How not to finish a needlepoint/ needlework

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MichaelMixonPhotography

MichaelMixonPhotography

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Sep 19, 2011
Posts
555
Loc
Hoover, AL
I'm teaching a class tonight for the local chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild.

I wanted to find a few examples of false information related to framing needle works, and I ran across this jewel.

I believe it embodies most of the evils that can be unleashed on a poor unsuspecting needle work...

See if you loose count at the amount of incorrect information on this page...

http://www.wikihow.com/Back-a-Needlepoint-Piece
 
I love it when they come in with a yard-sale frame with three cracked corners and their needlework wrapped around cardboard and masking-tape on the back and they expect me to fit it in (without glass) and make some magic happen. For less than the cost of their frame, naturally. :icon11:

Then I get to break it to them that their mounting job is carp and it needs to be redone, and oh, btw, that frame is trash and not worth the time to get it back in shape and glass has to be on it, etc. etc. etc. And yes, it'll cost more than $20.

Thankfully here in Seattle I can't recall that having happened (I can count the number of needlework jobs I've done in the 16 years I've been here on just two hands), but back in Ohio, in one shop half our business came from needleworkers. After that experience, I'm glad to not to do hardly any.
 
Had a lady in yesterday enquiring about needlework framing. She mentioned self-adhesive board. :icon11: I gave (yes gave) her a bit of matboard from the scrap bin and a quick course on lacing.
 
Thanks for posting that link. Yes, the article could be edited, but I think it's better to respond to it with correct information in contrast. Ylva beat me to it and made a good reply. At the risk of embarrassing the probably-well-intended original author, we can hope more professional framers will respond, to verify the truth and consequences, without being condescending or offensive.
 
Thank you both for commenting on that article. I cringed when I read it and just wanted to wringe the [strike]author's[/strike] writer's neck.
 
I cringed at Kimberly King's reply. Of course it's tempting to be offensive and condescending with poseurs, but I'm afraid such negativity weakens our credibility and the strength of our message with most readers, who might appreciate a more positive offering of information.
 
I was debating with myself if I should put in that I was a professional framer or not, and decided not to as future readers would probably think we are too biased, since it's our living and we try to get people to come into our stores, so of course we would say this method was no good. It would be viewed as a typical sales pitch and I was trying to avoid that. Same reason I didn't use 'professional language'.

Having said that, I think more of us should post a reply, maybe make it a nice mix of professional framers and consumers. I liked your reply Jim, but knowing the average reader, it would probably go over their heads.
 
Oh, and I read the Kimberly reply and that made me cringe too. I was a little harsh as well maybe, but I would never slam any competitor (which is what the BBs are) the way she did. Just being an independent store doesn't mean that everyone knows what they are doing either.
 
Sad to say, but that was the normal way of mounting stitchery in the craft industry back in the 1980's. As a framer in a craft store, I had a hard time teaching my customers not to use the sticky board... At least until we stopped carrying it in our craft supplies.

Best way to show the difference is to mount a sad looking stitchery on the sticky board, and hang it next to a properly laced stitchery. Then you can show the customers the bubbles and wavy edges on the bad one, and show how nice the other one looks properly stretched. Works wonders.

My customers believed me a little more than some other framers, because I had my own stitchery on the wall. As a person who also taught stitchery, my customers understood that I truly wanted to protect the long hours needed to make the finished stitchery.
 
Well, I stopped when I saw the image used described as "lovely".

I actually had someone like this over the weekend. Bought a needlework piece at antique show/flea market from 1951, which had as a frame a liner from some Victorian frame, obviously cut down and nailed together, but chunks gone, coated with tarnishing radiator paint, and falling apart. Work was "laced" over god-knows-what material (looked like some sort of varnished cardboard). No glass, and was as filthy as the floor mats in my van. I had a special on some ready made frames, and she found something close, but wanted to keep her frame (original to the piece, don't you know), and suggested that "someone" could cut down this liner that was flopping around like a dying seal to fit into the frame. Naturally, at little or no charge, since "I didn't pay very much for this". Gee, what a surprise.
 
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