The Framers Forum

Instant style (and profit)- Just add paint!

Take care how you paint them as the canvas is usually stuck to the moulding with double sided tape and any shrinkage of the canvas after painting will cause problems.

Got a 404 error on that link, Mark.

Sorry Aine,

I don't know what happened, but it was working before because I previewed it and checked the link before I submitted the post. Unfortunately my browser doesn't work with the forum's image hosting facility, so I'm stuck with using a hosting site.

Might be worth trying PhotoBucket.

Try again!

Worked a treat that time, Mark!

At Springfair in Feb Wessex/Frinton had some mouldings on display painted in Farrow & Ball colours with a few framed examples on the walls. Quite nice I thought until I checked the price in the catalogue.

So I went to B&Q for some similar colours. They don't stock Farrow & Ball but do keep Fired Earth paints (an AGA company) which are available in small tester size pots so I grabbed a few, ordered some unfinished moulding and painted up some chevrons. Gently sanded before painting and lightly waxed when dry making the finish far better. If you go to the Fired Earth website you can order an FOC colour chart.

The big plus is you only paint as much as you need for each frame and keep the rest plain ready for the next job.

So NYAF looks like I am learning from you! Off for two days with Pete Bingham soon.

John.

Jonny2morsos wrote:So NYAF looks like I am learning from you!

That's the plan. I might be learning from you too, as I'm gonna check out the fired earth paints. Thanks for the tip!

Jonny2morsos wrote:Off for two days with Pete Bingham soon.

You'll enjoy that. He's a great trainer and an entertainer too! Don't forget to ask him for tips about pricing and running the business while you there. I had a whole week with him and I'm very glad I did.

How do you get the mitres so tidy, Mark?

Mark, re your image hosting service, when I visited it earlier, I ended up getting some browser pop-ups (bypassed the Google pop-up blocker); one for a gambling site, and one for a site with a "rather unsavoury" nature. Just thought I'd let you know.

Moglet wrote:How do you get the mitres so tidy, Mark?

Hi Aine,

Easy, I paint the moulding before joining and burnish the cut edges down and paint it again after joining!

It's very important NOT TO USE A THIN WATERY PAINT, so use a really thick paint and make the first coat a very light one, this will seal the canvas without saturating the canvas and reduce the risk of canvas shrinkage or lifting. You might need to practice on a small scraps first to get the right method, etc.

The mouldings shown in the snapshot are Simons 0059, which are nicely priced and make it easy to add a good profit after painting. I would ignore the cost of the paint and at least double your normal price for the moulding in it's unpainted state.

They not only look nice, but have a nice smooth finish. I rub them with a bone folder or Lion burnisher to press down any roughness after the first coat and add a top coat of Polyvine wax finsh effect acrylic varnish over the final coat of paint, so they won't get marked or grubby with customers handling them.

Moglet wrote:Mark, re your image hosting service, when I visited it earlier, I ended up getting some browser pop-ups (bypassed the Google pop-up blocker); one for a gambling site, and one for a site with a "rather unsavoury" nature. Just thought I'd let you know.

Sorry, I didn't know about that!

Mark it would be much simpler and easier for everybody reading your posts if you were to upload your images to the forum.

You may have to resize them first though, as the largest size that the forum will accept is 800 pixels in either direction.

John wrote:Mark it would be much simpler and easier for everybody reading your posts if you were to upload your images to the forum.

Hi John,

Sorry about that. Something on my computer must be not compatible will the forum, because nothing happens when I try to do it. I think my version of Javascript is too old and may be something to do with the problem, but when I try to update it, I'm told that I can't, because my current system is too old and not compatible.

I used to use photo bucket without any problems, but they changed the site and I could not upload to it anymore.

When I've got the time to go somewhere that sells them and the spare cash, I'll get a new computer and that'll fix it.

Not your average framer wrote:I used to use photo bucket without any problems, but they changed the site and I could not upload to it anymore.

I get that problem too, Mark. However, there's a workaround. Try logging in to your photobucket account, and go to the file upload screen. Not looking at it now, but somewhere on the screen is the option to use the "old uploader" (or words to that effect). Once I choose to use the old uploader, I have no further problems uploading files. Hope this helps!

dunno whats going on here. I've got no links and no images on this thread, whether i use Explorer or Firefox.


John - help! Broken magic!

I think the links have been removed for reasons stated - I clicked on one last night and got a very 'interesting' webcam!

Roboframer wrote:I think the links have been removed for reasons stated - I clicked on one last night and got a very 'interesting' webcam!

Wondered why you were not posting! I got to the same site but of course closed it down straight away!

Not your average framer wrote: I used to use photo bucket without any problems, but they changed the site and I could not upload to it anymore.

When I've got the time to go somewhere that sells them and the spare cash, I'll get a new computer and that'll fix it.

Photoshop Elements 4 is available on Amazon for only £18.90. Useful to have if you do any digital photography and you can resize images or do a "Save for Web" which will knock the size back. Elements 7 is the current version but does not have that much extra.

John.

Ah, I've made a discovery! There's a thread in the forum issues about uploading images, which I 've just looked at and realised that the upload image tab does not normally appear on my browser, so until now I did not know it was there. But if I toggle my browser from user to author mode then I can see the tab and click on it.

So here we go, I should be able to upload and post the image and.....
Hey, presto, it works! No wonder John can't understand why I don't post directly to the forum.

Well done, Mark!