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Over 10 years away...

Posted: Tue 18 Jan, 2022 11:46 pm
by Spit
Still some of the old familiar faces here!

Wish I was still framing - happiest time of my life. Might be doing some with more agricultural equipment than I used to have in the near future though, as I'm still painting.

Anyone heard from Moglet in recent years?

Steve

Re: Over 10 years away...

Posted: Wed 19 Jan, 2022 9:33 am
by prospero
Hi Steve. :D

How are you going on? 8)

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge but it's mostly business as usual with me. :head:

Moggie is still living in Devises, but her health is not good. It's a great strain for her to communicate. :|

Re: Over 10 years away...

Posted: Wed 19 Jan, 2022 12:29 pm
by Not your average framer
Hi steve,

Great to hear from you again and I hope you are doing well. I've heard that you can take the man out of the framing, but you can't take the framing out of the man. I expect that you probably have a pretty good idea that some things are a little bit different since the Covid thing came along. I guess that the most obvious thing is going to be prices, maybe a few adjustment to make in what you are offering and for what sort of prices. I'm producing less really large frames and more smaller frames, but the smaller frames are really nice up market, niche market, hand finished and often stacked frames. There's definately less effect of customer price resistance for smaller very special looking frames, but some of the well known up market chain store are also trying to sell in to this market, so the secret is to avoid producing too many items, which look too much like their stuff. I get customers who buy their frames from John Lewis and only want me to cut small mounts for small frames so not much money in it for me. There's a few customers, who are getting squeezed out of the eBay market by the fact that too much on eBay all looks the same and is mostly framed in Ikea frames.

The need to create a different and more interesting look, has driven a few of these people my way and surprisingly enough, they are not all looking for rock bottom prices. A lot of the ebay type stuff is getting aimed at the Interior Design market these day and a lot of the cheap bottom end of the market stuff is is no longer where it's at for these customers. There a lot less Charity shops around and those which are left are not selling much in the way of picture frames, so there's less worthwhile cheap stuff on the market, so a little bit more business coming my way. It only a few more customers so far, but there's quite a strong reaction against the cheap looking stuff on eBay and some of these eBay seller type customers are developing new markets to earn money from. Working out your costs and margins is something which I do a lot more than I used to before. A lot of that used to be off the top of my head previously. I think that I need to be more careful now! Ready made frames is a more worthwhile market these days, there's still plenty cheap and not very cheerful frames about, but people aren't going for the cheap and cheerful stuff so much now!

There's more of a worthwhile gap in the market for us framers for selling ready made frames, but it's is mostly a more demanding market. Customers are more likely to buy quality oriented items and you have to try harder to please them. If you are thinking that it's a particularly big market, well perhaps not quite yet, but it slowly getting better. Realistically for me, it's a sort of cross over market for something half way between the ready made frame market and the niche item market,so it takes a bit of thinking about. I producing these mostly from left overs and off cuts, or cheap and basic bare wood mouldings, with a little basic quick and easy hand finishing to create a more special impression. Really interesting window dressing can be helpful, a few useful not for sale window props. I sell a few 5 inch by 5 inch frames which use up small off cuts, as individal sales items they are not particularly worthwhile, so I prefer to sell these in matching pairs. Pairs are really popular and command ahigher price per frame as well. As before, I am still trying to present a different sort of business image, but it's still different, although it has needed to evolve a bit as well.

Re: Over 10 years away...

Posted: Fri 21 Jan, 2022 1:54 pm
by Spit
Hi, Prospy, sad to hear that, if you hear from her let her know I still think of her.

NYAF, I doubt I'll be getting back into it on a professional basis but may be doing a few for friends & family. Hand finishing was always my thing, though, so you never know.

I'm currently painting a late xmas present for a friend at work, a portrait of her and her horse. Still need a week or two to finish it off, but it's going well if slowly - the horse's forelock is a tangled mess! Once that's done I'll be looking at making a frame from whatever I have to hand.
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