The Framers Forum

Hello all.

As we head towards the end of the year I thought I'd share some of my favorite frames, perhaps some of them will be of interest to one or two of you.

I've been in my workshop now for about a year and a half, I deal almost exclusively with online customers, mostly via Instagram. I do keep a small selection of chevrons on display if any local residents drop by to get something framed. At present I'm lucky if I get one or two of those a week.

I mostly make frames for artists looking for something unusual to put their work in or art collectors also looking for something a bit different. I also sell to interior designers and galleries but less so than artists and collectors.

My frames are usually black and I don't stray too far from my core styles, tabernacles, ripple frames, wide cassettas, Flemish corners etc but I'm hoping to add more interesting things in the new year. For a while I tried to sell frames such as white St Ives but there's plenty of people making frames like that and cheaper than I could so now I just stick to the style I love to make.

So, here's a few favourite frames from the last year.

Thanks for looking.

Matt
Northwood Framing

Brilliant stuff Matt.
Just a few questions.
Do you buy in the ripple elements?
With the black finish you use, is that just paint and what sort of undercoat primer?
That's an extraordinary bit of gold sgraffito or whatever it's called.

The Tulip frame is quite inspired and beautiful.

They are terrific, well done.

We’ve been admiring your work on Instagram, Matt. Superb range of frames, very well done. Not just on your craftsmanship, but on knowing and understanding your market.

Matt,
They are amazing and don’t even need a picture they are the work of art
Cheers,
Allan

It's really inspiring to see what you have achieved in a year and a half. It's always the conundrum. When you don't have the customers you have the time to develop your skills. When you're flat out with customers you don't.

So very true.

Hello all. Many thanks for all the comments, they're most appreciated.

Dermot. Yes, I buy in the ripple pieces, although I'd love to be able to make more of my own. I also use a modified R&H A644 and my own very basic ripple I make on my router table. I use a red ochre acrylic as a primer then a watered down super saturated black acrylic black paint before a wax polish. I do experiment with other finishes when I have the time and I'm still trying to achieve an acceptable shellac finish.

Mark, those 6 frames were all for one artist for an exhibition. I'd imagine they all looked quite striking displayed together in a gallery. I wonder if you can guess what mouldings I'm using for the Flemish corner frame?

Regards

Matt

Matt, as far as building up your customer base, I can only speak personally, about what is working for us. Assuming that you already have a website for your beautiful creations (if not... ). Then sign up to Google and create a Google listing. Create some quality marketing materials, flyers and cards and distribute around quality galleries in your area and wider afield (and to friends with businesses). And...network network network! Word of mouth has been one of our strongest tools, that and Google searches.

Hello Justin. Thanks for the advice, I plan on making some marketing materials next year and approaching good quality galleries.
The vast majority of my work comes from Instagram, I make the frames I want to make, post them online and people buy them or commission similar frames to their own sizes. That way I'm able to stick to the styles of frames I want to make, my frames sit in a tiny niche but the online market is enormous. I figure there's enough framers around where I am who are more established than I am to attend to the local population's framing needs so I'm focusing on the online market. Having said that, I do a bit of local framing work and would be happy to do a bit more but it's not the focus of my business.

I like the idea of you making the frames you want to make and letting customers come to you because you make the frames they want to buy.
I'm always suspicious of the phrase ' listening to our customers'.
You'll never go anywhere interesting if you live by that phrase.
But as has been said already, the trick is to identify and work in the market you choose.

It's interesting to hear you make some ripple mouldings on your router table. Are any of these seen on the frames you've posted?

Hello Dermot. I'm just lucky there's enough people who want to buy the frames I want to make. It wouldn't be possible with the internet though, I doubt there's too many people nearby that would want to buy the frames I make.

The ripple on this frame was made on my router, it works quite well for this basic style of ripple. It took quite a few attempts to figure it out and make it look mechanical enough though.

Very impressive.
That was the one I least thought you made yourself.
I can appreciate how fiddly it takes to make something like that but is there any mileage in producing enough to sell on to others?