We have recently completed yet another Mr Brainwash Limited Edition print called ‘Reborn’. Mr Brainwash is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and Pop artist whose real name is Thierry Guetta.
More about Mr Brainwash at his website – http://www.mrbrainwash.com/about/about.html
This has been framed to conservation standards; the artwork is held in place underneath the deep bevel mountboard with archival polyester strips thus ensuring no adhesive comes into contact with the paper. The customer has also selected AR UV glass to reduce any possibility of damage by sunlight.
One of Mr Brainwash’s idiosyncrasies is to authenticate his work by placing a thumbprint on the back of the art. We have cut a rectangle in the backboard and undermount and covered it with archival polyester to allow the thumbprint to be viewed.
To show how good the AR UV glass is, the following photo was taken with the glass in place – compare this with any other photo of a frame with standard glass.
One of our regular customers is the author Roger Lewis (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roger-Lewis/e/B001H9XV7C) and amongst the items he brought round to be framed recently were 2 Ronald Searle originals. The first is Searle’s initial sketch for Roger’s latest book and the second is Searle’s final artwork draft to the publishers for printing the book cover.
Roger decided that he would like the initial sketch to have a fairly narrow black and white double mount with a simple matt black frame.
Next is a close up of some pencilled text by Ronald Searle asking “Do you think something like this will do? With colour of course. RS”
The much larger final artwork was float mounted to allow visibility of the very edges that still have the pencil layout marks and holes where it was pinned to a board.
Finally, a close up of Ronald Searle’s signature on the artwork.
This has been a very interesting project, all the more so for the privilege of handling a couple of Ronald Searle originals and the pleasure it has brought the owner, Roger Lewis.
Just a few pictures of a couple of interesting projects we have recently completed.
A small collection of spoons bought from a second hand shop, a little bit of effort with some silver polish and then neatly presented in a shallow box frame. The inside of the box has been lined with some black velveteen and the spoons held in place with thin polyester straps.
The mount has had some shaped corners cut using our computerised moutcutter and then all has been placed in a deep sided frame – no brown box sticking out the back. For less than £60 we think it is a job well done.
PS – the bottom spoon looks like it is partly covered by the mount, it is just my photography that gives that impression.
Next, a group of prints of some old Jaguar cars. They were bought at an auction and were part of a mixed lot of items, they originally came from a magazine or book.
Although difficult to see in these photographs the Jaguar logo has been embossed bottom centre of each mount. The average cost of framing each of these prints is around £41.
Following a visit to St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester we offered to frame a few items to highlight some of the work carried out by the Family Carers Group. The decision taken was to frame 5 masks decorated by both the Young Carers and the Adult Carers.
These 2 masks were made by the Young Carers. The frame has been finished with a white base coat and then a red wash. The masks are held in place with polyester straps that are virtually invisible.
This group of 3 masks were decorated by the Adult Carers Group and have been placed in another deep box frame and are also held in place by polyester straps. The frame has again had a white base coat with a light blue wash over the top. The lighting has, unfortunately, washed out some of the colour of the frame.
Both frames were presented to St Richard’s Hospice on 22 September 2011. See more of St Richard’s Hospice at:
www.strichards.org.uk www.facebook.com/strichards www.twitter.com/strichardshosp
We thought that we would like to show you a look at some of the items we have framed in the recent past.
This set of frames (there were actually 6) were made up for an exhibition and the artist sold all of them within a week!
These 33 double mounted apertures in a single frame were ordered by a mother for her daughter’s 30th birthday. We also embossed the subject’s date of birth and her name in some of the gaps between photos. To get this to fit we scanned and cropped each photo to the most useable part and then had them printed. Without our Wizard CMC this sort of thing would be virtually impossible to achieve.
Here is another Mr Brainwash, this time his subject is the Statue of Liberty. Once again full conservation framing used with Artglass AR UV specialist glass that allows optimal viewing whilst also providing UV protection.
Here is a group of 3 Tracey Emin limited edition prints all framed to conservation level, again with Artglass AR UV glass. To enhance the modern feel of the framing we have used really thick mountboard cut with a 45 degree bevel to draw your view to the artwork.
This print of Mr Brainwash’s treatment of Mr Spock has been framed to full conservation standards. The artwork has been held in place with archival polyester strips so that no tapes or adhesives come into contact with the print. Conservation level boards have been used both to mount the artwork and for backing boards behind it. The glass is Artglass AR UV providing the ultimate protection with maximum clarity (it is almost impossible to see the glass in the frame).
The picture looks a little distorted due to camera angles (maybe I should take a few photography lessons!).
There are occasions when some artwork does not need to be treated to conservation standards; examples might be a young child’s drawing or painting or a poster bought when visiting an attraction.
Here are a number of posters, some from Longleat during a family day out. As they are to hang in the bedroom of 2 toddlers safety is of the utmost importance – the customer wanted a glass-free finish.
Firstly we attached the posters to some display board for a smooth surface and some rigidity. We then covered the posters with a matt laminate finish. The laminate provides some protection from little fingers and stray crayons!
Some simple plain frames were then made and the posters held in place with bendy tabs, this will allow the customer to change them at a later date if required.
Recently a customer brought in a high value signed original Clifford Fishwick gouache that was badly in need of reframing. The original mount had discoloured on the bevels and (allegedly) the artist himself had taped his artwork to the back of the mount.
The right hand picture shows a large amount of staining and the residue of the original tape used to attach the artwork to the rear of its original mount. Fishwick’s signature can clearly be made out near the top.
You can now see the back of the gouache with the tape carefully removed and on the right the rough top edge where we presume the paper had been torn from a pad or book.
In keeping with the original and using the same dimensions we put a new double mount and crafted a frame with a white limed oak finish.
This is a close up photo of a London Marathon set we completed for one of our energetic customers. As you can see the double mount has been cut to follow the shape of both the medal and ribbon.
This is the whole frame showing finishing photo and certificate along with the medal.
Here is a set of WW2 medals along with 3 photos of the old soldier sadly no longer with us. The family will now be able to treasure these reminders of their loved one for many a year.
Whilst we got on with the design and build of the frame we ordered some replacement ribbons to refresh the medals. The double mount has been cut on our Wizard computerised mountcutter and we have taken advantage of its capabilities to put rounded cut outs for the medals and vee grooves around both the medals and photographs. Spacers have been placed between the glass and the mount to ensure the medals are not pressing against the glass. All in all a great treasure for around £100.
