he charges more for his work. I do the same, I charge top rates for ...

John,

You have to un-bolt the whole turret assembly and slip the blades as shim over the bolts between the mounting bracket and the sliding carriage of the head. I havn't tried it yet, but until I do it I can't see any problem in doing so.

Thanks Whynot, What you say makes a lot of sense, but I still think this is a painted finish, because that's what it looks like, the overlaping leaf marks ARE PAINTED ON - You can see the brush strokes. I've handled this frame and seen the over-run of the paint on the reverse of the frame - IT'S PAI...

Perhaps I should have said that due to the bottom head's bearings having worn over time it is no longer in alignment with the top head and as the top head can no longer be adjusted by removing shins, I have to pack-out the bottom head to restore the alignment between both heads. Probably as clear as...

First tip. Why do Keencut mountcutting blades have such large round holes in the middle? I dunno, but a used blunt blade makes a very useful packing shim for making adjustments for wear or alignment on all manor of things. As they come in two thickness you can also use different thicknesses in combi...

Yes, Cazz, The golden ratio is indeed as you have said and was known at least as far back as the ancient greeks, or even earlier. Many of the greatest designers, architects and engineers of all time used the golden ratio all the time. With regards to the spacing and layout of multi-aperture mounts, ...

To quote Markw "Possibly a second mount following the shape of the first would have helped to emphasise the shape and lessen the dead space." Hi John & Mark, I think we would all agree that this is a subject well worth looking at. Personally I've so far taken the easy way out and not d...

Roboframer wrote:Bognor (the last resort!)

Knowing Bognor, I can't think of a better description.

The neutral double mount is easier on the eye than the gold one - but why the arched top? It's not relative and actually seems to be covering detail. The white bevels are too close to each other, especially at the top of the arch, but all way round too and the negative space on the bottom mount, cr...

Hi John, It's a fair comment. The Chrismas tree which is a cross-stitch had nothing else around it at the top and looked a bit empty I showed a sample to the customer and she loved it. The mount is in Artcare brushed gold with exactly complements the obsolete antique brown and gold frame and the Lad...

That's a good question Osgood, It's not an easy one to answer. Very small hooks of as liitle as say 0.1mm to 0.2mm can easily be seen if you look for them, but IMHO really stand out when they occur on multiple aperture which in a nice neat line. Some of it comes from my ex-engineering mindset. If yo...

I am now really happy with my Keencut Ultimat and I dont get any hooking at all, even when I lay the mount onto a piece of graph paper and use the magnification of a x8 magnifier (Lupe). I admit that I'm very fussy about mounts, but eventually I got there. The solution was so easy I can hardly belie...

As Mark says, it is the responsibilty of the supplier to provide you with a machine that is not defective. Do not attempt to alter the machine in any way in case you void your warranty! That's true, as he no doubt knows and the suppliers responsibility has already been mentioned, but I figure the i...

I haven't bought one, don't really need one and haven't any axe to grind about this. It's a nice idea, but there may those who would rather make their own after all this! After all they ain't rocket science to build: Considering the other things which Tabmaster sell to the framing trade, I think som...

It sounds like a problem I've had in the past, when the pulley for the steel cable stopped revolving at all - It was stuck solid! It was a real pain to fix. First I phoned Lion's machinery man, (mine came from Lion) and he described how it went together. His description also matched the little bookl...