The Framers Forum

Regular customer:
Hey Jim, could you make me a heart shaped frame?
Me:
(Should have been NO!)
What size?
Customer:
550x405
Me:
That would be doable but expensive
Customer:
Oh and it needs to have 50mm depth
Me:
When do you need it?

Well it is now done, and even though it was expensive it still wasn’t enough to justify the time. However, now that I have worked out the best way to do it, I have agreed to do do more of these.

Fantastic work.

'Frame of the Month'

Now you have to tell us how you did it.

I started with 2 sheets of 3mm MDF, and used my laser cutter to cut out the heart shape cut into sections (the laser cutter is only 600x300). 2 wider layers for the front section and 22 layers that were thinner in 2 different cut patterns so the joins were overlapped on alternate layers.

I then glued it all together, sanded and painted.

Ingenious.

Superb

And here’s the artist holding the finished piece . . . Made from real tarantulas!

Apparently this one is destined for the RA later this year.

I’ve had orders for several more frames already, so I might have unwittingly found myself a niche!

You need a CNC Router now Jim.

That's awesome Jim! And such a relief to know where we can all come for a heart shaped frame now

Impressive! But what about the glazing? How was that cut?

I have made quite a few of these now, and mostly I have used Acryguard acrylic from Centrado that I can cut on the laser cutter, but can also be scored and snapped by hand.

I have also done some with glass. I did this by softening the V at the top of the heart into a curve, and then by cutting it in three cuts, the first being the inverted 3 shape with the pointed V softened, and the other two cuts being the curved sides. I drew the shape on the glass with a sharpie, and did a trial run with float glass before doing it with AR glass.

The most difficult part was actually creating the 50mm foam core spacers. I had to score the back of the spacer hundreds of times, so that I could bend to the shape without creasing on the front