Here's Something you might find Interesting

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Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by vintage frames »

Have you ever wondered how you could make frames to look like these?

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This is a little essay to examine some of the science involved in creating the same sort of finish on bare-wood mouldings.
We humans tend to favour a more aged look on our wooden frames and furniture. Even contemporary frames look a little better if they have a bit of history behind them.
Those who produce factory finished mouldings are aware of this and indeed share some of this knowledge.
So, let's first look first at what happens to a piece of wood if it is left exposed to daylight and air.

Wood has a cellular structure and we can see evidence of this when we soak some wood in water. If we shine a bright light onto the surface, it becomes translucent, absorbing the light and glowing with the natural colour of the wood species.

If the wood is now left to age over very many years, two important changes take place.
First the oils and tannins in the wood darken slightly due to their exposure to daylight.

But the second is the most important change.

Some of the cells on the surface of the wood oxidise and change from being translucent to becoming opaque. Now, instead of transmitting the light into the wood, some light is reflected back from the surface.
As an example, think of silvered oak. Look closely at it the next time. Behind that silvering you will find that the wood itself is quite dark and the silvering isn't that the surface has turned white, but that the oxidised surface has turned ash like and the light reflected off it is now 'scattered light'. Scattered light is white, the same as frosted glass appears white. If you wet this silvering, the whiteness disappears and changes colour to a dark brown.

Now we know that untreated wood will become silvery if left over time but the same wood if protected under a layer of French polish or wax, both of which are quite permeable, will create a slightly opaque surface which will reflect back some of the light as a particular shade of brown.
Here's an example of this.

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The wood here is burr walnut and has been finished with a French polish.
With the light shining on it, we can see that the background wood grain shines with a golden yellow glow. But if we look closely, we can also see an overall brown cast which appears quite evenly spread across the surface. This is the aged oxidised layer that is slightly opaque and is reflecting back the light as a red/brown walnut colour. And this is the essence of the appearance of all antique furniture and frames.

Now let's see how we can reproduce that effect.
In the case where the wood has darkened, we add a wood stain, usually in the same shade as the timber and maybe adjust it a bit to look more antique.
On top of that stain, we now coat on what is called a 'colour glaze'. This a paint or varnish that has a small amount of earth pigment added and is stained to match the colour of the timber.
Here is a shade card of the most commonly used earth pigments for wood finishing.

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They are called earth pigments because they are colours most closely related to those found in nature - rust browns. They never dissolve, ie are completely insoluble and opaque. They reflect back only their own colour. When added to any liquid, they will float around freely before settling back down on to the surface when that liquid evaporates.
Used on their own they are quite dull colours but can be livened up with a suitable transparent stain.

Over that colour glaze, we would add at least two coats of clear shellac varnish. This recreates that wetted effect which allows the light to penetrate the finishes and back into the wood.
Whilst a skilled French polisher can achieve a faultless finish on the top surface of the varnish, we can otherwise use two thin coats of bees-wax to complete the transparency of finish.

So, how do we make a colour glaze?
Well, I'll keep it simple and trust that anyone so interested will experiment and try it out for themselves. Make up a thinned shellac solution, ie 1 cap shellac to 2 caps meths. Stir in some dry powder spirit wood stain (E-bay), starting with Walnut then adding a bit of Mahogany, puddling it on to scrap wood until you have the colour that matches the finish you're aiming for.
Next strain the polish to remove any undissolved dye crystals.

Now add a small amount of Brown Umber pigment and repeat until the varnish you are puddling turns from crystal clear to slightly opaque - ie, it should now have some 'body'. You can only do this by trial and error.
I've chosen Brown Umber because it is quite an old 'English' colour, reminiscent of the BBC and wooden wireless sets from the fifties.
Paint two coats of the colour varnish over the stained wood and leave to dry. You must use a soft bristle brush or mop to avoid streaking.
To finish, paint on two coats of transparent polish. Make sure to de-nib between coats.

I hope that by reading this some might look again at antique frames and now understand why they look the way they do and how with some practice and the correct materials, anyone can reproduce that appearance for their own work.


