Floating a Print

CHR1S · Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:47 am

hirschy75 wrote:

Awesome. Are the frames from AF?

No I order most of my frames from Metropolitan Picture Framing (which is where these are from). Their website is http://www.metroframe.com

I'm into the gallery style frames which are very simple in design and that's basically all they sell. So their selection of frame styles is limited but the quality is top notch. I think they cater mostly to galleries and museums.

hirschy75 · Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:56 am

Nice I'll have to check them out. Do we get any discount cause we know you

CHR1S · Fri Jan 21, 2011 2:19 am

hirschy75 wrote:Nice I'll have to check them out. Do we get any discount cause we know you

I've been ordering from them for years and have yet to get a discount. So tell them I sent you and maybe I'll finally get one. They're most likely more expensive than a place like AF. But they are really helpful and they make quality frames. They can also handle larger sizes.

shoeless · Fri Jan 21, 2011 3:51 am

Thats one hell of a write up! Thanks for taking the time to document each step!
FWIW, it helped me be more confident about letting someone else do it

Maybe one day Ill give it a go on something cheap just to see how it turns out.
Cheers!

chalkdust · Fri Jan 21, 2011 4:06 am

those look super nice!! Those are some slick looking wooden spacers, too. Really great seeing those framed together.

Kdh12 · Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:19 am

Codeblue wrote:Lets see some better shots of the finished product.

CHR1S · Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:28 am

Kdh12 wrote:
Codeblue wrote:Lets see some better shots of the finished product.

I'll take some close-ups and more detailed photos of one of the prints later today. As I mentioned earlier the three prints are now hanging in a narrow hallway so I it was difficult getting a photo with all three in the same image. I'll pull one of the frames off the wall and photograph it in a room with better light and more room to move around.

IWish · Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:36 am

Beautiful work. Quality.

mazdog · Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:43 am

AWESOME THREAD!
Thanks for taking the time to document this. We need more of these threads to help take the mystery out of the world of framing, and show people that you can achieve great results and save lots of money by doing it yourself.

Those frames look great too, I've seen you mention that site before, they definitely are not the cheapest but the results look great.

CHR1S · Fri Jan 21, 2011 9:52 am

mazdog wrote:AWESOME THREAD!
We need more of these threads to help take the mystery out of the world of framing, and show people that you can achieve great results and save lots of money by doing it yourself.

Check out chalkdusts thread at the link below. He does a nice job framing and documenting the steps for a Jeff Boyes (Visual Technician) print of Bill Murray.

http://forum.expressobeans.com/viewtopi ... 31&t=62356

mazdog · Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:03 am

that one is a great one too.....learning a lot of tips lately!

IWish · Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:09 am

CHR1S wrote:
Step E.JPG
I mix and cook the wheat starch. I use a European sauce making pot that continuously stirs while it cooks. I mix 1 part wheat paste with 5 parts distilled water. It cooks and stirs for approx. 20 minutes. Once it cools down I strain it through a fine screen and then it’s ready for use. The final product has the consistency of toothpaste.

I wonder if one of those miniature crockpot/warmers would work? (For those of us on a budget.) Of course, one would have to stir, manually. They're fairly inexpensive. Again, just wondering...

CHR1S · Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:59 am

IWish wrote:
CHR1S wrote:
Step E.JPG
I mix and cook the wheat starch. I use a European sauce making pot that continuously stirs while it cooks. I mix 1 part wheat paste with 5 parts distilled water. It cooks and stirs for approx. 20 minutes. Once it cools down I strain it through a fine screen and then it’s ready for use. The final product has the consistency of toothpaste.
I wonder if one of those miniature crockpot/warmers would work? (For those of us on a budget.) Of course, one would have to stir, manually. They're fairly inexpensive. Again, just wondering...

You can prepare the wheat paste in any pot as long as it's not aluminum. The one I use is teflon coated. The difficult part is the constant stirring. And it can take up to half an hour of cooking and constant stirring before the paste is ready. Which is why I have a pot that stirs as it cooks.

University Products (www.universityproducts.com) is a supplier I use for my wheat starch as well as many other conservation and framing supplies. They have also have information on the proper procedure for preparing the wheat paste including a method of preparing it in a microwave. I've never used the microwave method so I can't vouch for how well that works. In their instructions they state that the the paste usually does not keep for more than a week. I wouldn't use it after 3 days. See the link below:

https://www.universityproducts.com/secu ... _728_1.pdf

s_k_y · Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:18 pm

looks great man, thanks for sharing the DIY.

CHR1S · Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:29 pm

Some of you have been asking for better shots of the finished job. I'm not the best photographer, but hopefully these help you see more details of the final product.

IMG_A.jpg

IMG_B.jpg

IMG_C.jpg