Pink Floyd

[David]

If you like Deep Purple how about tribute band Ausi Pink Floyd. The job was for the guy centre bottom who was the sound and light engineer on their world tour.The centre logo and tour dates were from a T shirt, tour drum sticks with AAA passes on the right and a selection of photos along the bottom. Behind the centre circle some green V grooves echo the laser show seen in the photos.

Ausi Pink Floyd.jpg

David

[mikeysaling]

david - yes thats really good - really like the black/grey ? mount - suits the subject perfectly - a happy customer i'm sure - you do good work!

[Jared Davis CPF, GCF]

That's a great piece! Nice work!

[kev@frames]

thats inspired. top job. how did you get the green v-grooves?

[Roboframer]

Brill!

How do you sell a design like that - with physical props or with some sort of visualisation software?

Also the parts that are 'from a 'T' shirt' - are they copied or they cut out from the actual 'T' shirt?

[kev@frames]

yeah, its a first class example.
I cant figure how you could sell that to a customer at the counter, except the treasured "I'll leave it up to you" customers.
Interesting to know the time involved, and if it's not too impertinent, the sort of price charged.

I reckon the max we could get for that sort of job down our way £150.
Whats the materials - £20-£30?, and an hour laobur?
Had a look on David's web site, very impressed with a lot of the stuff, and the well deserved awards.

Just whern I was getting bored to tears again with this business and the forum, someone pops up with a cracker.
nice one david.
Now spill the beans

[YPF]

I remember reading an article about this in an old copy of Art Business Today (think it was 2008) and was hugely impressed with the finished frame and the work that went into making it. Oh, to be able to do stuff like that.

Steve

[David]

The V grooves were done by laying removeable magic tape along the lines where I wanted the groove.

IMG_0440.jpg

The grooves were then cut down the centre of the tape and painted, the magic tape acting as a mask to protect the surface of the board. As the centre was going to be covered it didn't matter if the ends were untidy.

IMG_0441.jpg

Once dry the tape is removed and you have coloured grooves. The green colour was taken from the laser show lights in the photos but I also put a single pink one in. I've coloured conventional V grooves around a window using this method, you can even put different colours on each side of the groove.

IMG_0443.jpg

Hope that explains it OK.

David.

[Roboframer]

That explains it perfectly - and thanks - best tip/idea I've seen for ages.

I regularly mask bevels to paint them, never thought of masking 'V' grooves - thought you'd used coloured-core board!

Imagine how easy that would be on a CMC - emboss the lines - mask the embossed lines and then V groove them!

Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow - thanks again.

[David]

Costing Design.

It can be tricky trying to sell these pieces but usually customers come in asking for something special. I try and get a feel for what they want, size, colour, style, conventional, crazy and how much they want to spend. We'll talk very generally about design, for complicated jobs and people I haven't worked for before I'll say come back in a week or so and I'll have some ideas, sketches or rough mock ups. If I'm fairly confident I've got what they want I would ask them to come in before I put the thing together.
If it's someone I've worked for before it often goes like this; we have a brief discussion as to what is required and I call them when its done.
I tend to agree a price and work to that, the designs tend to evolve as you are doing them or the ideas just don't work so it's impossible to cost at the outset, they are buying time rather than a costed design. Customers get a good deal because I like doing them and I want them to be right. They also generate repeat business and referals.

The estimate of £30 worth of materials is about right, a sheet and a half of mountboard, a simple gloss black moulding, glass, backing and a few board and foamcore off cuts for spacers. If you break the design down its a couple of rectangular window mounts, a large window mount that had a circle cut first, a couple of circle mounts and five small photo mounts. Nothing difficult or technical the tricky bit is putting it together in a coordinated design. It was about a days work over a couple of days and I charged about £250. I wanted to use a waterwhite glass but that would have cost another £120 and that was too much.

David.

[David]

Thanks Robo, I really must get a CMC.

David.

[David]

T Shirt.

On the T shirt the logo was on the front and the tour dates on the back, so I cut it up! Don't like doing that sort of thing it goes against the grain, but the customer OK'd it as he had a draw full.They were then pinned over foamcore and mounted behind the windowmounts.

David.

[Roboframer]

I wouldn't have a problem with that - not like the shirt was signed or anything.

[kev@frames]

thanks david, thats a great way of colouring v grooves. i'm impressed with Robo's tip (deboss the lines to line up the masking), good thinking.

he did it without a CMC

[Roboframer]

For a large/complex design you could use masking ........... FILM - no need to emboss first - I've got a roll of that stuff somewhere - we probably sell it!

(I suppose the correct term is 'deboss' - just sounds like being fired by an employee)!

Yeah - no CMC - looking at David's website I thought he was a Corel-draw wiz!

[Graysalchemy]

Great Frame David

But how can that pay

If I don't earn that in a morning

Fancy Jobs are all well and good but they don't pay. I learnt that lesson 6 years ago and gave up retail to become a commercial framer. Don't get me wrong I frame up a lot of lovely work. I am spending two days to frame up 20 oil and watercolours for an exhibition which will be invoiced out at over £3000. I know what I would rather be doing.

Cheers

[David]

Hi Greysalchemy

You do have a point especially if you are just looking at a single job. With this piece it was the first for that customer and once I’ve done a job like that they generally keep coming back. After the first they know they are going to get a creative unique job made to a high standard I really don’t have to do any more selling I’ve got the job before they walk in the door, we just talk design and a budget. I’ve just completed two more for this customer which makes 7 in total plus a couple of referrals. It has also lead to other memorabilia jobs, I know for certain this one frame has generated several thousand pounds worth of business.
I do a few fancy jobs and it’s not unusual for them to run to £600 - £700 or more with an expensive moulding and museum glass and as I said I rarely do just one for a customer.
The main reason I do it though is that I really enjoy it, the design, challenge and creativity, producing a work of art in its own right (I hope). I can’t stand production work, it does my head in so I know which I would rather be doing. Could use the 3 grand though.
Thanks for the post and welcome to the forum.

[Graysalchemy]

Hi David

Production for me everytime as long as it is of a reasonable value reasonable quantity and profitable. Just completed a small run of frames i make regularly £500 for two hours work

However I have got a interior design jub of 12 pictures which have taken me 2 hrs just to order the components and will probably take me the best part of 3 days for about £900.00 I know which i would rather be doing.

I suppose it all depends on how your business is set up and space that you have.

Cheers