Trying a new finish

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Of framing styles or techniques that rocked your boat, and also of those that didn't
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Orde02
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Trying a new finish

Post by Orde02 »

Hello all. I bought some Kolner bole a while ago and gave it a go. 3 coats of red acrylic gesso, light sanding, 2 coats of black acrylic paint, polish with steel wool, mask off inner edge with masking tape and paint with Liquid Leaf. Happy with how they look, very different to the the wax polish look, it has more of an antique feel to it. One of them is much better than the other though, I did a slightly different method with that one but as it was a learning experience, I don't really mind.
Paintings are mine too, I did 12 of these for an exhibition for an Albert Roux restaurant a few years ago. These 2 were the dead ducks that didn't sell and came home again with me.

frame 1.jpg
frame 2.jpg
frame 3.jpg
frame 4.jpg
frame 5.jpg
fusionframer
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by fusionframer »

Nice finish.

It is a personal preference, but i prefer liberon gilt cream over varnish particularly for finishing over a colour like black.

The key with hand finishing in my opinion is never stop experimenting. I have just found a new combination which i can post after Christmas day, but it was a complete fluke finding it worked well. That is not the first time i have "fluked" a nice finish. I play with offcuts all the time.

Nice painting too.

Nick
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Patrick Okrasinski
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Patrick Okrasinski »

I am confused- does Kolner offer acrylic bole? Frame looks lovely.
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prospero
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by prospero »

Very Nice. :D

I think I would gild the inner raised reed up to the centre panel but that's just me. :wink:
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Not your average framer »

Very classy work! Looks great!

:clap: :clap: :clap:
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Orde02
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Orde02 »

Hello all. Thanks for the comments but this post is from December last year. Not sure why it's popped up again?
Here's a couple of frames I have just finished though. Hope you like them.

Nice tabernacle frame for a vintage print

tabernacle.jpg

And a dutch ripple style frame just finished today

ripple.jpg

Cheers

Matt
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Oldgrumpyface »

Matt, these new frames are superb (as are the ones from the old post). :clap: :clap:
The artwork is incredible as well.
Hand finish is not something I have attempted yet but a question I have is how do you know what combinations of moulding will work when stacked?
Are there any books or common mouldings that people use or is it purely trial and error with offcuts??

Cheers
Allan
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Orde02
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Orde02 »

Hello Allan. Thanks for your comments. I'm fairly new to stacking frames so for me it's a case of looking at mouldings online and guessing which ones go well together then buying lengths in and experimenting.
Of course, the more mouldings I buy the more I can physically hold them together and have a better understanding of how they'll look together. So yes, mostly trial and error for me but learning as I go.

Hope that helps

Matt
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Matt,

I like them very much. Especially the Tabernacle style frame and it's not that the dutch sytle frame lacks anything compared to the tabernacle style frame, I'm just a real big fan of tabernacle sytle frames. I can't say that I've had much success selling tabernacle frames, but that does not stop me from really liking them. I love the look of them both. Very nice and very classy work!

:clap: :clap: :clap:
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Orde02
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Orde02 »

Thanks Mark. I love them too, the tabernacle frames and Dutch ripple are definitely my favourite. I think going online is the key to selling these types of frame. There’ll be buyers out there, just need to get seen by them.
Cheers.
Matt.
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Not your average framer »

For me part of the difficulty is being able to produce them at a cost that enables me to sell them at a price that I can sell them for . The locals like them, but getting them to pay a decent price is quite a difficult issue. Potential customers just don't understand the amount of labour, materials and wastage required to create such frames and think that they are excessively expensive. Sadly the market for some things has changed quite a lot, since the credit crunch of 2007 - 2008 and the mid Devon economy has not been the same ever since. Hand finished frames is still my main market, but I do need to operate more carefully than I used to, to make things work as far as the sales aspect is concerned.

I now have a much smaller shop and therefore less storage space, so I need to reduce the stock down to appropriate levels, for a smaller operating space and this will limit the variety of mouldings, that it will make sense to keep in stock from now on. From a practical point of view, my speed of working and the level of hours that I am able to work, since my stroke are also a significant limitation, even though I have equipped myself with more efficient working equipment, which has enabled me to improve my working rate. I am not complaining at all. The fact that I am still alive after a heart attack and two strokes ( the fist stroke was a much smaller one, than the second) is something that I am most grateful for.

