Together

 

 

Process

Some photos of the process with the big frame in the post above.

The images above showing various aspects of making the moldings, specifically cutting the coves. The ten foot lengths required some logistical dancing, often moving some machines daily.

First cuts of the cross grain fluting. The molding is top to bottom above. Depending on the wood, flutes might require from 2-3 to 6-7 passes to get a clean flute. The carving was done while the moldings were still in sticks. After assembly, the final molding, on the top of the large cove, and ornamentation was applied.

Frame upside down, showing the corner overlay braces, splines.

I used plywood for the "blind" frame, for greater stability.

Finished, and wrapped awaiting transport.

 

OOPS ???

Unexplained mysterys, or maybe it's the "old math", done in a new way. I didn't catch this until the frame had been joined and splined, by my customer calling wanting the exact rabbett size. A gut wrenching moment, as we are on a deadline.

Once I've confirmed my idiocy, rather than rush into correcting, I've found it's better to walk away for a bit; let the nerves settle, and think about the proper procedure for correction.

And here, waiting for splines to be fit and glued in, and the proper size now.

D-Rings, or strap hangers

 

Some examples of D-Rings, or strap hangers. Far more secure than screw eyes. All of us who restore antique frames have seen damage from screw eyes failing. Screw holes should be drilled for the strongest installation. If wire is to be used, the hanger should optimally be angled in the direction the wire will go. On larger frames, two hangers matched to two wall hardware, is best. This requires some precision in measurement and installation. Securely wrapped wire loops can be attached to the D, allowing some adjustment to the wall screw or bolt. For really heavy objects, I usually make cleats, sometimes known as "French Cleats" from plywood. Two strips of ply with matching angles cut on the edge, attached to the frame and the wall so they can hook together.

Now, if you insist on screw eyes, at least wire them right.

1. Through the eye

2. Around the shank, and below the wire.

3. Back through the eye.

4. Wrap the wire around it self.

This makes the wire as low as possible, reducing the force against the one little screw. Physics. Also, as the route the wire follows is more complex, this makes the wire less likely to pull free.

There are commercially available other forms of frame hardware, some that include mechanisms for leveling.

 

 

Apparantly, mechanical competence is a hindrence to artistic genius, grumbles the old curmudgeon.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Bad Choices in Hanging Hardware, or "Hey, you artists, get offa my lawn".

Some examples from a recent exhibition I installed. 

Screw eyes are bad, made worse by wireing around the eye, so physics can have it's say, and leverage can pull that screw eye right out. Bending, then pull-out, followed by crashing. If one insists on using outmoded tech, at least run the wire through the eye, around the shank, then back out the eye, then wrapping.

Now the staples, well, they were actually solid, at least until the staples start to loosen as the wood ages and shrinks.

Personally, cup holders are never going to be a good choice. This particular frame is relatively heavy, and the cup holder is already bending from the strain. Soon, the fall.

Solutions, next post.

Fret sawn ornaments

A design under the influence of the Middle East. "Scherezade". The ornament is a simple organic ribbon, repeating in and out. I use a fret saw to cut the basic shape, which is then glued to the frame, and carved.

The fret saw and an ornament block. I like spiral blades for this work, though I find they cut better with a straight approach, as though they were regular blades. Spiral blades, are in theory, omnidirectional. The saw is mounted on a small sheet of plywood, which is then clamped to the bench. When I can, my tools are hooked to dust collection, in this case to my shop vac.

The block is taped on both sides and then it is "bread sliced" into the thin ornaments. The tape is to hold the thin design together.

 

The corners being wasted for the ornaments. The cyanacrylate glue is for the sometimes "holiday" in the regular gluing, with hide glue.

 

Here, marking lines for the carving edges. I use my finger as a fence to draw the lines. And here, a finished version: Frame Notes: Fret Sawed Ornaments

 

Posted with Blogsy

Some more process photos.

 

Applying bole. Bole is a very fine clay, in various earth colors, that when mixed with hide glue becomes the base layer and adhesive for water gilt gold. The color above is a mix, to match the color on the original frame.

 

Water gilding. The surface is wet with the "gilding liquer", water and some alcohol to break the surface tension. The polished bole is wet thoroughly, and the gold leaf is applied by picking it up with the tip, that wide flat brush, and almost slapping it on to the wet surface. To make the tip grab the leaf, I rub a tiny amount of vaseline on the back of my left hand, then lightly brush the end of the tip over my hand before grabbing the edge of the leaf with the tip. Sounds simple enough.

When the gilt areas are dry, they are burnished using an agate tool. To test for dryness, the surface is tapped with the agate; when a hard click is heard, the surface is dry. Trying to burnish wet just destroys the leaf. Two different shaped burnishers on the bench.

Burnished gilding and stained wood, with the color sample to match to. Waiting for the finish coat.

