high drama

This is a canvas purchased in Costa Rica by a well-traveled client.  I gallery wrapped it on shallow stretcher bars and then sunk it in a 2" deep solid maple floating frame, allowing 1/4" space all the way around the canvas.  The effect is very clean and soothing.

roundup

Please forgive this format.  Each of these items deserves its own individual post, but what can I say?  I'M BUSY!  (it pleases me to tell you :)  In no particular order here are some wonderful things that came through lately.

1.  Glass Trap!  This small slip of canvas is impossible to stretch as there is nothing to pull on--no margins exist and it is cut purposely uneven and the image extends right up to the edge.  The client wanted it done as a glass trap.  This means that the item is floated between two pieces of glass, and the glass gives the illusion of a mat.  It allows the wall color to be the color that surrounds the art.  These are tricky for a number of reasons: a framer must show no visible attachments, hold the glass under the rabbet of the frame, and secure hanging hardware that is not visible from the front (can't use wire).

2.  Siouxsie!  This is a charcoal rendering of Siouxsie Sioux (The Creatures, Siouxsie and the Banshees) that a client did in High School art class.  Boy, did he come to the right place ;)  We went bold with a wide vivid RED mat, raised above with an invisible layer of acid free foam underneath.  This is the proper way to frame pastels & charcoals, and other powdery mediums:  a drop-bottom mat.  This way, if any of the powder is inclined to fall due to gravity, it will not fall on the crisp white bevels of the mat, but rather in the channel under the mat.  Never put pastel or charcoal in direct contact with glazing.

3.  Che.  Love this graphic painting on newsprint!  We chose to do this in an awesome floating frame:  chunky walnut with a gold lip and contrasting black interior.  I stretched the canvas on super heavy-duty stretcher bars even though the art was smaller than 11 x 14.  I did this so that the canvas would almost be as tall as the frame.  The canvas was placed 1/4" out from the frame for maximum drama.

4.  Vintage Mummers Parade poster.  Okay, so it's from 2004.  But I love the design--it's typeset and mechanical--and look at the pre-digital graphic!  And they make posters for the parade?  The client informed me this was the last year it was ever done.  We framed it gallery style with a wide white mat and neutral blue frame.

5.  Original 3D art from Nice Things...Handmade.  This was from one of the great shows at Elissa's shop.  This was a challenge because the art is sooo tall, but a solution always exists.  We chose to float it on a soft grey suede mat, with sidewalls made from the same stuff, and a matte black gallery frame.

6.  Original art by Doug Boehm, a wonderful local artist/illustrator.  Check his blog to track all the interesting places his work is popping up.  The client and I looked at a bunch of frames, but so glad we ended up with this distressed walnut rope.  UV glass and spacers finished the job.

Design of the Week

First floating frame in the new shop!

A client came in with an adorable small square still life by a local artist and requested a white floating frame.  He had a similar one already, and showed me a photo of it on his smartphone.  Very prepared!  I had just the style to coordinate with his existing piece.

Floating frames are for canvases or other types of art that don't require glazing.  They are great in that they allow every bit of the canvas to be seen.  In more tradional frame styles, the edges of the canvas would be covered by the rabbet of the frame by 1/8" or so.

And floating frames are versatile in that there are are a variety of positions in which the canvas can be placed. If the sides of the canvas are unfinished, the canvas can be placed flush against the floating frame so those edges don't show.  Like so:

If the canvas is gallery wrapped, and you can allow the finished edges to show, you can decide on how much space there should be between the canvas and the floating frame.  Below is the standard 1/4" margin.

But this client was bold!  and he went the full 1" out.  This is the max the moulding would allow and gives a really dramatic effect on this small piece.  It is very much in keeping with the clean white-on-white look that is so crisp in galleries or modern designed homes.

the completed project

I have a variety of floating frames from which to choose:  in wood tones, gallery black or white, or even gilded styles.  They come in different depths and face widths, and some with contrasting colors on the inside.  And they can even be stacked!  Any traditional rabbeted moulding can be cut to fit the outside, making the possibilities endless.