I am now a pensioner and get the state pension and also the attendance allowance, so I can survive on much less income from the shop and as a result the shop is much less important as an income source, than before. However I still enjoy making hand finished frames and if I stop doing things, there is unfortunate evidence that my personal mobility will suffer, so I still want to keep going. I am already something of a throwback to an earlier era and it is largely by operating in a niche oriented market that things keep going. In spite of all this, I would like to make the occasional tabernacle, or other rather special frame although getting decent money for it will not always be easy.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by StevenG »

Man! The finish on the frame is great but what the frame is holding is fantastic!!! :clap: :clap: Those paintings are incredible - that's a real art & talent itself :D
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Not your average framer »

The frames are the finishing touch to amazing artworks. Matt's artworks fully justify frames of that quality. The frames would probably be much more difficult to market without such superb artworks to go with them. It's the other way around for so many other of us, where very often we would not get the chance to make a frame, if someone had not already got an artwork that they wanted framed.

For me the amazing thing is that the artist that produces an artwork of this level of quality, is also able to produce a frame of such quality, which is so perfectly suited to the artwork. Surely such a combination of abilities in one person is a rare level of ability! Speaking for myself, I have been very much inspired by looking at the photos of Matt's work.

Such lovely workmanship! Truly so special!
Mark Lacey

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Orde02
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Orde02 »

Thank you so much for those comments!! It’s made my day!

:D

Matt.
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Not your average framer »

It took a bit of hard work getting it though! I also notice how well the embossed pattern on the dutch style frame lines up so well at the corner joints. What a nice job! Loved it!

I think I must have a go at that moulding some time!

I very much enjoy making stacked moulding frames and I produce the individual frames to be a really close fit. After joining each inner frame the wedges expand the frame ever so slightly and I end up sanding down the swelling at the corners, which results from underpinning them. It's only aboult half a millimeter, but I'm looking for a perfect fit.

I do this with my bench top belt sander and it takes just seconds to do. The inner frame slides into the outer frame on a film of glue and I fire some pins in place with my headless pneumatic pinner and these headless pins also act as clamps while the glue dries. I use various power tools to help me cheat a little and to beat the restriction that I have been left with following my stroke.

My other favorite power tool is my bench top band saw. Many tabernacle style frames have feature and details which need something other than a Morso to create and many such details are possible with the band saw and minimum effort. I have had such thoughts in mind for quite some time and maybe I will give this a try at some time when I've managed to get everything sorted and up and running.
Mark Lacey

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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by bookmark »

Hi Matt, like everyone else Love what you are doing. For the latest Dutch Ripple Frame, where do you source the moulding I tend to use R & Hollis but cannot see anything like.
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Not your average framer »

It is not just one moulding, but is the comibnation of one moulding with the addition of a deep sloping slip inside the dutch style moulding. As far as I can tell the main moulding is Simons 7676//44, or Rose and Hollis A644, both of these mouldings are in fact exactly the same moulding as far as I can tell. it is not particularly easy to be sure exactly which slip moulding is being used in this frame, but Rose and Hollis A218 might be a posibility.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
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Orde02
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Orde02 »

Hello all. Thanks again for the great comments! It's very encouraging after my very short time framing, not even a year yet.
The ripple frame is a modified R&H A644 with a beveled slip also from R&H.
I like the A644 moulding a lot but I thought the outside edge was a bit dull so I added a further piece of moulding to make it slope down to the edge of the frame rather than keep the slightly blunt edge it origianlly has. To make this look right I had to slice off about 4 mm of the bottom of the A644 so it didn't stand too proud from the new outside moulding.

Here you can see the difference between the moulding as it came and my frame.

ripple.jpeg

This was quite a tricky project as all I have to cut the moulding is a Nobex Proman hand saw and that A644 is pretty thick!

Regards

Matt
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by Andyward »

Can I ask where you acquire your Ripple moulding from. Would like to use that going forward?

Andy
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Re: Trying a new finish

Post by prospero »

Rose and Hollis. Great company. :clap:
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