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Susan May

Susan May

PFG, Picture Framing God
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May 28, 2000
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moved to Clermont, Florida
On a thread about French lines, I was reminded that we (framers) are a creative bunch, and often use products that were intended for other uses.

For example:

Jim Miller uses sheer fabrics and netting to mount three dementional objects.
I used a book binding Bone to smooth the edges of my mat openings.
Bear uses scrapbooking Gell pens for drawing ink lines on Fabric.

What products do you use in your shop that were intended for other uses, and how do you use them?
 
A small paint scraper (about 1") to clean the carp off the backs of yard sale frames that customers bring in for refits. Works very well and is a great timesaver.
 
Great topic Susan.

I used to put rubber feet, designed for wooden chair legs, on my Phaedra clamps to give them a better gripping surface. This was a number of years ago, so they may have improved the clamps on newer models. I believe they were 1-1/8" diameter, but it's been years so I'm not 100% certain.

When I had Clearmount brand, I stuck soft Bumpons to the bottom of the clamps for the same purpose. Also mounted my single saw on a old dresser. Then, I could just open a drawer to puch the scraps and sawdust into it. Easy to empty too.
 
  • Plastic Bondo spreaders to smooth down mountings before placing them in the vacuum press. I also use them for smoothing out air trapped under laminating film before heating in the press.
  • Dental picks and tools!! They are invaluable for various uses in the frame shop and also for wood working!
  • Nail files and emery boards for smoothing the edges of "stuff", those who have used them know what I am saying.
  • Wall spackling, works well for filling in small damage in the cheaper compo type frames. Paint or use gilder's paste over it to finish off.
  • Body shop rubbing and buffing compounds. Great for getting that final finish on a repaired frame.
  • Scotch Brite pads, also good for final roughing prior to applying a finish. Also good for lowering the gloss on a repair to match the rest of the frame.
  • Small carpenter's level, I use the smallest bubble level I can find for leveling hung art. I have the crookedest? eyeballs when it comes to hanging art level! The bubble never lies!
  • Engineer's square, I use this for calibrating my saws and my v-nailer. A quick daily check on both with the square will lead to much better mitered joints than any sander.
  • Big wide rubber bands! They can clamp some really small items for gluing, and they are great for holding stuff in place while doing other work.
  • Dawn dishwashing detergent or any liquid hand soap, great for washing out your touchup brushes when using acrylics for touching up things.
  • Lint rollers, they pick up those pesky little flubs off of suede matboard without having to worry about leaving any residue.
  • Knuckle brushes, the kind you hold in one hand and scrub your hands with to remove grease and dirt. They also will remove debris from suede mat board and they also are stiff enough to give a nice nap to suede when brushed in a circular pattern. Tooth brushes also work well for this.
  • Ceramic sharpening stones, you can sharpen your fillet chopper blades to a razor's sharpness with these stones.
  • Clear fingernail polish, great for touchups on clear frame finishes where a "little dab'll do ya"!
  • Spit, best stuff I've found for keeping the inside of your mouth moist.
OK, that about does it before my first cup of coffee this morning! :kaffeetrinker_2: I have some more but I want to see what others have to say first.
 
An old record cleaner, the type that had that red felt like material on it, to clean lint off of photographs...including Ciba/Ilfa chromes. Yes you would not beleive how well this works. Of course be especailly gentle on chromes. And always go with the arrow!!!
 
At one time, picture framing wasn't an "important-enough" industry to have a lot of products made specifically for framers.

Pre-CMC, there was a product I considered but never purchased. It was a hand tool, apparently made for cutting large numbers of paper patterns for the garment industry. It was being marketed to framers as a tool for making intricate cuts on mats.
 
"Static Guard" spray from the laundry aisle. Spray it on a feather duster, then use the latter to dust off the glass and the work. Keeps the dust from coming back, especially in dry weather. Worth its weight in gold when you're working with plexi :)

Two CMC tricks:

(1) I had to touch up some scratches on a black frame. Black spray paint would have been perfect, but how to feather it in to the rest of the frame? Then I remembered an auto-body trick: it's called a "spray mask". It's a piece of cardboard with a hole in it... spray through the hole and the edges cause the spray to feather out nicely in a controlled fashion. Tossed a scrap into the CMC, cut out a small ellipse, et voila!

