Tips for framing pastels

VixSA

Grumbler
Joined
Apr 29, 2024
Posts
40
Loc
Cape Town
Business
PictureBox Framing
Hi all :-)
I have my first job framing pastels coming in later this week and I'm trying to work through the process in my head beforehand. I wondered if anyone has any tips and tricks to share? The pieces are already mounted on board (by the artist) and she wants them framed without a mat. I'll obviously use spacers to keep the art away from the glass. I assume that it's best to do as much as possible with the art facing upwards to avoid getting pastel dust on the inside of the glass? I imagine that putting the flex points/brads in might be fiddly, but do-able from underneath. I'm trying to figure out how I'll paper the back without turning it face down though (this is how I usually finish my frames and the artist is keen for this on hers as well).
Any tips?
Vickie
 
Find a piece of board the same thickness as the one the pastel is mounted to and use it to shoot your flexitabs in. Then you can just bend them back to fit the artwork, that plus finishing the back can be done vertically.
 
What Robo said. It also helps to drill the hanger holes before adding the art. As for the backing, I'm interested to hear what others do. Our framing design board is upright and slightly tilted, with a ledge at the bottom, so we lean pastels on that, to apply the dust cover. If you have an artists easel, perhaps that would work? In my experience, the fitting of a pastels varies greatly, depending on the artist's method of application. One local pastels used thin layers, spraying all, and then adding one light, unsprayed layer at the top, and hers were easy to fit. Another didn't use spray, and her thick pastels were very dusty. It's helps to track your time, and if one takes longer than usual, make sure to include extra in the quote, the next time. (And, when giving a first time quote, I might add a bit extra, just in case.)
 
What Robo said. It also helps to drill the hanger holes before adding the art. As for the backing, I'm interested to hear what others do. Our framing design board is upright and slightly tilted, with a ledge at the bottom, so we lean pastels on that, to apply the dust cover. If you have an artists easel, perhaps that would work? In my experience, the fitting of a pastels varies greatly, depending on the artist's method of application. One local pastels used thin layers, spraying all, and then adding one light, unsprayed layer at the top, and hers were easy to fit. Another didn't use spray, and her thick pastels were very dusty. It's helps to track your time, and if one takes longer than usual, make sure to include extra in the quote, the next time. (And, when giving a first time quote, I might add a bit extra, just in case.)
I do have an easel, so I'll definitely give that a try! Thanks for the suggestions :-)
 
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