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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by bookmark »

Dermot, thank you, thank you thank you. A interesting & educating piece of knowledge.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by prospero »

mockmaple_big.jpg
This is my 'mock maple' done entirely with paint and waxed. I was quite pleased with it. :D

One fault: The corners are blended. I should have emphasised the mitre. I know better now. :lol:
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Rainbow »

One fault: The corners are blended. I should have emphasised the mitre.
I was surprised to read that. I'm always happy when my mitres are virtually invisible. I can see that the mitres draw the eye on vintage frames' examples. So am I wrong to aim for invisible mitres, or is it just on a particular style of hand finished frame that emphasised mitres are desirable?
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by vintage frames »

Thank you 'bookmark' for your kind comments.

The frame Prospero shows is a painted effect frame where he has, quite successfully, mimicked the appearance of a birds-eye maple picture frame.
On a real birds-eye maple frame, as shown in some of my examples, the mitres would be closed but quite visible. You would only encounter closed invisible mitres on painted or gilded frames.
The big difference however is in the beautiful inner-lit glow you get from a real bird's-eye maple frame.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Not your average framer »

Gap free mitres does not necessarily mean completely hidden mitre joints in all cases. The secret is what looks natural and not contriveddepending upon what you are trying to create. My experience is that not everybody uses the same methods, but that does not mean that It does not look right when finished. Has anyone watched Alex Webster the furniture restorer on "Salvage Hunters"? He's a real pro, but look how quickly he manages to do things. Speed, confidence, tecnique and flow are the key to how these things work. In spite of my stroke, I'm still quite speedy, but mostly in short spirts. Speed of working helps to your finishing to have that flowing technique. Not too fast, but definately not to slow either. Layering enable you to build up the effect that you want, without trying to do it all in one go. Transparent effects can be really where it's at. Sometimes those apparently black dark aged effects are not very black at all. It's is surprisingly easily to tint some transparent Van Dyke brown acrylic paint with some transparent Prussian blue to get a remarkable natural and effective black staining effect. It's worth remembering that there is not such thing as a hard and perfect black in nature.

A black which is not so opaque that you can't see thost little hints of what is underneath, just ddoes not always look authentic. Authenticity is what enables the furnature trade to pass off so many cheaper wood types as something more expensive looking. Passing of Pine as something more interesting did not stop years ago. Some trademen still know how to do it, I was my self taught this by an old furniture restorer, who bought and sold through the same auction house in cheam, in Surrey. It was knowledge which changed everything for me almost overnight, It all about knowing how to mix neutral darks. Another trick is to add Hooker green to Van dyke brown and a very tiny, tiny touch of grey, this also looks like black until you look closer, but it's not opaque and it looks much more natural and not at all contrived. When I produce my rustic oak and rustic pine frames I am rubbing a mixture of acrylic paints and neutral wax into the rough finish and crack in and around knots. What you do with those otherwise unwanted knots can create such a feeling of a real authetic apperance of age that does not look at all contrived.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Dermot, I was very well inpressed with your photos, I don't do birds eye maple myself, but I am not bad at adding diseased and mouldy old patches on some of my favorite chunky pine mouldings. The chunky pine mouldings always have an abunbdance of knots, whether you like it, or not. Stabbing the wood with a squarw pointed bradawl and adding some quite manky and grubby effects with variations cloour and grubbiness. works quite well. A lot of my motivation is just an enjoyment thing, I almost don't need to be paid to doing this! It's just really great fun to do. I can't really say that I know exactly how it is going to turn out. It more of an orgainic thing than that, I just need to recognise when it looks just right and it's time to stop and not ruin it by doing too much. I do these crazy super wide stacked pine mouldings frames. Everyone loves them, I make them wider, or thinner according to how much the customer is willing to pay. Some of them take days to create and they often weigh a ton. I sometimes probably produce about two, or three a year. People really love them, but they always think they are going to be cheaper.

Producing them to be too narrow, just kills the effect. Somethings just don't work if you can't make them really big. There have been some years when I have made none at all. I like to build out how deep the frame looks at the side. Skinny side profiles, just don't do it for me. I like really chunky! Prospero once told me that nothing suceeds like excess. He was right and I have never forgotten what he told me. Having been to his Shefield premises, I have noticed the odd monster size frame around there as well. He had a customer who was a property developer and he want everything to be framed in new framers. Pete used to sell all the left over old frames, down stairs in the entrance way into his premises. They were almost jumble sale prices. I went home with two frames for £3 each and framed two old game hunting prints in them and they sold in no time!