(2) I was holding a reception and I wanted something to set drink bottles on to protect a wooden tabletop. Went out back and spotted an oval textured mat fallout in the scrap bin. Looked wonderful! From now on if I need something to set something on, I'll cut a circle or oval on the CMC.
 
Ron Eggers said:
Pre-CMC, there was a product I considered but never purchased. It was a hand tool, apparently made for cutting large numbers of paper patterns for the garment industry. It was being marketed to framers as a tool for making intricate cuts on mats.
Click to expand...
I remember that- it had two black knob handles. I think I have a brochure for it somewhere in my archive of old stuff.
RoboFramer said:
We sell a lot of ribbon etc and I make my own 'bevelled accents" now and again.
Click to expand...
I love to make mine too. I've covered them with various kinds of marbled papers, fabric, giftwrap papers, plain white tape that I've faux painted, and even a piano keyboard pattern I printed out on the laser printer.
One of the best craft store supplies for me is the little plastic bottles of acrylic craft paints, which I use for detailing frame miters. Just a few minutes' effort will give you almost a finished-corner look. For correcting any roughness or divots, Elmer's wood filler (now sold in plastic tubes with screw caps) is a quick-drying solution. When dry it smooths well and takes a touch-up finish very nicely.
I've used rubber stamps and embossing powders to put decorative designs on mat surfaces. Then of course there's the scraped-pastel method for coloring French panels.
Whenever I'm near a craft-supply department I always scout out new toys for these kinds of uses.
:cool: Rick
 
Johnson Floor Wax: Re-tint for fast finish change
Carnuba Car Wax: Re-tinted for "hard shell" finish or swedish

Rottenstone & Pumice stone dust are polishing compound grits.... unless you want dust in your antique swedish.

Furniture (Burn In) repair wax: small scratchs or dings in simpler finished woods.

Old English (Red) Furniture Polish: 3 minute refinish on customers frame...

Mortise marker [6"]: Take out steel pin, redrill for lead sticks = mat marker

"Z" flashing: "Rail" Off-set clip that I can trust

Blender: re-pluping rag mat board for color-tinted shaped paper cast fixtures.... also handy for "Saturday after hours".

Disposable veterinary scalpels [smaller than human medicine]: carving mats

Key grinding "filings": "Aging" finish before egg-wash or wax wipe (tiny micro pits and scratches that aren't uniform)

Cork Floor pieces: Cushion for "v" nail ram on softer finishes
Expanded Polyethyl packing sheets: Used under cork for VERY delicate finishes

1/4", 1/2", 3/4" & 1" ball bearings: burnishing mats.

Candle: on guillotine's edges for certain exotic woods

Pencil: #1 soft lead pencil..... on tracks where chopper lifts slide.... [graphite]

Pencil Sharpener: tiny point on sticks when you need a strong point to apply glue, or poke or . . . (re-sharpen orange sticks)

Q-tips: Dabbing up glue, cleaning edges of rottenstone for better highlights, applying a dot of finish or paint.

Q-tips: "French" slice off swab will give you a softer orange stick for applying Amacco waxes into tiny cracks.

Pliers: Instant cross-hatching on flat gold fillet for 17th century match. [also great for getting the squeeze cap off of glue bottles.]

Tweezers: Great for nose hairs.... and other tiny things on fabric mats in places you can't reach with the lint roller.

Lay-out Dividers: When you need to replicate the position of screw-eyes, about 20 times.

Lighter fluid: cleaning REAL photos, removing adhesive goo from old stickers, removing maladroited "This side faces art, score other side".

Alchohol and cotton balls or tissue: wipe over old ATG and paper backing.... it lets go.

I'd have to go up to the shop to remember all the "Non" framing tools and tricks we have picked up over the years (Shar's 30 yrs, my 42).
 
I use a sheet rock sander to smooth the back edge of mats and gatorboard after cutting them to size.
 
Brown Shoe polish in the can. Works wonders on antique gold frames. Let it dry, buff it, and give it a spritz of acrylic the next day. Black shoe polish in the can again for brass plates that the engraver forgot to make black. Couldnt read the inscription.
 
