Hello Betty,
I made my post about my article before reading the rest of the issue. Great article(s).
Thanks to the others for the compliments. My route to framing has been a little different than some. I was a part-time antiques dealer and a collector of ephemera. I started my web site 2 1/2 years ago as a an part-time effort after going to Paul Cascio's school to learn framing.
Myself and a partner just opened (January) our own Antique store (First Street Antiques) in Lehighton, PA. In addition to antiques, My partner does vintage lighting (First Street Lighting - rewiring, rebuilding, refurbishing, installation) and I now have a brick and morter presence for framing (First Street Framing). I soon have to follow Betty's advice and do a web site for these.
I just came back from Decor Expo with empty pockets after buying the rest of the equipment I need for a full retail presence. For the web framing I had a Morso chopper, 40" Logan 650, VN42, an Acrylic panel saw, an acrylic table saw, a Fletcher 3100 and a full woodworking shop (table saw, band saw, radial arm saw, drill press, sanding station, planer, joiner, grinder and all the usual hand and power tools). At Expo I purchased a Seal Vacuseal 4468, a 60" Phaedra Chronomat and a 2 saw 11' Phaedra system for metals and wide woods. I have done some framing as a vendor in a previous Antique store, but am now gearing up for a full retail experience.
It may be due to the antique environment, but most of my jobs so far are for canvas reproductions, shadowboxes for collectibles and conservation framing for ephemera and old photos. I have just set up relationships for canvas reproductions and ornate premades (although with the new saw system, I will probably join my own if they are under 6").
I expect this to be my main brick and morter focus along with digital restorations and canvas transfers along with paroramic reproductions from the late 1800s of the Mauch Chunk (3 miles from me) area for both the locals and tourists.
Some of the things I am seeing already are exciting. I just finished a frame for a very old photo of a little boy where the boy is raised up from the rest of the photo. I don't know the correct term for this kind of photo (can anyone tell me? - embossed?) but the raised portion was too thick for a normal double mat so I floated the mat 3/16" with black foamcore which turned out very nice. If I had my new mat cutter, I might have used an 8-ply but the float effect worked well.
I talked to another customer today that has a leather jacket with signed artwork on the back about doing a hanging 2 sided shadow box (probably using LJ Boxers with a hinged door on one side (probably barrel hinges) so he can take it out occasially. Another antique customer today brought it some of their grandfather's old old metal working tools and pictures of their grandfather in the 20s to talk about another shadowbox.
Another customer is bringing in some monster sized (he guesses 40"x70") old movie posters for framing.
I read a number of threads here about the difficulties of starting a new retail framing store. The antique side of our store and my web sales mean that I don't have to worry about starving while this part gets going, but it seems to be getting off to a good start anyway. It's exciting.
Didn't mean to turn this into a frankenthread (I love frankenthreads) but I've had a good week.
