The Framers Forum

I have just found this website and am astounded by all the information... I want to learn how to paint wash lines for mounts, quite urgently. Would anyone be willing to teach me, who is based in or near London? Or know of any good one to one course that I can do?

I have been a professional decorative painter for many years and am now a young paper conservator, I learn quick and the skills should not be too far out of my comfort zone.

Thank you I would very much appreciate any advice.

Wessex Pictures run a beginners course and they do cover mount decoration as part of the syllabus. It used to be run at their old premises in Croydon but I guess they have moved it to the new place in Leatherhead but a quick phone call would tell you. Ask to speak to Gary White.

If you have registered with Business Link you might find access to some funding to cover the course fee although I believe this is becoming scarcer these days.

The mount decoration was done by Jan Pike who also runs Gilding courses but I don't know if she teaches this separately. Here is a link to her website http://www.gildingcourses.com/course_tutor.shtml

Good luck and welcome to the forum.

You could try an ex member of the forum John at http://www.angmeringframing.com/ he has done some very nice washlined work

I'm based in Waterloo and would be happy to show you the basics provided we are not too close neighbours!

Washlining takes a bit of practice to do well. You need a good quality pen, a good straightedge and a steady hand.

The actual wash on the panel is traditionally done with very dilute w/c and a broad brush. That is probably the hard part as it is very difficult to lay it on evenly. The bigger the mount, the trickier it is. It's a very unforgiving technique - one slip and it's a mount ruined. The other method is to use dry powders. You apply the lines first and rub the powder between the lines with a foam brush and then burnish it into the board. I've used this method for years. Less chance of a catastrophic fail that way. The powders I use are 'Mat Magic' - made in the USA, but they haven't been available for years. I'm on my last few pots. But there are some made under the 'Everest' brand which are available from Lion pic frames in Birmingham. They also do a huge selection of mount decoration equipment and materials.

Save all your mountboard scraps to practice on.

Steve N wrote:You could try an ex member of the forum John at http://www.angmeringframing.com/ he has done some very nice washlined work

I would go with steve on this one, John (Roboframer) taught me washlines when i did my framing course at his place, a very enjoyable week.

I might be able to help and I'm in South London. Sent you a pm.
Here's one I did earlier:

Thats beautiful work David - I notice the absence of tramlines and assume you are either using a solid colour - or a commercial pen. I would also assume by the fantastic accuracy that some of the work is done on a cmc - however its done,its very good.

I can almost sense Roboframer hovering in the background itching to say that you can get better gold lines by drawing a line in a watered down adhesive - then applying a metal leaf. The temptation to go to the nth degree when producing work of this standard is always there - by the look of it this is a piece of work that has a lot of creative ability put in to it. Its the sort of piece that would have me in a real sweat - praying that I wasnt going to balls it up on the last stroke. Its very impressive.

Well you can see you can draw a line, but IMHO it's toooo much, what with fancy corners of the mount and painted bevels, and the width of the mount is far to small for whats going on, I have always been of the opinion that washlines should be subtle addition to the mount and not draw the eye away from the subject that is being framed.

Sorry David I know you only posted to help the OP and not to be critiqued and I usually like you work that you show us, I'm sorry if I have caused any offence,

I like that it is a modern look to what is considered by some to be a dated mount decoration technique.
I think the opposite to Steve N - this (very close up detail image) looks great and when the entire piece is viewed it is very impressive. It's a show piece, it's meant to show technical and design skill, which it clearly does, and for what it's worth I think it works well with the piece being framed.

OK. If we are showing off.....



I did that while I was learning. It's only one corner. Wouldn't care to do it on four.

Steve no problem, and generally I would agree with you.

This is a detail from a competition piece celebrating the Guild’s Centenary and it was interesting to read framemakers comment, as to reflect the centenary theme I wanted to give a traditional skill a modern twist! I also got a bit carried away trying to show a number of framing techniques from the last hundred years – all in one mount.

I use it in the workshop to demonstrate various techniques and isn’t meant to be a conventional bit of framing. So when it comes to framing a customer’s work, Steve, I couldn’t agree more.

No computer aids were used, all hand done, cutting on a Fletcher 2200 and ruling pen, straight edge and brush for the line and wash.

Mighty fine lines by the way Mr P.
PS It didn’t do very well in the competition, didn’t make the finals, but I enjoyed doing it and was pleased with the result.

I envy your accuracy - you must have a very steady hand - I must stop drinking and get to bed early......

Hi David,
Now I've seen th whole picture and know the story, I can see why you have done it, and I think I would have gone down the same route as well, and I think it should had reached the finals And as Mark said you must have a steady hand, well done.

I am very impressed with all your work, serious skill . thanks for all the information it is very helpful.