In fine arts, it’s all about quality.

An artist sits down to draw a portrait,  he’s scoured paper racks and found a type that works well for him, and chosen his tools with care.  These pieces of paper can range anywhere from five to say twenty or more dollars a sheet, no small measure for an artist who produces work and tries to resale at a fair market price.  Perhaps it is just a pencil drawing and he or she will ask for two hundred dollars as compensation for time, materials, and talent.  The trade is made and the artist is left, usually, with only photographic documentation. 

Within the last decade or so boundaries have been pushed in the printing world and reproductions called ‘giclees’ are available as a second source of income for artists.  Now the artist can sell the original for that two hundred dollars and print say fifty or so copies in what is called editions, sign and number them and sell them at say seventy five dollars a piece.

But what is more affordable is more often than not using compromised materials that in turn will disintegrate, fade, or discolor.  The quality in inks alone are atrocious, compare an oil based ink that would be used for a hand pulled, original print to that of a computer printer with water soluble inks.  Hands down, there’s no comparison that fairs well for these giclees, the original will always be better.

What then, does one do when faced with a love for art that is not within their means?  When giclees are the only resort extra special care needs to be taken in framing.  Glass with uv coating can minimize discoloration and fading secondary to sun and artificial light, but the piece still needs your conscious help.  It is never recommended for a print or poster to be exposed to direct sunlight even with the uv glass, nor is recommended that they be exposed to any heavy amount of humidity or heat.

Do you have a picture that seems like it’s changed before your eyes?  Bring it in for a free evaluation of materials in order to determine if everything is being done to preserve the life of your art.

Times are tough in the art world,

as a commodity, the fine arts have always been closely linked to the financial markets, and as Wall Street continues to crumble it’s become a tug-of-war over here.  Sales are down for local businesses in Park Slope, not dead, but down.  Who can rationalize the purchase of accessories right now? 

We all know (or most of us) that picture framing is expensive, but there’s no denying the splendor of a perfect frame.  My advice has always been that no matter which frame you pick, that you try to make sure that you can live with it for as long as possible.  10 years of picture framing and I’ve seen literally thousands of frames changed,  tossed aside for a better frame.  The way I see it, it’s a toss up between whether it is better to safely store your artwork (I can show you how) or compromise the framing solution.  Understanding the art of compromise, I often offer practical ideas to my customers on how to save and what to expect.  Many prints are not printed standard size, however, if you take careful measurements you can often find a frame that is porportionately bigger all the way around and then stop by for a custom mat.  I will most likely recommend changing glass for a uv protectant and tossing any cardboard that is inside the standard frame.  My favorite places for ready made frames are Target, Century 21, and the home decor section of Marshalls or TJ Maxx.  I never recommend purchasing frames from Ikea, it’s a waste of the 5 or 10 dollars they cost, I promise.  Need help putting it all together?  Want that frame shop finish with a dust cover and wire?  We’re here for that too and can often offer a same day, or next day turn around.

One of our customers brought in two beautiful pieces of fabric from India. Because of their nature, we decided to frame them in a same frame, but to use different matboards to accentuate the colors in each one.

The molding we picked replicates the design features of gold and black on the borders of the artwork. The frame has dimples that mimic the circles of gold with black undertones.

In order to add more contrast , we decided to cut the mat with reverse bevel, so that no white mat core will be visible. We also didn’t want to introduce extra medium - in this case the paper core of the mat - so the finished frame would only contain fabric.

Conservation glass was used for optimum clarity and UV protection.

[View with PicLens]

So, here we made a display for our store window. “25% off stock moldings”. Thanks to our wonderful mat cutting machine we are able to cut pretty much any shape on a matboard - rectangles, squares, circles, letters, animals, accents etc, etc.

[View with PicLens]

Well, we are reorganizing both upstairs and down, and we have a whole bunch of beautiful moldings that we would like to sell at a discounted price. So, here it goes - 25% off all new orders with our stock frames. Come in, take advantage of this sale while inventory lasts. We have simple metal frames, plain hard wood frames, gorgeous acid-wash frames, and elaborate carved frames. Anything from 1/2″ to 6″ wide. Various colors and styles suitable for anything from drawings to oil paintings.

Feeling a little better today, or maybe it’s just dayquil, but the shop is open and I am planning to be here until 5pm or later.

Well, whadda you know… I got the flu. I will be opening a little late (around 11-11.30am) and closing a little early (depending on how I feel…). So if you’d like to come and place an order or pick up a finished order - call us @ 718.623.8917 for schedule updates.

Update: closing @ 5pm.

are often cut…

the fingers of a painter are often dirty…paired together, you should really see the look on the face of the lady where I get manicures…

worried about these fingers handling your precious work, no worries, I have tons of white gloves to keep your piece smudge free. 

We can wrap our minds around.

Here we custom designed a molding to match the baseboards in our customer’s Park Slope Brownstone.  With the outside dimensions at 106″ x 35.5″ , this beauty was far from anything you’d find in a ready made section.

Custom routers were made, colors were hand picked…we can only imagine the number of twirls and second glances this mirror will see over the coming years.

It all started with a customer bringing us an outline of the molding they have in their house along with a picture of the wall that the mirror would lean against. First we traced the outline to obtain a vector shape, then created a 3D image of the mirror and overlaid it on the picture of the wall. Various color combinations were chosen and once the desired one was selected - we sent the molding to be milled. Because of the size of the molding - 5 inches wide by 3 inches deep, it had to be cut from a 4″x6″ of American hardwood. Molding was joined and painted with a chosen Benjamin Moore color. We the ordered a mirror to fit the frame, first a non-bevel 1/4″ thick mirror was chosen, but it looked too flat, so we swapped it for a 1.5″ bevel mirror. Beautiful.

The finished frame was so big that about 3 feet of it was sticking out from the back of a BMW 5-series station wagon. It was pretty heavy too…

[View with PicLens]

Last week we finished framing this beautiful Grandma Moses.  We paired a Henry Twachtman hand carved frame  finished in 22K gold leaf with a silk mat and matching 22k gold fillet, the finished piece looked stunning!

This frame molding line is the same as what you will find in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the White House, etc. Henry Twachtman was an American Impressionist painter best known for his landscapes. The early 1900’s saw a shift not only in the style of art being produced, but also in the frames that went around them, compared to the frames 100 years earlier, this frame is very simple with sweet details carved around the corners

Want to know more about period frames and what makes them so great? I found this website informative.

http://www.eliwilner.com/contents/article_repro_or_replica.cfm

Is March 5-8th

Here’s a free E Pass:

Attached you will find our E-VIP pass for the upcoming Bridge Art Fair New
York, March 5-8. To activate your VIP pass, please go to
http://bridgeartfair.com/VIPpass.html