a little ART CAN'T HURT

projects at work

The out-of-ordinary projects have been coming in of late and I've been crazy-busy!

It's a good "problem" to have!

The Notre Dame Hockey team were CCHA Champions this year and made it to the NCAA Frozen Four.

I was given the poster signed by the team and decided to add some deco corners to the mat and mount an ND hockey puck in the center. This now hangs in a local pub.

This jersey is an ND women's volleyball jersey. #8 is Frenchy's number (their setter) and it's signed by the team.

My framing techniques when mounting & framing jerseys varies - some I pre-stretch with matboard or foamcore inside the shirt to fill it out. Others I cut an opening to pull thru the lower half of the jersey so it doesn't bunch up and look awkward. This is one of those jerseys I had to pull thru to the back of the matboard. Below the signatures the jersey extends another 8 inches or so and it wasn't needed and cutting the jersey is NOT an option. 

This piece was a retirement gift for the manager of our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Special projects require special care.

When framing objects as in a shadowbox you need to be specific with your framer about what you want the end result to look like.

I prefer to lay out and measure objects on the spot so the customer can share their thoughts about the project with me up front. I always take a photo of the layout or sketch a detailed diagram of the items and have the customer review it before placing any supply orders or taking any deposits.

Make sure your framer does the same.

Remember, these are YOUR projects and they should be how YOU want them, not how your framer tells you they think they should be.

Have any framing questions or projects you need help with? Send me an email and I'll be glad to help you!

local read

Where did last week go?

Time flies when you're sick.

I have polka-dots in my throat. Not pretty.

I worked from home (did the books, ordering, etc) but ventured into the shop a little on Thursday, Friday & Saturday.

But this little find made my day! I'm featured in a local mag along with a few other framers. 

The interview happened a few months ago and I sort of forgot about it.

 

All the photos on the left page are of projects I've done. I was really happy with what they wrote too - almost word-for-word what we talked about over the phone.

From L to R: Beatles album & cards framed, baby clothes framed, badges framed, glass canes framed.

Hey, I'll take free publicity anytime!

puzzling night

There's a project I've been working on for some time.

I referenced it in this post.

I received a few emails asking me what it was I was working on.

Well, here it is!

It's the world's largest puzzle...framed! (technically there is one larger that just debuted in early 2008 - but this one was in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records)

Friday we had a special event at the shop. It was a family-gathering of sorts.

Lucene Harstine, the woman who spent 2 years assembling this puzzle saw it framed for the first time. Her family had secretly contacted me months ago and commissioned me to frame it, as a gift AND surprise to Lucene.

(Lucene, in turquoise coat, seeing the framed puzzle for the first time)

(Lucene & her eldest son, Dan - she was in shock and very emotional and that was BEFORE she realized all the family that was there too!)

Lucene is a local teacher and started doing puzzles when her kids were young (she has 8 children!) to keep them busy during Christmas Break each year.

It became a game for the kids to search out bigger and more difficult puzzles to complete.

After they were grown and left home, Lucene continued doing puzzles.

Two years ago her eldest son and his wife bought this puzzle from FAO Schwartz as a "gag gift" for Lucene.

They never thought she would complete it.

So this is a big thing for their family!

(Lucene, in green blouse, greeting family who drove in from Ohio)

(There were reporters there to interview Lucene as well - it was a busy night!)

The family brought in hors dourves, drinks and I think the last bunch of them left around 9:30pm!

The gathering that night ended up including 7 of her 8 children and 13 of her 14 grandchildren!

It was beautiful - the pride everyone was beaming with, the family ties and love all around!

Everyone was so delightful and fun! The kids were even good - and there were A LOT of them!

They were just so darn proud of their Grandma!

(the kids loved hanging out in the front window with the puzzle)

The job was a challenge but an honor at the same time. They entrusted me with this prized possession, and that's never something I take lightly. Whether it's a large puzzle or a small child's drawing; I take good care of your pieces.

So, if you ever wondered how large an item can be and still be framed: 9.75 ft. X 7 ft. 

So far...

more baby clothes

This silk dress with bloomers is a piece I just finished working on. It's approx. 75 years old and had a few stains, but with some creative fabric gathering and stitching I was able to hide many of the soiled spots.

The beaded ornament included was made by a family member of my client. It is from 1890 - we scanned the back of it before shadowboxing it and placed the scan on the back of the piece so future generations could see the writing and the date.

