The Framers Forum

I will let the video do the talking
No need for me to write anything

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhi ... ing-titian

Thanks Keith,

That was really special. I've gained a few ideals from that! I also was quite interested in the effect on the skirting boars in the exhibition room at the end that would be an interesting, but relatively simple and easy finishing idea to use as a finish on one of my hand finished frames. I liked the actual colour and subtile marbling effect, but the same basic finish would work very well with some other colours as well.

My hand has pretty much healed after the accident with the table saw and I am looking at getting back into my shop in the next week, or so. The shop is still getting painted and fitted out. It is not possible to open it to the public yet, but I've get a reasonable volume of customer jobs, with more coming in, including four quite large prints to frame, which are coming in today.

I also need to make some really stunning frames, mirrors and other items for the shop windows as well, so I'm going to be quite busy. I have decided that the items for the shop windows, not only need to look stunning, but need to even up stage a lot of what I have done before and I've been very much on the look out for some serious inspiration. This video was part of that inspiration, so thanks very much.

I hope also been wondering about doing something with an extra large profile and the use of different colours under lying the gilding on the frame in the video has given me some ideas to experiment with, so this video has perhaps been quite timely for what I need to be doing.

So many thanks for posting this,

Mark.

This has been very informative to anylise how the conponent parts have been produced and stacked together. As many forum members probably already know, I am very much in to stacked moulding frames, but here is a chance to compare how I am often stacking the component parts of stacked moulding frames together the methods employed by the experts from the National Gallery's own framing workshops. I was quite encourage to realise that my chosen methods are actually very similar the their own methods.

I was also interested to see their staff using traditional moulding planes and basically similar carving chisels to the ones that I have collected of the years. I have a fairly good range of old moulding planes, which I have picked up as second hand from mostly old second hand shops and I now realise that I have much of the necessary tools to undertake much of the same planning and carving task as shown in this video. I am completely self taught using these tools, partly with the aid of watching on-line video tutorials and although I would find undertaking large projects such as those shown in these videos quite daughting, I am quite comfortable with curving replacements for repairing damaged frames requiring restoration.

Until now, I had not appreciated that traditional looking frames like this, were produced using the same sort of moulding planes, such as I already have. I am now thinking about, whether I should be thinking of particularly making more use of my moulding planes, with regard to my own picture framing activities. I find these tools a real joy to use, but I am not keen to make the switch to undertaking projects which will take such an extended period of time to complete from beginning to end, as I find that I can cope much more easily with my techniques being focussed on simple, quick and easy. Although I have a good selection of router bits and a really easy to use router, I am not much disposed to using it for larger job owing to the amount of dust and chippings produced and in this regard I find my moulding planes much less of a problem in use.

I do not find that my moulding planes are particularly ideal for working with noticeably harder varieties of wood, as progress can be be very much slower. Also the dust from routing many of these much harder woods, tends to produce dust which represent a significantly more severe health risk as well, so I limit my machining of such woods accordingly. Cutting woods like this such as Oak of a band saw, or table saw does not worry me to the same extent, as it does not produce nearly so much really fine dust and I generally use my table saw outside in the open on top of a Black and Decker work mate. Most of the wood that gets machined for use in my shop is currently pine and obeche and I don't find these much of a problem. I am currently thinking whether some of this might to a limited extent, take me in to any new directions.

I'm blown away, just one thing to say, 'Wow'!

8 Mins to watch the video, 10 mins to read NYAF's musings! I've learnt a lot

Me too! Very thought provoking indeed and for me it's perhaps come along at a good time. I have currently got quite a lot of potentially recyclable wood from have two doors and a massive, rather imposing looking door frame replaced. It's a very considerable quantity of fairly useful wood and ideal for producing some nice chunky frames without much expense. I've also got a moderately large quantity of recycled 4mm mirror glass, which I was given after a local shop was re-fitted, so I'm thinking about some nice chunky mirror frames as well.

I'm not doing much about it yet, but I am begining to get a few things lined up and ready to get started. Hopefully my cold shop will be warmer when February comes along. In the past, some of my larger stacked moulding frames have had an internal cavity hidden inside to save filling it up with wood at un-necessary cost and resulting in excessive weight issues. I think that a few new ideas, in these present challaging times won't go a miss.

I've done some counting.

Keith Hewitt 15 words
Keencut 9 words
Gesso&Bole 16 words

I know these 3 to be extremely busy people

Not your average framer - 999 words

+1 'Wow!'

Hi keith,

I think you can guess how much I love this stuff. I do more hand finishing and stacked moulding frames that just about anything and I like to challenge myself. At my age most people are retired. I am also pretty badly crippled by my stroke, but I'm finding new ways of doing things, so I can keep going. What else am I going to do? It may sound crazy, but I need to be motorvated and doing something and this is it.

It sure beats sitting around feeling sorry for my self and doing nothing! I'm not the only one who is really serious about hand finishing and stacked moulding frames. It's the historic and traditional way that quality picture framing was originally done. Guess why so many of us like it? I requires skill, imagination and the desire to produce something special that will last.

Wow jaw dropping craftsmanship. Thank you for sharing.

Although I don't actually gild with gold leaf, it's still very relevent to me. I do gold finishes which I make up using bronzing powders, sodium silicate, water and a little Vulpex Liquid Soap, so really large chunky framed mirrors are just up my street and since I have plenty of everything that I will need to make a few, I'm looking forward to get cracking.

A really enlightening film - thank you for sharing

thank you for sharing

Bradi,

Welcome to The Forum.

Admired your website, so easy to navigate
I'm a horse in The Chinese Zodiac 12 year calendar,

As a picture framer and gilder who has been in the inner sanctum of several museum workshops including the Smithsonian's National Gallery and Portrait Gallery frame departments, it always amazes me the actual hours of labor necessary to recreate these frames.

The saying is true, "if you have to ask, you cannot afford it". However, I am just wondering. Yes, a modern day bespoke frame maker can do a similar job faster with modern woodworking tools for the basic shape; but, the handcarving and gilding is still done by hand and takes a lot of time.