Baer Charlton said:
"Z" flashing: "Rail" Off-set clip that I can trust
Click to expand...
> I often make custom offsets out of Electrical Cable Clips, which are small easily bendable and cuttable metal straps readily found in the elec. dept. at the hardware store.
Lay-out Dividers: When you need to replicate the position of screw-eyes, about 20 times.
Click to expand...
> In a situation like that I make a template out of a piece of scrap matboard that is the width of the frame and has a height exactly equal to the amount down from the top that the hardware goes. You mark the positions at the lower corners of the matboard on the frame back. In the center if the template is a hole thru which you can mark the spot for your standardized wire slack peak point.

> Your sharpened stick idea reminded me of another useful tool: popsicle ("craft") sticks. Various uses from strirring paint to making small emery boards. These can also be "french cut" to create angled wooden microspatulas for putty, glue, etc.

:cool: Rick

P.S.: You realize we're discussing this on the Grumble forum while the poor "Tips of the Picture Framing Trade" forum is completely neglected.
 
DREMMEL TOOL SET>>>good for so many things and you can't get enough of the many gizmos available for this tool... TOM...we use lots of the same stuff you listed, and having a sign shop also I use a lot of sign stuff in the frame shop...
 
covered all working surfaces with self healing mats made for sign shop cutting tables...the ones with 1 inch square grid marks give you fast reference for sizing stuff also

pounce wheels....different sizes.

dental tools...many uses in the shop.
 
MerpsMom said:
PVC plumbing tee slipped over the liftbar of a manual mat cutter. Makes a great kickstand.

MM
Click to expand...

That's brilliant! Cheap too!
 
Mary Kay cosmetics has these small flat, shovel-like makeup sample-thinger-mer-bobs. I call it a spatula. They're only about two inches long. I don't know what they use it for, really.
:icon45:

I use it with wood filler to fill in frame corners.

I also use toothbrushes for the same thing.

I got this idea from another shop who used em.and I'm hooked on em.
 
Yeah- used toothbrushes. Wash 'em in the dishwasher, then bring 'em in to work. They're great for removing excess glue from miter joints, getting scuffs out of suede matboard, and... brushing things.
:cool: Rick
 
Bic Pen caps. Used them to apply wax in frame corners.

Post-It's - marked mats for jobs, so no one will use the mats for other jobs.
 
Post-it Notes for shims - you can peel off exactly as many as you want and they stay in place under the corner of your monitor, printer, whatever.
 
couture's gallery said:
covered all working surfaces with self healing mats made for sign shop cutting tables...the ones with 1 inch square grid marks give you fast reference for sizing stuff also
Click to expand...

I love those self-healing mats, but in my experience they're frelling expensive!. Have you found a less-costly source, or did you just bite the bullet as an investment?
 
Jim..... I use the mats in sign shop and had lots in stock....can't remember where I got the mats, but all sign supply wholesalers have them at wholesale to the trade...you should be able to get wholesale if you have the usual bus. lic.anbd tax serts....look up sign supplies in most major metros or on line google sign supplies.
 
I also use dental tools for various things.

I use a very small handheld vacuum made for cleaning computers to vacuum suede mats and final cleaning of recessed areas in shadow boxes.
 
Hockey puck ... for a custom replacement foot for my v-nailer. 1" thick hard rubber, cut on a band saw.

One is a quasi pie shape and the other is "L" shaped.... A threaded bolt with the head cut off fits into the end of the pneumatic plunger. A hole was predrilled into the puck 1/2". Any glue buildup can be washed away.
 
Cloth Diapers for glass cloths.
4" wide plastic spackle/putty knife for fabric wrapping (I cut the handle off.)
1/16 spacer with adhesive (only 1" peeled off) for that nasty clinker
Bamboo, split in half and sanded down until almost flat on one end. Great for separating mats from anything.
Cardboard tube to reverse roll and remove paper coating on acrylic
Old fashioned grease pencil to mark glass remnant
White pencil for marking black core mats
Clear dressmakers ruler for everything
Broken retractable tape measure cut to 8-10" with curled metal end to measure wire distance from top of frame when doing multi-job.
My nose to find center when hanging art. Both arms out and index fingers on wall where sides are supposed to be, then lean in. Your nose knows!

My all time favorite...77 to fight off wasps and bees. Their little wings stick together and they fall out of the sky.
 
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