Working on pieces such as this one take a lot of patience and attention to detail. If you have something like this and want to have it custom framed, ask to see something (or pictures of pieces) that the framer has done in the past. I've seen so much work pressed between glass and fabric (a no-no) or pulled so taunt that the clothing resembles a bear-skin-rug and your piece deserves the best of framing practices. 

phenomenal woman

(the quarter is to give you a size representation with which to compare the detail Sylvia's drawings have)

I recently had the honor of framing nearly fifty pieces of artwork by Sylvia Gross Bubalo. Her work will be in an upcoming show at Goshen College's Hershberger Art Gallery.

I had the opportunity to meet Sylvia a few times before she passed away last year. She would call my shop and make an appointment for me to come to her home (as she was home-bound) to discuss matting or framing she needed to have done. I enjoyed our little visits. She was very articulate and wrote beautiful poetry. Upon meeting her and learnng more about her background I remember thinking of the poem 'Phenomenal Woman' by Maya Angelou and how Sylvia was just that. Phenomenal.

I only am putting a few snippets of one of her drawings in this post, as I don't want to take away from the upcoming show. Her paintings are full of color and with each piece of art I worked on I kept proclaiming it as my "new" favorite - when in fact I could never choose just one.

If you want to be stunned, and I do mean profoundly stunned, then you must check out her show running October 26 thru December 12. Info is available here.

baby clothes

How sweet! These are the baby clothes of my client and her brother. The toys are little trinkets they played with when they were younger too.

The piece was finished out in very neutral tones, as to not overpower the light colors of the outfits.

Fabric was wrapped around each piece of the background, including the sides, which helped give the piece a warmer feel. Anytime fabric is used in this way instead of a paper/rag mat board the piece will feel more personal, but it takes alot more time and effort.

Each gather of the little dress is stitched into place - it won't budge at all. No glues, no plastic tags, just handstitched cotton thread color-matched to each outfit.

 

a bit rusty

This is my 250th post.

Hello all!

I'm glad to be back.

It's been awhile - but there was much to do. I've been swamped actually.

Absence does make the heart grow fonder - I'm looking forward to sitting down and formatting some pics on this rainy weekend and do some sharing and catching-up with everyone.

 

Here's one of the many projects that kept me busy.

I first gave you a peek at this project in this post.

Seven antique glass canes, all in a row.

Sixty-three inches tall. Not me - the frame.

It's been delivered, hung and the clients are thrilled!

*sigh*

Life is good!

it's in the details

It's a hand-painted original from Tibet...

...the quarter is there so you can reference the size.

The little blue guy is something else....

...never a dull moment around here.

fragile

I had this project come into the shop the other day.

These are handmade glass walking canes. Not functional, in any way, but beautiful and real collectors items. That would be why they're wrapped up in 300 lbs. of bubble wrap right now and currently housed in the Batcave located in an undisclosed location.

This particular collection is going to be shadowboxed for my client. It will be a truly magnificent piece when finished! Meanwhile, I'm sweating bullets just thinking about the risk involved with working with such delicate pieces! I mean, I'm careful and all, but this much glass is just tempting fate!

The longest cane here is 56" long - 56 INCHES!!!

That's going to be one heck of a shadowbox!

Stay tuned....

back to work

Cool piece I framed a few weeks ago - it's an ink doodle done by a local artist on a paper tablecloth while he was eating at a local restaurant. (see the coffee stains on the upper left hand corner of the doodle?)

He had ripped the doodle out of the tablecovering when he left, so the edges on the top three sides were all torn. I needed to back the doodle with something white as it is thin paper and wouldn't show up the ink as well if I didn't - so I traced the outline of the ripped edges very precisely onto white foamcore and then cut it out by hand. Then I mounted the artwork onto the foamcore with an acid-free scrapping adheasive and spaced it under the glass so it would kind of "float" in the frame.

It turned out really nice - but this was one of FOUR pieces that we did this way. He likes to doodle, what can I say? Two of the other pieces were on smaller paper napkins and the fourth was drawn on a large, white cotton napkin he actually drew while Doug & I were at dinner with him a few months ago! 

Fun to do! Sharp-looking pieces on the wall!

***that's not a "plain" black mat behind the doodle either - it's a cool Michael Graves patterned mat that's called Network and actually has tiny black-on-black squares all over it - VERY subtle but VERY cool!***