 

Posted with Blogsy

An unusual frame.

Actually, not that unusual , though this style, where the corner escutcheon is carved is unusual. I did quite a few of these early in my career, in mahogany and black walnut, though stopped pushing them as the labor intensity tended to make it hard to make a profit. I'm doing a reproduction of a damaged existing frame, with carved, water gilt and burnished corner escutcheons, over stained and finished basswood. Basswood, though usually gessoed, then finished, actually is an attractive wood in itself. MOMA, NYC, has a few examples of stained and finished basswood frames.

Photo above, I'm using an oscillating saw to rough out the shape for the corners.

A corner before gessoing. After roughing out, small carvers rasps were used to refine the shapes.

Another photo before gessoing.

The corners masked off, and the first few coats of gesso applied. Normally I spray gesso, but in this case, all of the coats will be brushed. The first coat was scrubbed in with a toothbrush until almost dry, to eliminate pinholes.

Posted with Blogsy

Scenes from NYC, and beyond.

 

Manhattan receding aboard the Staten Island Ferry. If it's warm enough, outside as the Ferry crosses the harbor is the fun spot to be. Some of the ferries have outside decks; some require you to stand on the back deck, above the props, if you would like to be outside. My wife and I both enjoy being out in the sights, smells, and breezes.

The Falcon God is not happy, not happy, Bob. As my Jewish relatives say, "what a Punim". From the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

And, two more "roadside" snaps. It may be part of my whole approach to photography, and art; learn the foundation, the basics, then feel free to wing it. I spent a lot of time with an unmetered camera, no light meter, just guesstimating exposure. It's far easier to do that today with a digital camera, but then as now, a multitude of sins could be fixed in post processing. The roadside snaps are done from a moving vehicle, night, obviously, along one of the interstates here in the US. The camera is set to manual focus, infinity, program, at 3200 ISO, with image stabilization on. I have the camera on, and as we approach an interchange, I put the camera against the side glass, with my hand as a light scrim, blocking reflections from the dash lights; then just press and hold the shutter release, letting the camera take a number of shots. The quality of the light against the trees is what intrigues me. I have some other kind of images, related, though not the same, that I want to do. All involve the very edge of the cameras ability to record, and again, the light at this point is very interesting. I've even made some prints from some of these.

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Blur and Dark

107th. Regiment Memorial, NYC. Park Avenue and 67th. Street, NYC

This was taken from a moving taxi during my recent excursion to NYC. I like it very much; the soft gray tones, slightly blurred, slightly dark. Pictures taken from moving vehicles; pictures taken in available darkness:

A few more.

Taken from a moving vehicle at night. I'm very intrigued by it. There is a certain color to trees illuminated by overhead lights along highways in the US.

All of these images have received no "work", they are, as much as the interwebs will allow, as from the camera.

Sanding Machines Addended 11-8-2013

Some of the sanding machines. Left to right, a random orbit with a flexible velcro pad for sanding curved objects. Another random orbit sander, with a stiff pad for flat surfaces, again velcro. Next, an oscillating multi-tool, velcro pad., as discussed here. Right, a belt sander with a sanding frame. Sanding frames let you adjust the depth of the belt, and stabilize the tool for sanding broad, flat surfaces. Mostly I use the random orbit sander with a stiff pad to clean up the backs of frames, or when they have inlet splines, to level the splines. Search "splines for several posts about the process.

The random orbit sanders and the belt sander can also be hooked up to the shop vac via an inch and a quarter hose, seen at the rear of the black sander. Another handy feature, as it really does remove the bulk of the dust. It is, however noisy, having both a sander and a shop vac running at the same time. Earplugs.

Well, I just spent some time looking for belt sanders that offer a sanding frame, and not much out there; Bosch might have one, but I couldn't track down an actual product. My sander, a Ryobi offered the frame as an optional accessory, but I can't find one now. Too bad, as it was a useful addition in terms of efficiency and preventing the belt from gouging the work surface.Belt sanders excel at rapid removal of material; the frame added control. Maybe I should save the Ryobi for resurfacing my bench tops, and get a cheap belt sander for the occasional "wood butcher" job. Using the links at right will send a few pennies my way, at no cost to you.

Addendum: 11-8-2013

When using a sander with velcro attachment, especially when sanding edges, or thinner parts, it is important to keep the sander moving. If you hold it in one spot, you can melt the velcro hooks, rendering them useless. Porter-Cable does offer replacement pads, around $20.00 the last I checked.

