Hogarth Frames
Posted: Thu 14 Apr, 2022 11:54 am
I've just made another two sets of Hogarth frames, 14 in all.
This was for a series called "A Harlots Progress"
and this a series called "A Rakes Progress"
This is the type of frame was the historically correct for the period of Hogarth's lifetime. The much later 'Hogarth Frame' that everyone is more familiar with was actually attributed to a framer whose name was Hogarth and its simpler style was widely used for displaying antique prints and mezzotints.
Looking back, there was a terrific amount of work that went into making these. Yes, I enjoyed doing it but the sheer quantity of physical work involved is quite knackering.
Much of my machinery is quite light-weight whereas someone like fusionframer has a more grown-up workshop.
I'll try to give a brief description of what's involved.
First there's the outer section.
This is an ebonised profile made up from a shaped slat of fruitwood pre-glued onto a pine base.
The fruitwood comes in big rough sawn planks and these have to be pushed several times though the saw to reduce and planed down to a measured size. The pine is then clamped and glued to both sides of the fruitwood board and when dry, split down the middle so you have two equal sections of laminated pine/fruitwood.
Keeping up?
These two sections are then run though the saws again to finish up as squared rectangular blocks.
Now they need fed through the spindle moulder repeatedly until the finished profile is obtained.
As this is a reverse profile, the pine base is cut to a sloping angle and the overall profile then rebated to match.
And that's the first bit.
For the inner sanded section, I used a R&H pine stretcher and shaped it to the profile required.
Then it was time to cast the compo ornament. That's the detail that goes around the sight edge of each frame.
For this job I had to cast 96 pieces of compo, and that is a lot of casting.
When all finished, I left them to harden up a little before gluing them on to the lengths of pine.
The flat section or frieze was covered in sand, then coated with a layer of gesso. After filling all the compo joins and claying up with yellow ochre, the pine section was oil gilded with 22ct gold.
There were 8 processes involved in all that and each of those required an overnight drying period so you can see how these things do take some time.
Going back to the outer sections - the assembled frames were given a strong coat of Van Dyke stain followed by 3 coats of shellac - two with a strong black coloured stain and a clear one on top. De-nibbing was with lots of 00 wire wool and finished with a paste of pumice and white spirit.
So that was the basic frames made. Next was to tone them down to match the colour of the antique prints. Even with lots of rubbing back, the black shellac was much too black and the gilding too brilliant. I wanted the frames to support but not overpower the artwork; to have a tone that appears to set them back from the art yet enclose them in harmony with their antique provenance.
For that I used a grey glaze which has a subtle effect on both the gilding and the black shellac. So much so that even when the frames were waxed and polished with beeswax, the antique effect was maintained throughout.
Finally moving on to doing some picture-framing. I was fortunate to have 'justintiime' cut all my boards with great care and accuracy. Justin lives quite nearby - up a mountain.
For the glass I was able to buy a quantity of reclaimed glass from a dealer in antique frames.
Cutting antique glass is not for the faint hearted.
You get the glass squeaky clean, listen to the cutter sing its way down the cut, snap on the line and then watch the split shoot off in a wide arc to the right!
When I did manage to cut all the glass, the effect on the prints was quite startling. Although hopelessly the opposite of non-reflective, the ripples in the glass actually add life and vibrancy to the art and when cleaned, the glass has an almost crystal-like quality. I think this is because of the lead that was then used in its manufacture.
With all that done, the prints were tissue hinged onto the museum quality boards and an internal spacer added to separate the prints from the glazing.
And with all that done - someone wants another eight.
This was for a series called "A Harlots Progress"
and this a series called "A Rakes Progress"
This is the type of frame was the historically correct for the period of Hogarth's lifetime. The much later 'Hogarth Frame' that everyone is more familiar with was actually attributed to a framer whose name was Hogarth and its simpler style was widely used for displaying antique prints and mezzotints.
Looking back, there was a terrific amount of work that went into making these. Yes, I enjoyed doing it but the sheer quantity of physical work involved is quite knackering.
Much of my machinery is quite light-weight whereas someone like fusionframer has a more grown-up workshop.
I'll try to give a brief description of what's involved.
First there's the outer section.
This is an ebonised profile made up from a shaped slat of fruitwood pre-glued onto a pine base.
The fruitwood comes in big rough sawn planks and these have to be pushed several times though the saw to reduce and planed down to a measured size. The pine is then clamped and glued to both sides of the fruitwood board and when dry, split down the middle so you have two equal sections of laminated pine/fruitwood.
Keeping up?
These two sections are then run though the saws again to finish up as squared rectangular blocks.
Now they need fed through the spindle moulder repeatedly until the finished profile is obtained.
As this is a reverse profile, the pine base is cut to a sloping angle and the overall profile then rebated to match.
And that's the first bit.
For the inner sanded section, I used a R&H pine stretcher and shaped it to the profile required.
Then it was time to cast the compo ornament. That's the detail that goes around the sight edge of each frame.
For this job I had to cast 96 pieces of compo, and that is a lot of casting.
When all finished, I left them to harden up a little before gluing them on to the lengths of pine.
The flat section or frieze was covered in sand, then coated with a layer of gesso. After filling all the compo joins and claying up with yellow ochre, the pine section was oil gilded with 22ct gold.
There were 8 processes involved in all that and each of those required an overnight drying period so you can see how these things do take some time.
Going back to the outer sections - the assembled frames were given a strong coat of Van Dyke stain followed by 3 coats of shellac - two with a strong black coloured stain and a clear one on top. De-nibbing was with lots of 00 wire wool and finished with a paste of pumice and white spirit.
So that was the basic frames made. Next was to tone them down to match the colour of the antique prints. Even with lots of rubbing back, the black shellac was much too black and the gilding too brilliant. I wanted the frames to support but not overpower the artwork; to have a tone that appears to set them back from the art yet enclose them in harmony with their antique provenance.
For that I used a grey glaze which has a subtle effect on both the gilding and the black shellac. So much so that even when the frames were waxed and polished with beeswax, the antique effect was maintained throughout.
Finally moving on to doing some picture-framing. I was fortunate to have 'justintiime' cut all my boards with great care and accuracy. Justin lives quite nearby - up a mountain.
For the glass I was able to buy a quantity of reclaimed glass from a dealer in antique frames.
Cutting antique glass is not for the faint hearted.
You get the glass squeaky clean, listen to the cutter sing its way down the cut, snap on the line and then watch the split shoot off in a wide arc to the right!
When I did manage to cut all the glass, the effect on the prints was quite startling. Although hopelessly the opposite of non-reflective, the ripples in the glass actually add life and vibrancy to the art and when cleaned, the glass has an almost crystal-like quality. I think this is because of the lead that was then used in its manufacture.
With all that done, the prints were tissue hinged onto the museum quality boards and an internal spacer added to separate the prints from the glazing.
And with all that done - someone wants another eight.