The Framers Forum

Our small rural Devon town is very quiet and almost no one about. Finding food to eat is not very easy and I think that we all will have slimmed down a bit before all this 12 weeks of shutdown. With this thought in mind I was wondering what every one else is going to be doing to pass thr time.

I will be doing a bit of woodworking , both fixing shelves and extending one of the window sills in my shop to increase the display space to more like that of a normal shop window. I need some extra shelving in some parts of my flat, since it has very little storage space, but finding enough wood to do this will probably be a problem. and I may be pulling other things apart to make the wood available.

Needless to say, the shop won't be open, but I may go down to the workshop and make a few ready made frames, mostly to stop me being too bored. Boredom seems likely to be the worst part of getting through this period and having something to do will no doubt help a bit.

What's every one else got planned? I hope that you are all keeping well,

Mark.

I am still in my workshop as by myself anyway and i have timber to get doors and windows i need to make. Bizarrely, this situation means i have a chance to catch up as i cannot fit stuff at some jobs and despite being able to get most supplies i need, my double glazed units are delayed as roman glass closed.

I am taking the opportunity to try to catch up, but i am taking weekends off and a list of diy required at our house has appeared.

I think for many, it is an opportunity to do those jobs you normally don't have time for. My wife is staying at home with our kids who are off school, my youngest (8) is still happy to do work set by the school (although that may change as it continues). My son who would have been doing GCSE's has received his report and suggested predicted grades they intend to submit (4 A*'s, 3A's, and 2 B's in old grades) so he is chuffed. Our garage had already become a gym so exercise is easy and we live with fields around us, so we can go on walks.

Finding ways to keep busy and fit is going to be as important as social distancing

I hope everyone else doing ok and lets hope we can get back to some sort of normality soon.

Nick

No spare time this last week
Think most of you know I'm supplying Munken Mount boards from Sweden to the framing industry worldwide and this last week biz has not stopped.
Deliveries to Europe, are being sent as if nothing has changed, as trucks are allowed to cross borders. And most distributors are open to receive which has surprised me.
But this week has been a bit different country wise.
Some customers choose to collect as it saves them money, so we have had 2 collections, by Macedonia and Latvia
And one delivery for Morocco, that was a bit tricky to get sorted.
Plus a shipment left this week for China, made up with 1.4mm and 2.0mm, The locally made boards are unacceptable. F.A.T.G. has a big number of GCFs in China.
We have another delivery stuck somewhere, on its way to Milan. No surprises there.
The mill makes about 450 tonnes of paper every day, but only a very tiny part is mount boards

If you are still interested look here for more info, or just ask me
www.arcticpaper.com/mountboard

I've still got a backlog of work to clear and one or two new orders but should have a clear slate in about 2-3 weeks. After that, to be honest I quite looking forward to a break and an opportunity to take stock. I'll be tidying up the work shop and store room, Updating the website and adding new frames and catching up with a lot of things that somehow I never get around to. After that it's the garden (a big job) and painting (art, not the house).

I'm aiming to do a bit of using up some of my excess stock of old mouldings. I've got quite a large volume of moulding, beyond what have adequate storage space for, so I was thinking that I would do something useful with some of it. I've got a fair bit of moulding and this includes some stuff that is not as popular as it once was, particularly a fair amount of old magnolia mouldings thin ornate stuff, which is just dead money at the moment, so what do I have to lose by using it up.

Created a kitchen garden...very small though
Taken cuttings from everywhere and planted the blighters.

In fact the garden has rather taken over everything!

Started a range of paintings
Watched 'Whisky Galore!'

Which "whiskey galore"? I love the 1949 version, not seen new one.

Nick

Yep the 1940s one

The last few days I have been trying to tidy my BIG shed which has a severe case of HOSS (Heaps Of Stuff Syndrome).
I have managed to free-up enough space to store a lot more new junk in it. The roof has mini-leaks in places and
I have an idea to fix that.....

I have three outside lights to plumb in.

I have two cars (one semi-retired) that need a good wash'n'polish. (Damned pigeons).

The garden needs a good tidy.

The hedge needs shortening by about 8 feet.

The false roof needs the same treatment as the BIG shed. (Rainy day job)

I had this year earmarked to at least make a start on titifying my other shed. Bought a spirit level so far....

Need to remodel my computer workstation.

Hang some curtains....

Then I still have a goodly amount of framing jobs that I have started but not finished.

Haven't done my VAT yet.


As it is I just feel like slobbing out and watching TV.

I have managed to free-up enough space to store a lot more new junk in it.

Makes perfect sense to me

Is it just me or do others find it fascinating looking in to peoples homes when they being interviewed or pontificating on the current crisis.