Recent project

A recent project, one of three deeply ornamented plaster frames, circa 1900, give or take a few decades. The original finish was water gilt karat gold high lights, and then bronze powder for the body. Either painted or dusted over an oil size. Two of the frames were at some time completely over painted. One, had it's original finish; the gold still visible but the body had tarnished to a deep brown. I've seen the deep brown, but also various shades of a muddy green, and a dull greenish gold. The frames had been stored in a basement for many years, with a lot of moisture damage. Corner ornaments were loose or missing, because of separated mitres, and much of the running ornament at the outside back edge of the frame was beyond repair, needing replacement.

These two images are of one of the frames installed as a "frame" for a wide screen TV. The TV is in a recessed area in the wall over the fireplace.The bright windows are due to a foggy day out over Lake Michigan. We're 40 some stories up.

This one, with a mirror, was installed into an alcove, that was not quite an 1 1/2" wider than the frame.  Just one of the many challenges. Here, trying to not smash fingers was the trick. 

Hanging hardware was plywood cleats, attached to the hollow wall with either 1/4"  x 20 zip toggles, or in the case of the TV frame, fine thread drywall screws anchoring into the metal studs of the recessed area. All of the frames were heavy, and this, with mirror was quite heavy. I chose plywood cleats because then I could build out the frame cleat with full size spacer blocks, of various thicknesses of plywood, to accommodate the inner frames sticking so far out the back. 

The painting was not hung, as I, having not seen the space, brand new construction, did not know that the customer desired it to hang in a stairwell. I found this out the afternoon before delivery and installation. Stairwells require special equipment, and hanging a painting and frame, 4'  x  7', and that probably weighs a hundred pounds, is very special. This job requires a 24" wide plank rated for a minimum of 500 pounds; not something that I keep in my tool kit.

The restoration of the frames was originally to be repairs, then regilding in metal leaf. As I got into them, I decided to remove the overpaints on the two frames that had been overpainted. Under the paint, there was a lot of the original gold. Rather than cover that over again, all of the highlights were cleaned of overpaint with acetone and sometimes paint remover, and sometimes lacquer thinner. New water gilt gold was applied to repairs, and bad areas of loss. The body was finished with a shellac based paint, using both mica pigments, and a small  amount of bronze powder pigment. Couldn't achieve the gold I wanted with out it. Most of the frames with the bronze powder finishes for the body, were at their glossiest, only semi-gloss, to achieve the look of matte and burnish gold. I tried for the same effect, a soft, matte body with the mirror like highlights. I was trying for 120 year old frames, with some wear and tear, but in very good shape.   

New Tool

Update 8/27/13

Now that I've actually used the tool I 'm very pleased. Not the fastest, but for unusual cutting tasks, it'l be fast enough. I have removed the depth gauge, and it's holder, as I don't feel a need for it yet. One allen screw holds the whole assembly on. Blades are expensive, though there are some aftermarket ones now. Multifit is one company; and the savings are significant. They have a section just for Porter Cable.

New toys! Well, actually I think this is going to be a well used new tool. It's an oscillating multi-tool, capable of cutting wood or metal, etc., sanding, especially hard to reach corners, and scraping, such as wallpaper, or various adhesives.

The tool was originally invented by the German Fein co. as a means of cutting casts off of broken limbs. The oscillating blade won't cut skin. I've seen a video of somebody touching a moving blade; said it tickled. I think I'll wait until I accidentally touch a moving blade. 8-) Fein's patent has run out, so there are a lot of different brands making these tools.

Some projects that the tool will be used on:

Cutting into a trim board on the house without removing said board to stub in a new piece of trim because of rot.

Scraping wall paper. I've played with it a little in the studio; it will probably be as efficient as steaming off wall paper, and probably far more pleasant.

Cutting between two porch floor boards that have buckled, to give them some room to be laid back flat.

I'm also looking forward to trying it the next time I need to enlarge a rabbet.  I'm thinking this might be the right tool for the job. It can plunge cut, so the corners of a joined frame will be square, and the model I have has a depth gauge, though a masking tape line on the blade would work also.

The machine pictured, Porter-Cable PCE605K, link at right, I chose for several reasons. Good reviews on the interwebs. (We know if it's on the interwebs, it's true). Corded, as I thought the need to own and keep charged multiple batteries, was less convenient that just plugging it in, and running until the job was done. (Which, should the need arise, not preclude me from buying a cordless one). I own several Porter Cable tools already, and have been very happy both with the design of the tools, and the availability of parts and accessories. That last is huge. The Porter Cable, with a nice case, and a good, though mostly sand paper, assortment of accessories was $99.00 on Amazon. The box stores have them at $130.00. Harbor Freight has their brand at $20.00. Fein has some as high as $400.00

As I've played with the tool I've decided that it will be as precise as I am; it is a hand tool, with out any real provision for guides or fences. I'll need to be patient, as forcing the tool is just going to ruin the blade, and they are expensive, though as more adopt these tools, blade prices will come down.

So, keep calm, carry on, and sally forth to cut something ... 8-)

Bron