New to the framing and matting process Can you help me?

[Tish]

Hello, I am new to "good" framing and need some very real help. I have begun drying pressed flowers and now that I have mastered the flower end I need to frame it all. Does anyone know how or what to use to secure the glass/backing to the frame tightly so that the pressed work will not shift under the glass? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. graemlins/icon21.gif

[Framerguy]

Hi Tish and welcome to the Grumble,

Dried flowers don't sound like a conservation type item so I would suggest a couple of options.

1. You could mount them to a piece of colored mat board with clear adhesive - just to keep them in one spot.

2. Back Up the mat with a piece of foam core for stiffness.

3. Install glass in the frame, place the mat & foam core w/flowers against glass, and brad them into the frame. There are different types of point and brad drivers available on the market. Try United Mfgrs. Supplies.

4.You can glue the glass into the frame to keep it from moving around.

After you get started you will find a thousand different ways to show off these flowers

Good luck.

Goober, aka FGII

[Kit]

Welcome to the Grumble, Tish.

As long as you're gluing the flowers to the backing, I'd put a spacer in there so that the glass isn't touching the flowers. You may end up with bits of crumbled dry stuff accumulating in the bottom of the frame but the alternative is moldy vegitation.

Kit

[Jana]

I wouldn't glue the glass to the frame. The frame expands and contracts and the glass breaks. I've seen it happen.

Carefully glueing the pressed flowers to a mat board is a good idea.

A mat with 1/8" or 3/16" foam core spacers underneath is a good way to add space, and it looks nice, too.

[Jim Miller]

Has anyone suggested a clear film mount?

Sandwich the flowers between two sheets of clear film such as Mylar-D, Melinex 516, or Hostaphan 43. Use double-sided tape (3M 889) around the perimeter, far enough away from the items that it would be covered by the window mat.

Use a generous glass spacer in front, and plenty of insulating filler in the back.

To prevent possible mold/mildew problems in case high humidity should creep into the frame, I suggest conditioning the entire frame package to something less than 40% RH, and sealing it with Marvelseal.

That assembly should give the dried flowers good support, good insulation from quick temperature changes, and stable low-humidity conditions.

[Tish]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Tish:
Hello, I am new to "good" framing and need some very real help. I have begun drying pressed flowers and now that I have mastered the flower end I need to frame it all. Does anyone know how or what to use to secure the glass/backing to the frame tightly so that the pressed work will not shift under the glass? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. graemlins/icon21.gif <hr></blockquote>Thanks to everyone who replyed. My question to all is still how/what do I use to hold the glass and frme backing sucurly in the frame? Do I use "turn buttons"? Will they draw the backing snugly to the glass? Thanks again for your open armed welcome to picture framers grumble I hope to make it my new found home. Tish

[jvandy57]

Tish,
If you mean holding the backing and everything together in the frame you use Framers Points from a point gun, or you can install points with a hand installer or you can use the old fashioned brad or nail or use large staples. Point gun is the best however easy to use.

[Dermot]

Tish

The push method may be best for dried leaves there is no impact as you push the “frame point” in rather than shooting it in with a framing gun or tapping a nail (framing pin) with a hammer.
Fletcher www.fletcher-terry.com (http://www.fletcher-terry.com) have a small system for pushing the frame points which create the “sandwich” that holds the whole package together, it is called “The Fletcher Push-Mate & Push Points the whole kit should cost less than $15, United see link at the top of this page may have them as one of their lines.

graemlins/smiley.gif

[Reynard]

Any of you use that multimaster gun from Fletcher?Was about to buy one but a rep put me off it saying he was getting a lot of them returned due to jamming up etc.

[John Richards]

I had to check the numbers in the computer but we've sold over 170 units so far and have had one return. Unfortunately it doesn't say why it was returned. Everyone I've used works like a charm and is great for stacking frames.

John

[Ron Eggers]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Reynard:
Any of you use that multimaster gun from Fletcher?Was about to buy one but a rep put me off it saying he was getting a lot of them returned due to jamming up etc.<hr></blockquote>

This is my single favorite fitting tool. I use it most of the time. The only downside I've found is they are tough to remove, or even bend, without breaking. If I'm looking for "removeability," I use the Fletcher Fleximaster tool.

John Ranes, a Fletcher consultant, once told me that often jamming problems with fitting tools can be traced to a bad batch of points. Darned if he wasn't right! I had one that I'd given up on and, with a new box of points, it works flawlessly.

[Mel]

Gotta back Ron on the MultiMaster gun. It is all that and more.

As for removal of the points, I find that needle nose pliers with a little twist and and pull to the side pulls those things out pretty well. Straight out doesn't work. But they only bend once or twice, and even then it isn't a tight refit. I either add more, pull them out and restart, or use the FlexiPoint gun to start with--like Ron, again.

[Reynard]

Righto!

I`m ordering one on Monday.I have the black gun and I have the green one too with the flexitabs so I might as well have the yellow one too.It actually looks like a usful tool though but this rep just made me back off a bit.But if you guys use it and it works fine then that will do for me.

[Ron Eggers]

Reynard,

I also recommend the Mat Maestro CMC. I have a spare one I could send you for, say, $8,000 plus shipping.

