The Framers Forum

Hi,
I am framing a Pastel at the moment, it's not a particularly pretty thing, lots of bright colours and a fair bit of black as well. I've done a double mount for it and using foamboard to pack the mount out, there's a healthy 9-10mm gap between the art work and the glass and a 'gutter' on the bottom edge to catch any loose chalk dust.

Are there any clever tricks to stop the loose dust from the pastels 'jumping' onto the glass. It hasn't been fixed by the customer and I won't be doing so. I'm wondering if it's a static problem ..

any tips welcomed : )

Thanks

Don’t sneeze!
Be very careful with it when you are moving it around once its behind the glass. Try not to knock the frame.
It sounds like you have the mount sorted, a normal double mount with a hidden mount underneath (to catch the little bits that drop off) should be enough.
Normal glass should not have much static, best not to use plastic glass.

Suggest to your customer that he takes up watercolours!

The tab guns can knock a hell of a lot of dust onto the glass, so preassemble without the artwork using flexitabs, bend back the tabs, take off the back and place the work carefully in, then gently put it all back together.

This is a procedure (I wouldn't call it a method) I sometimes resort to. Get ready to cringe.

Put a sheet of something white on floor... odd sheet of mountboard - whatever....

Hold pastel in both hands by top edge above the white surface.

Flap vigorously until no more bits drop off.

Sounds drastic I know, but I take the veiw that whatever pigment comes off would inevitably come off inside the frame anyway.
The blind spacer method is a good tactic. But s*ds law will ditcate that there will always be one tiny grain that will get between glass and mount and that bit will be a black bit. There really is no absolute cure. No matter how many times you open the frame and clean/reassemble, there will always be loose bits. It's the nature of the medium.

Hi Bagpuss,

What we do is line the gutter with ATG or double sided tape leaving the sticky exposed. As it's in the gutter it will not touch the art. If the pastel dust falls into the gutter it then sticks to the tape.

Hope that helps.

I appreciate your feedback everyone, I guess it is just a question of "handle with care", I'm glad someone suggested using bendy tabs, securing the back with my high velocity pneumatic stapler may have been a bit messy ....

Hi,

As with birdman, i use an adhesive tape in the base of the gutter.

Some of the specialised pastel papers can have a very poor adhesion, for these i insert the frame sandwich with the art-work facing up. Get down on my knees and insert the tabs from underneath. I then tilt the frame to an 80 - 85 degree angle and gently tap it so pastel loosened during assembly falls into gutter. Then turn it up side down and tape up + fix D-rings as usual.

I reckon Prospero, Birdman, Absolute and Spit deserve a medal the size of a frying pan for the best three tips in one thread in the history of this forum!

so I'll add my own gaffe regarding a pastel.

Instead of shaking them i sometimes give them a light (long range) guff of air from the dusting gun, then one day this great slug of condensate that had been lurking in the pipe shot out of the gun onto a pastel - you know the stuff "Bambi-Gunge", it looked like a heavy smoker had cleared their throat on the picture That was twelve years ago, and the next day I fitted water traps and filters......

I have a customer who works in pastels and takes them around with her to exhibitions and craft fairs. She's quite sucessful and her work is popular, but the pastel framing issue was quite a worry at one time, because she transports them a lot. Fortunately most of her work is sold unframed, but I do have to frame some every so often.

Here's how I do it:

The gutter behind the mount is formed by the depth of the sight edge of another frame inserted inside the main frame. This inserted frame has screw eyes fitted into its sides and is screwed in place, which clamps the glass and mount into the main frame. The inserted frame includes a second mount to hold the edges of the pastel in place and is also taped and strung to hang.

Any detached particles of pastel can therefore be easily accessed for removal by releasing the retaining screws and removing the inserted frame complete with artwork and then replacing it after removal. If required you can even add some of the rebate linning foam tape for a really well sealed job.

I've often used this method with other customers who like the idea and happily pay the extra to have it done. It's a nice way of adding extra value to your orders and retaining customers, because the competition don't do it that way.

I must say I have never given a pastel a 'good shake' or a blast of compressed air, why would anyone want to do that?

