hello!

elsa

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
Joined
Apr 1, 2005
Posts
378
Location
Maple Valley, Wa
I just wanted to say hello to everyone and introduce myself!!
I go by Elsa--an interesting nickname my husband gave me way back when we were dating!
I live in Maple Valley Wa. a small town about 30 miles southeast of Seattle.
I have been a framer for 5 years. Started the job knowing NOTHING!! have loved it since day 1.
I am one of two framers in our shop-I am the overworked, underpaid member of the team.
Our shop is part of a family owned craft store-we are lucky in that the big M and JoAnn's are too far away from us to be much compition-bad news is a Wallmart opened down the street in Jan.
Not sure if we are going to survive.
I am the mother of 3 teenagers and two cats.
I know I am a custom framer because I have been caught smelling freshly cut molding!
How do you know that YOU are a custom framer?
Happy Framing everyone--looking forward to getting to know you all better and maybe learning a thing or two!

Elsa
 
Welcome to the G, Elsa!

How did you find the Grumble?

I have to admit that I have never smelled a freshly cut stick of moulding. I have noticed the smell when the saw goes through it, but I've never picked up a stick and smelled the cut area. You may be more of a framer that I am.
 
Welcome Elsa. I know I'm either a picture framer, or a person who is accident proned by the look of my hands this morning. Two bevel cuts (hate those paper cuts) on my index finger and one glass cut on the top of the same hand. Should have done everything w/my left hand yesterday, I guess. (But as some basketball player for North Carolina State University said in an interview about how well he handled the ball [years ago], I'm not "amphibious"). I think his college major was basket weaving or some such specialized field! LOL
 
welcome to the Grumble Elso. The G has been a wealth of info for me, having just opened my shop just 5 months ago.
I have to go along with what Jframe said, "I have never smelled a freshly cut stick of moulding. I have noticed the smell when the saw goes through it, but I've never picked up a stick and smelled the cut area."
My ex-husband is a boat builder and he refinished an old writing box for me...... I love the smell of it... made out of teak....but I think it was the varnish. And when I was in Malaysia, a woodworker gave me a piece of freshly cut sassafras..... used to carry it around with me and sniff it every now and then.
Darn if I'm not going to start sniffing my freshly cut mouldings now!!!!!!!!
 
I also like to smell the new cut, especially of pine and walnut. Never thought others were like that as well.

I know I'm a custom framer by the big stack of bills on my desk,
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and the nice pile of checks I deposit each day.
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Oh, and the Mercedes out front is a clue also.
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Welcome to the G!!
 
Welcome Elsa! I figured out I "am what I am" when I had a choice of finishing college or frame.
I still think I made a good choice except when it comes time to bill paying.
 
Welcome Elsa,
I know you will find good friends here on the Grumble. I opened the last of October and everyday is a mystery and kind of exciting too. Do feel free to 'jump in' to a topic, or listen to the keyboards plunking out helpful knowledge and insight. It's great fun, and I learn something everytime I visit. I know that I am a framer also, I dream about it at night..... :D :D :D
 
Hi Elsa, welcome to the fray!

So, you started framing knowing nothing and now you know even less about it! (That's how I feel some days...!)
Overworked and underpaid? Heck, that's normal in this biz.

Oh, I know I'm a framer because:

I eat daytime snacks that do not leave marks on mat boards (pretzels=GOOD, cheese curls=BAD, orange gumdrops=GOOD, chocolate bars=BAD)

I don't wear nail polish for the same reason.

No rings or bracelets, either.

Open-toed sandals? What are those?

I got into hobbies based on their potential frameability. (crossstitch=YES, skydiving=NO, photography=YES, weightlifting=NO, vintage postcard collecting=YES, beanie baby collecting=NO)

I use picture frame moulding in every possible way I can conjure including: window valances, storm windows, crown moulding, business card caddies, cancelled check boxes, wall brackets, holiday wreaths and outside sign border.

I wrap my holiday gifts in brown kraft paper. And they're usually flat.

Speaking of holiday gifts? I shop for those in June. I can usually find them again by January!

I use mat boards to pick paint colors for my walls.

I can copy a LaMarche finish in .... 3 COLORS or less!

I reframe like crazy everytime I move.

Two words: sawdust boogers.

I use customer's discarded slightly scratched plexiglass for my tabletops at home.

I have absolutely no wall space left at home. But I am still buying art for myself.
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That's all for now,
Edie the moretocome goddess
 
Thank you so much everyone! What a warm and funny welcome--you had me LOLing!!
I have often visited ArtAffairs.com and someone there mentioned the grumble so thought I would check it out!

Happy Framing Everyone!
Elsa
 
Edie,

How could I forget about sawdust boogers! That was one of the sure signs of being a framer!

AnneL,

When I went to Museums 6 years ago I saw beautiful artworks, today all I see are gorgeous frames! I check out the cases that artifacts are displayed in and try to figure out how to replicate them! I don't know when it happened but I feel so jaded now.

Elsa,

thanks for the divergenary thread! Good to know that framers think about things other than framing even when it is all we can see around us.

~~~~~~~~~~~Frankenthread Alert~~~~~~~~

Makes me feel sorry for the guys that drive the septic tank trucks! Drive behind one on the way in today, The bumper sticker said Number one at number two! and 15000 gallons of you know what! AND the mudflaps had Winnie the Pooh instead of Yosemite Sam! Not a great job, but definitelya great sense of humour!
 
I went to Europe and came back with 3,800 pictures of "Big Freakin Gold Frames". . . oh, and I think there might have been some art in them.

You know you're a framer when your bumper sticker says "If it ain't baroque, it may be Rococco."
 
Edie, The sawdust boogers sum up a good day. I had not thought of that. Thank- you for the little chuckle..........
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