Let me know.

By the way, Tish, did you find out what you wanted to know? 'Cause this thread is headed downstream with a fast current!

[John Ranes II, CPF, GCF]

Reynard,

If by any chance you're coming down to the Birmingham Spring Fair, please do stop by the Fletcher-Terry stand......Hall 6/20, Stand M24.

I'd be glad to give you a demonstration of the MultiMaster in person. Dermot plans on coming in on Sunday, so you can meet another Grumbler at the same time.

Any questions, though, please feel free to drop me a note. jerserwi@aol.com

John

(Birmingham) Cold, Rainy and gale force winds.....and they call this "The Spring Fair"

[Dermot]

OK Reynard hop a plane and we will see you in Birmingham, John is going to give me a one to one on American football, keep that quite he doesn't know that yet, I was to a super bowl football party in the US last year so Sunday night in Birmingham should be good fun.


graemlins/icon21.gif

[Reynard]

Sorry chaps.I won`t be there.I will be doing some on site repair work for one of the gentry boys round my way.He had a fire at his hoose and I have to do a spot of frame renovating.They are too big to take into my pokey wee workshop.Have fun though!

I am now confident that the gun will work and that the rep probably just didn`t get as big a commission on that particular brand.If it doesn`t work it will at least be a nice colour next to my pile of dead point drivers.

[Reynard]

My mother is right into the dried flowers too.They are a real scunner to fix in as bits always fall off.If making a shadow box I usually leave a gap somewhere inconspicuous along the bottom where the flaked off bits can disappear.Liker Dermot I would just push the points into the back of the frame to stop the jarring.If the flowers are pressed though you can probably just slap a triple mount on it to give clearance and keep the flowers off the glass.If you just treat it like any original work then I don`t see too many difficulties to be honest.

[John Ranes II, CPF, GCF]

Tish,

As Reynard suggested, the cavity or floated (spaced) mat somewhere is great for trapping fallen debris.

For fitting, I would always recommend the Regular Fletcher Flexi Points. This allows you to open the shadow box at will, clean out the interior and carefully fold back the Flexible Points* into position without disturbing the contents.

Or as many UK framers refer to them, "Bendy Tabs"! smile.gif

Cheers,

John

[JPete]

What about the tool you use to pull the brad into the wood when you squeeze the handle. It has the rubber bumper pad that goes against the frame.

[MerpsMom]

Just got to reading this thread. If the multimaster is the Fletcher shooting the double pronged points, I have one and loved it: for the first box of points, that is. They bent, rebent, re-rebent bunches of times because I tested them. This box breaks the second time. :mad: I'm thinking of returning them and gritching. Nothing can got from that good to that bad, can it? (That's a dumb question, isn't it? smile.gif )

[Reynard]

To buy or not to buy?

Now I am confused.I will wait until Tuesday and see what anyone else has to say.

[Lance E]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by MerpsMom:
:mad: I'm thinking of returning them and gritching. Nothing can got from that good to that bad, can it? (That's a dumb question, isn't it? smile.gif )<hr></blockquote>

I remember looking at those guns when they first came out here and thinking to myself, what would happen if there were a bad batch, as the pins have such a small area to bend upon. In NZ if there is a bad batch of anything from the US it can take months before it is solved.
I'd send them back if it were me.

[Alan Beitz CPF MPFQ]

Reynard - Buy one. They are very handy, especially for anything with a box frame. We have all three guns as I had not seen the Fleximaster untill a couple of years ago at a friends shop. I got one and couldn't be happier. Just out of curiosity what do they cost over there.

Regards - Alan smile.gif

[Ron Eggers]

Like MerpsMom, I found my first box or two of multipoints to be quite flexible, as they are supposed to be. Subsequent boxes are not at all flexible, but I still love the fitting tool. If I need the points to be flexible, I use the Fleximaster gun.

Of course, you never know when you'll find a "booger" under the glass and wish the multipoints were more flexible.

[Lance E]

The old green gun from Fletcher was removed from our workshop about two years ago after it was found to be the cause of wrist problems with myself and another who used it, we now use the Cassese pneumatic gun with Cassese points (which last longer) and have no problems at all.

[Reynard]

The cost of the gun is around £60+vat at 17.5%.Maybe a little less than that.Not exactly a massive purchase I know but I want it to be reliable.

[Tish]

A great big THANKS to all of you. It would seem that Dermot was right! The Fletcher Push Mate does a wonderful job.
Thanks again for all of your input. I look forward to being a part of your group.
Tish smile.gif

[jvandy57]

Tish,
DO NOT SAY DERMOT IS RIGHT. It will give him a big head. By the Way where is Adona Arkansas?

[Dermot]

Jerry

I have a big head already, I cannot get hat's to fit my head, now this does not mean I have more brains it just means there is more room for my brain to rattle in.

[MiterMan]

Adona, Arkansas is located about 38 miles or so NW of Little Rock in Perry County. About 146 souls live there, and it has an area of 2.443 square kilometers. It's located at 35.03°N and 92.89°W, for those of you who travel by GPS. I just happen to know so much about it because my ex is from there. His momma has a nice little place up there still