Apart from the ones that come rolled up, fixed with more hairspray than Bet Lynch could shake a stick at, I handle them gingerly, during and after framing, and suggest the customer handles the framed thing the same way - if they want to take it home tied to their towbar or stand it on their washing machine, that's up to them, thank you.

And why oh why do people get these things (pastel or charcoal portraits) done on holiday, bring them home on the plane rolled up and shedding all over the place, then baulk at paying to have it framed properly with a double mount. "Just stick it in a frame.It didn't cost much so I don't want to spend a lot getting it framed".Usually been somewhere exotic that cost an arm and a leg). I was very naughty on Saturday when even our cheapest, nastiest plastic, sorry synthetic frame was too expensive for one such person, even when I explained how a pastel should be framed. I sent her away to Art ( we still have some open here) for a readymade frame (yes, even my readymades were too dear for her) and told her to come back for us to make a mount to fit. I even told her which size to buy. Well, I'd rather get something than nothing - she did come back. Hopefully in the future she'll remember how accommodating I can be and come back for a proper job. Well I am the eternal optimist.

We use these for vibration free fitting

http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=722

not sure where to get them in UK though

I have one of them. Its made by Fletcher (called a Frame Mate). I’ve had it years - but not used it in years. I got it when I first started framing in my garage.
http://www.fletcherviscom.com/framing/p ... mate.shtml
Don't know where you can buy them from now, Lion don't sell them!

You can still get FrameMate at United MFRs Supplies out of New York, but the shipping’ll probably kill you.

You can buy FrameMate from http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/O7200 although they are out of stock at the moment due to high demand!
You can however reserve/order to ensure you get one when the shipment arrives.
Hope this helps
Jay

Greetings
I've recently had that issue with framing pastels whereby the pastel wasn't fixed or stabalised. So whenever framing a pastel or charcoal piece I usually go with the traditional (reverse bevel) mat window opening and adding a foamboard spacer (at least 10mm) between the mat and the art piece simply to create a space for the pastel dust to collect and not be visible. The advantage of the reverse bevel is that any dust gets directed into the space below out of sight, out of mind. . If a regular bevel is used the dust can get wedged between the mat and the glass.

Good luck.

Campbell

Well there`s plenty of input regarding framing pastels, something I haven`t done for ages and reading the basic requirements of framing one without going mad.
So what happens, I get an an order to frame fifteen of the pesky pastels for an exhibition next year, and would probably go frantic without all this valuable input.

Special thanks for the excellent idea of the reverse cut so pastel dust cant sit on the mount.
Also the idea of using flexitabs is good too.

Does anyone think 10mm gap is too big between the mount and the pastel?

Norrie

norymags wrote:
Special thanks for the excellent idea of the reverse cut so pastel dust cant sit on the mount.
Also the idea of using flexitabs is good too.

Does anyone think 10mm gap is too big between the mount and the pastel?

Norrie

The bigger the gap the better, within reason. But no - 10mm is not too much - just don't do it all at once.

IOW don't have something 10, or even 5mm thick with a reverse bevel against the artwork, otherwise you can see under that reverse bevel and then you have the issue of maybe having to cover some artwork.

Instead start with a normal 4 ply mount reverse bevelled against the artwork, then maybe a foam core spacer and another mount over that to provide yet another pigment trap, or a combination of mounts and/or a fillet to make that space up.

Even static electricity created when cleaning the glass can lift pigment off a pastel, - I'd say 10mm should be a default.

Pastels = upgrades, welcome them with open arms - those upgrades can be decorative whilst also being functional - then, when you've done with the spacing and reverse bevelling, you'll need a nice deep rebated frame, so, another upgrade.

And, at the end of the day, (when all is said and done, and the bottom line is ....) if you know in your heart of hearts that yes, this is indeed a pastel, but it's pretty carp - and the customer wants a single mount (you grasp straws by offering econospace - but no!) - at least their choice has been an informed one.

On the other hand you may know it's a masterpiece or may worry that it could be 'expensive' - so then you have the option of going ahead with a disclaimer or refusing to do it in an 'incorrect/unprofessional' manner.