Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

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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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Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Orde02 »

Hello all.

Really thought I'd lose the plot making this frame. I thought it would be straightforward but I wasted so much time and material I almost gave up in frustration.

So...the good, I'm happy with the finished frame
The bad, all the moulding under the finished frame I used/wasted in the process in creating this one frame
And the ugly...all the filler I used but is thankfully hidden under the paint!

Also, I'm using a Nobex hand saw so all those cuts were done using elbow grease!

Oh well, onwards and upwards.

Regards

Matt
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Timh »

Nice one Matt
great finish too and a nice balance to the moulding

all learning curves on any errors
keep going
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Not your average framer »

How much of the wasted moulding was avoidable? I think you might be thinking about a Morso in a while, to make life a little easier. I think there's going to be a few of those up for sale in the next few months. I think that you seem to have got the frame finishing upto a good standard and I would not say that you are any longer, just a beginner.

Well done! Great quality and presentation. I suspect that quite a lot of forum members respect how much you have achieved in a relatively short period of time. Keep going you are looking great!

:clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Not your average framer »

I'm really impressed that you are doing stacked mouldings using a hand saw and not a Morso. That's not easy! taking thin slivers off on a Morso is a doodle, but it's not like that with a hand saw. Amazing!

:clap: :clap: :clap:

BTW, I don't recognise the mouldings are they from Wessex Pictures?
Mark Lacey

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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Orde02 »

That's one of the reasons there's so much waste, Mark. I had also glued two moulding lengths together before trying to cut it. It was just impossible as it wouldn't stay stable so I ended up using more moulding to make two separate frames then gluing them together, one inside the other. They had to be as tight a fit as possible but there was still more of a gap one one side than I would have liked, that's were the filler came in.
All moulding is from Rose and Hollis.

I learned a lot and the thought of a morso did cross my mind many times. I just don't have any cash available just now and I'm not making any money from framing at the moment so I thought the hand saw would at least get me going. Not sure if I'm trying to achieve too much too soon with the limited skills I have.

Thanks for the kind words though!

Matt
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Justintime »

That looks great Matt!
You're much further ahead than me with this sort of hand-finishing technique.
I'd be interested to know what others would price this out at?
I'd second the Morso. From time to time eBay is flooded with them, they can be had for £400, but factor in a new set of blades for £200 on top of that.
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Orde02 »

Thanks Justintime. I'd be interested in a price too, can anyone throw a few ballpark figures around? The frame is for a 5x8 painting.

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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Justintime »

Matt
Can you provide the moulding codes and what processes were involved?
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Not your average framer »

The price needs to take into account all of your hours taken to make the frame and paint the painting. I,m not always very good at pricing other peoples work, but I am am guessing that ther is perhaps 10 hours in producing the frame, so maybe £80 t0 £120 for just the frame. Pricing original artworks is pretty much out of my league, so I won't try. When I produce frames like that, my finishing techniques are quite different. I also price things differently depending on if the frame is made to order, or just a stock frame for sale. Needless to say my so called ready made frames are priced as primarily bread and butter prices, but they are made to suit the price that they will be displayed at.

Really nice ready made items are priced higher and for something looking a bit like that and a similar size, I'd be asking about £70 and perhaps agree to somewhere around £60, if I was pushed. Making a real nice frame like that to order would probably quoted at about £100. I was located somewhere in the london, or home counties area, I could get quite a bit more, perhaps 50% to 100% more. Down here in rural Mid Devon, the economy is a bit less lively although there was a time, when things were much better. So a lot depends on your local economic levels.

Don't take too much notice of me, I'm just plucking figures out of the air and don't have an up to date price list worked out at the moment and I have been recovering from my stroke for about a year, before the lock down started. I moved premises in the august of 2018 and I've been inlimbo since then. I've got to get my premises sorted out and covid safety measures in place, so I'm not expecting much to be happening, till the end of June at the earliest and even then I need to get a feel for what the market is doing. So everything is guesswork until then.
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by vintage frames »

Whatever about the grief you had making and joining that frame, you have designed a frame with a good visual balance and unless you get that right, all else is rubbish. Timh noticed that as well. So well done!
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Orde02 »

Here’s the finished painting and frame. This is frame number 31 for me and is beginning to get closer to the frames I see in my mind’s eye. Onwards and upwards!!

Regards

Matt


D5A3559D-392E-427F-B736-386A1E71B43C.jpeg
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by fusionframer »

Great frame and painting.

My gut feeling is that i would have changed the slip you have to some silver in, still with black in background to not make it too bright. Of course, this is looking at a photo, so make have different opinion seeing it in flesh. I personally like a bit more definition where the frame ends and painting starts. Having said that, this is only my personal view and my wife when i just showed her disagreed with me.

Btw, like i said, frame is really good and considering i can't paint a realistic stick man, i find it incredible that paintings can look so realistic. It is only my view on the frame and others will think it needs something different, some will think it is right as it is.

Cheers

Nick
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Orde02 »

Hello Nick.

Thanks for your comments. There is probably a bit more definition in real life than in the photo. The photo is perhaps a little on the dark side too so perhaps you would see it differently if you were to see the real thing.

I had originally decided on a gold slip as the teacup and saucer have gold details on them. I ended up making a gold and a black slip so I could decide once everything was finished. I do actually like the gold finish, it’s oil gold gilded 24 carat gold leaf distressed a little (see photo) but I decided it was a little too overpowering for the size of the frame.
If I could find a similar slip but only half the width, I’d have probably gone with that.

I’m still very much finding out the basics and putting things together that might seem like a good idea but actually turn out to be something very different!

Matt

B2D3C8D9-987E-4F35-AD58-D5CDF22040FD.jpeg
There is no glass in this photo but there is in the earlier photo with the black slip.
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by fusionframer »

Matt,

The gold is too distracting, you are right, but the slip is too big as you say for that. I will have tried a silver as the background is that grey colour, but with black coming through, but would have probably reduced the width of the slip as well.

Trying different finishes is the way to learn. I have come up with new finishes (new to me) by making a mistake. The key is to keep trying things, sometimes even if they seem odd. I have a finish that starts as cadmium red, and i then use a water stain using van dyke crystals over to make a redish brown which works well on some paintings. Sounds grim, but has been used a number of times.

Cheers

Nick
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by vintage frames »

I'm with the black slip on this one. The whole frame has a beautiful balance and all the sight lines are provided by the frame contours. So the subtlety of the black slip works best so as not to distract from the artwork.
A little note here about oil gilding. If you're going to use it on an inner slip, then it's best only used one very slim profile. A wide slip just looks messy and distracting. These slips were always watergilt, so as to provide a soft even finish. Oil gilding is too "sparkly" for this. It can be used as a sight line, but only on a very narrow profile.
And the funny thing is, watergilding is less of a faff than oil gilding.
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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Matt,

That's a painting! At first sight, I thought it was a real cup and saucer in a deep box framer. Totally realistic painting, looks amazing! Slips are a difficult thing proportions wise. The slip mouldings are made in various widths and getting there right width for the size of the frane is not aways, going to be as you might wish with smaller frames. If they do make a narrow enough slip, for want you want, the narrowest one you can get may not be strictly in proportion. Slip mouldings are also flimsy and not always the easiest things to cut down either.

Having said all that, I am still very impressed with both the painting and the frame. Simply beautiful and great workmanship. :clap: :clap: :clap:
Mark Lacey

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Re: Here's a The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from me!

Post by Orde02 »

Thanks for the encouraging comments Dermot and Mark. I'll keep going and learning as I go.

Rgards

Matt
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