A Wee Rant About Good and Bad Framing

When we started this blog last year, the intent was to highlight cool projects and show new pieces from our artists.  I never really envisioned this as a vehicle for teaching object lessons, and I promised myself that I wouldn't rant about bad framing...and, I've resisted the temptation for over a year now.  But now, two projects taken in for framing in June have driven me to write a small rant, with an explanation to follow.

The Rant: one of my catch phrases when talking about framing is, "Any idiot can put a frame on a picture, and many do."  The implication here is that it doesn't take really any training or knowledge to smack stuff together and call it framing.  In fact, more than half of the "professional" framers working today have never had any formal training, never attended a trade show or educational seminars, never learned anything from anyone other than the person who originally taught them to frame, be that a parent, a former boss, a book or simply hands-on experience.  Framing isn't rocket science, but there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, and as in many fields, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.  Our understanding of how artwork reacts with the environment and with items included in the framing package has grown exponentially in the 19+ years I've been framing, and failure to keep abreast of this expanded knowledge base is doing a disservice to one's customer base.  For many things - pieces used as decorative art, like posters, etc. - it technically doesn't matter that the framing package is literally destroying the artwork over time, but for original art and things of sentimental value, you really should do some research and make certain that your framer actually has some formal training.  I could go on here for days, but I'll spare you.  I will show examples of good and poor use of adhesives in subsequent blog posts, but with the 4th of July weekend coming up, I've got to get back to framing!  I'll leave you with a quick photo of Roxie basking in the sun.

Cheers, and Happy Independence Day!

Take a Chill Pill!

Here's the completed shadowbox for which I posted a teaser photo yesterday.  This was a fun one!  Here's the story: the box was built for a group of emergency medicine physicians in Newark, New Jersey, as an end-of-year gift for their boss, the Emergency Medicine Program Director.  The Director, who shall remain nameless, is reputed to be just a bit...umm...intense at times.  One of the docs jokes occasionally about taking a chill pill, and so we created this for them.

The box is obviously modeled after those hallway fire extinguishers in boxes marked, "In Case of Fire, Break Glass."  (In doing some research for the project, I did run across a photo of a chainsaw in a box - the lettering said, "In Case of Zombie Attack, Break Glass".)  This one contains a giant prescription bottle of "chill pills" and the directions for use state to take "1 tab every hour as needed for stress caused by residents," and to refill "Often - very, very often."  The capsules are actually pill containers - they're roughly the size of a really big grape, and each one is labelled "Chill."  There's an attached hammer in a cute floral pattern (the Director is a woman) and the glass is pre-broken with the capsules spilling out of the bottle - as if we'd captured the moment of ultimate need.  It's tough to see in the first photo, so here's a detail shot with the light reflecting on the cracks...

All in all, a fun tongue-in-cheek tribute to stress relief!

Teaser

What the H... is that?  Well, at this point it's merely a teaser photo.  We're building a shadowbox as a gift for someone with a bit of a reputation for being high stress.  What you see is the backing, with a little opalescent moulding shelf, upon which currently sits a giant Chill Pill.  The finished shadowbox will be quite funny and should be completed some time tomorrow, but until then I thought I'd upload a photo because I didn't update the blog last week.  Stay tuned to see the finished product...