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Michelle Lynn

Michelle Lynn

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Oct 4, 2023
Posts
8
Loc
Metuchen, New Jersey
Business
Forget Me Not Framing
Hello everyone! I'm new to the group, looking to meet some people and get some help as I venture into picture framing. I stumbled upon this as my daughter is an art student at RISD and I just can't buy anymore frames at Michaels! I really want to learn about framing because she has so much art that I want to display, maybe sell or give to friends and family. I recently took a class with Paul Casio which was great and lots of fun. I just set up a company and a shop in my garage and ordered some supplies. Now I'm in the practicing stage. I have a lot of peices to start working on. Also this is a retirement career. My previous careers were a social worker and computer programmer.

So now my question: Someone gave me 3 small needlepoint pieces. I wanted to redo the matting from ovals to square. But when I took off the old mats which were brown, I found brown stains all around this thing. Is there any way to get that off? I'm not about to try an oval mat. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas?

Thank You!
Michelle
 
Welcome Michelle,
You will hear this many times on this forum, "We are picture framers and not art conservators".
Stain removal is best left to an art conservator, especially on someone else's property. Depending on the type of damage even a trained art conservator might have less than successful results. Then there is the customers expectations as to how "clean/good" the stain removal/reduction was.
 
I hate to say it but you may have to stick with oval mats to cover the damage on these. Go ahead and replace them with alpha cellulose or rag mats so it doesn't acidify any worse than it already has. You may be able to farm out the actual mat cuts through your supplier--some distributors will do mat cuts for you with their CMCs. Or, it's ok to look around for another independent framer to make friends with as well. They are useful allies to learn from and lean on, especially when it comes to needing help with something slightly out of your wheelhouse.
 
Welcome to the G, Michelle! You find a great place to learn more about framing.

Talk to your customer and show her what the previous mat has done. You are a framer, you are not a textile conservator. Never experience on someone else's art. I rarely turns out well and then it has become your problem.

When taking things in, always open it up in front of the customer. No matter how many other people are waiting. You just never know what you will find and the surprises are rarely pleasant.

Unfortunately, as Mary Beth already said, you will probably be stuck with cutting another oval mat or send this to a textile conservator in hope they can do anything with it.
 
Thank you everyone for the replies! I definitely do not want to get into art conservation. I was hoping for some miracle fix but the oval mat replacement is the simplest thing to do. These were given to me as a gift so I'll see about new oval mats. I just prefer the square. Thank you Ylva on your tip about opening these things up in front of a customer. I'll remember that one. This thing was really a disaster on the inside. Too bad because the cross-stitch was really nice.

Thank you ! Great information from you all.
 
As MaryBeth said, unless you (your customer) want to have this treated by a textile conservator, you are best to stick with an oval opening mat to hide the damage already done. However, to give a more rectangular feel to the finished look, you can top the oval mat with one or more rectangular mats. The look would be similar to a spandrel.
:cool: Rick
 
Hi, Michelle Lynn. Welcome to the Grumble! :)

So great that you've taken Paul's course, and glad that you enjoyed it. About the cross-stitches, were the outsides of the original mats oval or square?
 
Shayla said:
Hi, Michelle Lynn. Welcome to the Grumble! :)

So great that you've taken Paul's course, and glad that you enjoyed it. About the cross-stitches, were the outsides of the original mats oval or square?
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Thank You! I'm really looking forward to framing. The originals are oval and a dark faded brown. Didn't look nice at all.
 
Rick Granick said:
As MaryBeth said, unless you (your customer) want to have this treated by a textile conservator, you are best to stick with an oval opening mat to hide the damage already done. However, to give a more rectangular feel to the finished look, you can top the oval mat with one or more rectangular mats. The look would be similar to a spandrel.
:cool: Rick
Click to expand...
I like that thanks. I'll play around with it and see how it looks.
 
Congratulations, Michelle Lynn. You have managed to summon up about 150 years of framing experience in one post.
Welcome to the G, and don't stop asking questions.
Love the name of your shop.
 
Michelle Lynn said:
Thank You! I'm really looking forward to framing. The originals are oval and a dark faded brown. Didn't look nice at all.
Click to expand...
If the outsides of the originals are oval, as well as the inside, you might explore changing that. You could do a double mat, with an oval opening underneath, and a wider rectangular opening over that. Then, the frame could be rectangular. And for the oval, you could do it two ways. Either cut an oval opening, with a nice pretty bevel, or cut the best oval you can, then make it a fabric wrap. The fabric would cover the bevel and is more forgiving. For that matter, it wouldn't even need a bevel. And Frank's Fabrics has great videos on Youtube, about making fabric mats.

Whatever you do, we're glad you're here!
 
I may be a bit of a cynic, but it occurs to be that these would be useful demo pieces
to wheel out to customers to show the results of indifferent framing.
I have a little watercolor (nothing spectacular) that has no mat and is stuck to the glass in several places.
I bought it from a lady for real money (not big money) to show to people the likely consequences
of glass contact. 😕
 
wpfay said:
Congratulations, Michelle Lynn. You have managed to summon up about 150 years of framing experience in one post.
Welcome to the G, and don't stop asking questions.
Love the name of your shop.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'm looking forward to being a part of this group. Everyone is so knowledgeable. I like the name of your shop too.
 
Shayla said:
If the outsides of the originals are oval, as well as the inside, you might explore changing that. You could do a double mat, with an oval opening underneath, and a wider rectangular opening over that. Then, the frame could be rectangular. And for the oval, you could do it two ways. Either cut an oval opening, with a nice pretty bevel, or cut the best oval you can, then make it a fabric wrap. The fabric would cover the bevel and is more forgiving. For that matter, it wouldn't even need a bevel. And Frank's Fabrics has great videos on Youtube, about making fabric mats.

Whatever you do, we're glad you're here!
Click to expand...
Thank you, I will check out the videos. I'd like to see how to do that.
 
Michelle Lynn said:
Hello everyone! I'm new to the group, looking to meet some people and get some help as I venture into picture framing. I stumbled upon this as my daughter is an art student at RISD and I just can't buy anymore frames at Michaels!
Click to expand...
Michelle,

I just wanted to welcome you to the forum!

Our frame shop (where this forum is hosted) is just 4 miles away from RISD. Small world! :)

Mike
 
Michelle Lynn said:
Thank you, I will check out the videos. I'd like to see how to do that.
Click to expand...
Another great resource is frametek.com. Their article library is wonderful.
 
Prospero said:
I may be a bit of a cynic, but it occurs to be that these would be useful demo pieces
to wheel out to customers to show the results of indifferent framing.
I have a little watercolor (nothing spectacular) that has no mat and is stuck to the glass in several places.
I bought it from a lady for real money (not big money) to show to people the likely consequences
of glass contact. 😕
Click to expand...
It is a good idea to have samples that show the results of past improper practices. It really helps customers understand what is involved "behind the scenes" and to validate their expenditures on good framing. I made this display out of materials salvaged from a reframing job.
Frame It Right.JPG


The pointer lines are made of old, oxidized braided picture wire.
:popc: Rick
 
Rick Granick said:
It is a good idea to have samples that show the results of past improper practices. It really helps customers understand what is involved "behind the scenes" and to validate their expenditures on good framing. I made this display out of materials salvaged from a reframing job.
View attachment 46686

The pointer lines are made of old, oxidized braided picture wire.
:popc: Rick
Click to expand...
That’s a great idea, I will definitely do something like that.
 
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