I think that you are probably better than me at some of those dark staining effects. I quite often tone mine down a bit under an overall washed effect!
Mark Lacey

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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by fusionframer »

Very useful and interesting post Dermot. Many thanks for posting.

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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Not your average framer »

Yes, I think so too!
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Not your average framer »

Mixing neutral dark colour is an old colour mixing technique where to darken a colour you add another colour to it frome the opposite side of the Newton colour circle. In my experience, it only works when both colours are from transparent pigments and when neither colour is devired from a staining pigment. Colours derived from staining pigment do not mix well, but just overpower everything with you try to mix with them. Even some prussian blue can be from a very staining pigment and you need to check the details of the paint manufacturers colour chart, or website.

Different manufacturers version of rose madder and also not necessarily quite the same, Rose madder can be quite fugitive and for that reason some manufacturers make a permemant version of rose madder, or sometimes there is a colour called Permanent Rose. When mixing colours to produce neutral darks, if one color is not fade resistance, what you have painted to be a paticular colour and shade, won't stay that way as the fugitive colour fades.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Rainbow »

Thanks for your reply to my question, vintage frames :yes:
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Tudor Rose »

Superb Dermot :clap: loved the description of 1950s BBC and old wireless sets. Really evocative description of the colour tone. Thank you for posting.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by prospero »

Rainbow wrote: Mon 13 Jun, 2022 5:27 pm I was surprised to read that. I'm always happy when my mitres are virtually invisible. I can see that the mitres draw the eye on vintage frames' examples. So am I wrong to aim for invisible mitres, or is it just on a particular style of hand finished frame that emphasised mitres are desirable?
That style of frame would be made from moulding that had been veneered and it would be very tricky to do that on a plain frame
carcass. Therefore it does come across as a bit phoney. :lol: A fine point but a critical one. It never occurred to me until afterwards.

One some were I have 'dragged on' the grain I mask across the mitres so it doesn't appear that the grain is taking a 90º turn. That would be very weird.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Not your average framer »

Veneering other wood types is not really a seriously daunting task. There are numerous companies selling wood veneers of various grades and various prices. It's quite a competitive market and a little bit of shoping around usually will find some nice veneer at a very significant price. This is just one way of doing things, but it's not the only way to do things. I buy quite useful quantities of various pine mouldings and this enables me to select those moulding lengths with nice close, straight grain. These lengths can look particularly nice when finished and presented to look like something a bit special. There's no reason why nice looking pine cannot be finished to look like something older with a lot of style and class. Needless to say that a nice piece of veneer will really look thebusiness, but a I said this is not the only way. At one time, it was possible to buy what is known as quater sawn pine and this was the favorite and sought after pine for many of those in the furniture industry.

Well these days, if you are buying a batch of mostly knot free pine moulding, It is often still possible to select quite a number of lengths of what are effectively quarter sawn pine and I generally try to do this! Natural looking blotches of lighter and darker grain patterning can be added using little piece of randomly shaped sponge. I don't tend to use commercially available wood stain, I like to use mostly acrylic paints, which are based on transparent pigments or those which are semi transparent and can be used sparingly to enance the apparent level of transparency. Mony commercially available stain types are not always particularly transparent and this often appears to be a deliberate intension for the various shades of pine stain. This is presumably to tone down and mellow any excesses of contrst which so easily occur when staining pine. I find it much easier to minimise this effect by using a toning down wash under the intended home made wood stain colour, which produces a much more natural looking effect. Adding too many layers of stain in an attempt to darken the effect is not always helpful.

There are better ways of doing this without affecting the level of transparency. Transparent brown and yellows can be darkened quite effectively by adding a tiny amout of a transpartent blue. Be warned that it does not take much so be careful not to overdo it. It is quite a simple matter to buy a relative straight forward moulding, which is already fully machined really use as a moulding and to simply add the veneer to that. Trying to veneer the side edgs can be a real pain and it is often easier to just hand finish these instead.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Not your average framer »

Hi Dermot,

I must say that I like the frame in the second picture very much. That is a very interesting look!
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Justintime »

Excellent Dermot, we could do with more posts on the forum like this!
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Post by vintage frames »

Thank you again everyone for your comments - especially those who actually read and understood what I was saying.
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Re: Here's Something you might find Interesting

Post by Rainbow »

Thanks for your reply, prospero.

It's all very interesting!
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