I find myself glued to the TV and studying the pictures on the walls in the same shot as the person. People from all walks of life are interviewed and comment from the comfort of their own homes. I really am enjoying looking at the picture frames people have chosen and I am certain framers can learn a great deal about trends and what is popular.

Before anyone tells me, I know I'm being very nosey

Peter.

It's interesting that you mention people wanting to get more framing done. That could be an outcome of economic conditions following the shut down. If there is a significant recession following the shut down people who were thinking of moving house, may have to shelve there plans a while and perhaps decide to give there existing home a facelift and this might just include spending some money on framing, or ready made frames.

The principle of big stores selling ready made frame as loss leaders to get customers, may take a big hit after the shut down and ready made frames may be something that is more the market of picture framers, which could be good for us all.

Is anyone planning a face lift for their business premises, to hopefully help business after the shut down? Even a coat of paint, here and there, can get you noticed, or create some impact that may draw in a few more customers. I'm still doing bit to my shop after moving premises and I'm hoping that when finished, it will be quite attractive to customers.

Added to that, I'm still making shelves and furniture for my flat (which is above the shop). It's a very old building and getting furniture up the very narrow stairs, which wind at both the top and bottom is very difficult and because of some difficult shaped walls and rooms, plus some rather strange dimensions in places, flat pack furniture does not much help to solve the problem either. Even with the shut down, getting everything sorted is not easy.

poliopete wrote: ↑Fri 17 Apr, 2020 6:46 am
I really am enjoying looking at the picture frames people have chosen and I am certain framers can learn a great deal about trends and what is popular.

I find myself suggesting alternative framing options for some of the stuff I see during these interviews

I've got so much that I would like to do, but buying the materials during the shut down is not working at the moment. My right arm has been steadily getting better since my stroke and I'm thinking that I can probably manage using things like hand saws quite well by now, but whether I can find enough of all that I need to make things from is going to be the question.

I think that I may have enough to see me though the tough times ahead, but how do you know? I'm in quite a good situation, in that the overheads for my location are not a big burden to find enough money for and I can probably cover most of my overheads on quite a small level of sales. I've been waiting for temperatures to improve, before doing too much and needing to have the heating on in my shop. It's probably warm enough now, but now we are supposed to be in shut down and I'll be much more able to do things, when things return to normal.

poliopete wrote: ↑Fri 17 Apr, 2020 6:46 am Is it just me or.....

You have the Framer's Radar Peter.

I watch programmes on TV and feature films and always scrutinise the frames on walls.

There is a scene on Blackadder goes Forth where there is a copy of Gerald Coulson's "Quiet Forest". Published in the '80s.

I have just started making Face Shields for our local Health Centre, for the treatment room, they were down to their last 3, I'm donating them, cost price around 50p Please forgive the ugly mug, no one else to model them

Good on you Steve

Would you mind showing how you do it.

Thanks.

Peter.

Good thing to do. Fair play.

Link here Peter for youtube video

One of my customers shared that vid, but I got hold of one of the sheilds and the bottom lenght was 32cm and the top was 30cm, so I just used a A4 acetate sheet, no cutting, I got the Acetate from the link below 140 microns, Elastic 1" 10Mtres and the 1.5" Foam , both from Amazon
https://presco.eu/collections/binding-c ... 1215734149

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q4WZ5H1/ ... UTF8&psc=1

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DW2WX4N/ ... UTF8&psc=1

I cut the foam into 3cm strips, using a 3cm plain wood fillet as a guide, then cut these into 23cm long strips using the guide on my cutting mat

Then I cut the 1” wide elastic into 37cm lengths using my guide on my cutting mat, then cut some double sided tape for each end of the elastic.

Next place the A4 sheet of acetate on the guide, cut two strips of double sided tape as per the guide around 22cm long Flip the acetate over, so the front is facing up and attach the elastic using the D/S tape and with an office stapler fire 3 staples to secure the elastic, see photo (step 2) do both ends, I use a pair of pliers to squash the staples flat (for safety) Flip the acetate back over so front is facing down on the cutting mat, place on the alignments and peal off the D/S tape backing and attach the foam, I used a roller to press down to secure. I used a bit of old mountcard, and marked a circle (using the inside of the D/S tape roll as a guide) place the now face shield on the circle to cut a radius at the bottom corners of the shield using the utility knife to follow the circle - Finished

Steve N wrote: ↑Sat 18 Apr, 2020 9:23 am I have just started making Face Shields for our local Health Centre, for the treatment room, they were down to their last 3

Do you know somebody there? I can't imagine getting past the receptionist at my local health centre, and my experience of offering my services out of the blue has been more than a bit dispiriting How did you go about making the contacts?