The Framers Forum

Hi Gentysteve and Welcome. I spent 30 years specializing in object framing and my main specialty was glass cases, though I probably produced a greater variety of box frames than I have seen produced in the market today. If you have the variety of skills, then it is not necessary to confuse your cust...

Looks like letraset to me, googled it and they could still be around.

http://www.letraset.com/products/90-Letraset-Transfers/

Otherwise any form of printing onto water transfer paper, then a clear varnish/lacquer coat over the top.

Looks to me like a finish that is achieved by putting a coat on top of a coat that is not fully cured, I think these were first noticed when heavily viscous undercoats did not fully dry out but were skinned over before the top coat to be applied. The methods I was told about, when there were still r...

Impressive work. :clap: The profile and size and finish reminds me of a very expensive moulding I bought from Magnolia Mouldings in the early 1980's, though the flat center was a medium mahogany veneer. I was left with a 5ft offcut, which I had for about twenty years. Then I had to make a trophy for...

I went yesterday and often in the past go back for a second day. I do not feel a great urge to do this this year, perhaps it is old age but it is a lovely sunny day here and I might go out for a 10 mile walk. When I came into the decor trade (an unusual sideways shift from farm management :o ) Colle...

Silicone rubber is the most amazing moulding compound, it can pick up detail that the eye cannot see, I once found a fingerprint on a piece of casting resin from a replica that I had moulded from a metal object. In another occasion I was making a mould of a wax seal directly of paper and found the i...

I started off doing Antique Fairs in the 1970's, before Sunday opening, This was more of a roving market stall as we picked up a lot of restoration work and making display cases for the jewelry exhibitors. Although I intentionally set out to become a 3D framer, I picked up a lot of picture framing a...

Best of luck with your new venture.

Best of luck with your venture. Many framers, perhaps most, start off with a mitre guillotine, but the old framers used to saw the angle cuts and shoot the joints with a plane, using a shooting board. It might be worth your while thinking of knocking up a shooting board as it only needs a few of str...

An impressive piece of work, Geoff, you do not mention the dimensions, I rather suspect that they may be impressive as well.

Interesting that you are casting your own decorative items from, presumably salvaged items. Are you using silicone rubber moulding compounds?

I love the colours.

It is always worth while walking the other halls, though I wound up my business 8 years ago, last year I spoke to exhibitor, who told me that if I was still in business, I would be in for a good order. Two of my old wholesale customers are still exhibiting, despite the almost blanket failures of com...

I had a 4ft length of 4" mahogany moulding from Magnolia Mouldings left over from a commission, long after The Magnolia Group disappeared I had a request to make a Championship Trophy for best of Breed for an Agricultural Livestock Society, the length of moulding, about £5 /m in 1980 made a sup...

Just ripped into the polythene envelope that protects my little black book from the ravages of the postal system, leave it intact till I get on the train that whisks me fairly painlessly to Brum. Int. despite a change at real Brum. Not a lot going on going on on the face of it all the trad. exhibito...

Label on drum does not say Copydex but it is essentially the same stuff. Your liquid fabric adhesive link looks interesting, I had heard that the Americans were quite into using fabrics, I used latex to cover quite complex shapes and I am not sure that they would be possible with wet adhesive. The w...

Just tried to check the price of carpet latex with a wholesaler I used to use, but as I no longer have an account the passed be onto a retail carpet shop. £20 per gallon though I used to pay about £10. I think we would get over 25 sq.m coverage. Although when laying up batches of 50 or so backs we w...

I used carpet latex. The piece of fabric in your photo looks like a piece of cotton velvet, an ideal match. A maker of jewelry display cases put me onto the technique, he used it to line display boxes and ring pads. Any fabric that is not very close weave has a risk of bleeding a liquid adhesive thr...

I shall go - unless something better to do crops up in the interim. It is always interesting to see new product coming from abroad and those with any commercial acumen, working in the trade of creating wall decor may find that they might learn some thing. As a has-bin I can visit those exhibitors I ...

Collectors Cases did many hundreds of clay pipe display, in the early days we bought in bucket loads of original pipes from tip diggers and there was little need to be conservation conscious as we had bought the artifacts, they were ours to do with as we saw fit and our customers were after reasonab...

It has got impact! Is the script 'Walking Dead' cut out by CMC on a black background? Hard for one, who worked in the age of the manual mount cutters, to evaluate the ease of new windows. Were I practicing now, and given a inclination towards the macabre, no criticism intended, I might use black sil...

cased tender loco.jpg This model locomotive was framed by Collectors Cases and is currently in the enquiries office of Shrewsbury Rail Station. The client was the then Regional Manager for British Rail and I remember following up his original enquiry to make a case for this model. I took the photo ...