The Framers Forum

This piece was for a printmaker customer, who knows only too well the cost of framing. He likes to hunt out old frames for cost saving but I think for his aesthetic too.
A lovely old carved oak frame came in with a hideously damaged gold painted slip.
So, a full clean up of the back of the frame, I added some obeche spacer to the back to increase the rebate depth and metal corner brackets for added strength. Although the corners were gaping, structurally it felt very strong (while the nails hold).
It was only after a thorough inspection once the customer had left that I found how out of square the frame actually was. I replaced the slip with a nice new gilded slip (from Wessex..). Obviously the mount dimensions had to fit the frame. The headscratcher (for me at least), was working out a final glass size based on the wonky frame. Eventually I realised that I could cut the back board until I had just the right fit. That then gave me a safe glass and mount size to work with and helped get the gold slip size right too. The wide gold slip hid the out of squareness pretty well in the end.

You've hidden the best photos of the frame!

On Instagram you could see all the dents, nicks, scratches, scuffs, twists and gaping and it looked magnificent.
Hung on the wall it would look - just right.

People tend to think once they have 'a frame' then all they need to do is have you fit their art in it and charge you a fiver.

More often than not the old frame has problems and complications that makes it cheaper to make a new one.

It's one thing to work on a nice frame that deserves restoration, but a typical 'charity shop' one really doesn't.

Apparently I had originally quoted him £220 to frame the piece about a year ago in a polished oak frame. Including the cost of his frame, it came out at £180, I think he got bang for his buck on this occasion.