Gallery

A frame should be beautiful, and framing should either tell or prompt a story.

Whether it's a favorite poster or a treasured heirloom, in a standard frame or a custom finished frame, I'd love to talk to you about how I can help you protect, beautify, and present your project.

The designs presented here are a sampling of my experience. Let me share a few stories with you.

As a PPFA Certified Picture Framer (CPF) with more than 40 years experience in the picture framing and museum fields, I'm ready to make your framing project a reality.

Process

Comparing mat proportions.

Different arrangements of matting and presenting artwork.

Same art, in black or white frame. Which do you prefer?

Project: Custom cut mat.

This hand-drawn map was initially framed by someone else. They put it in a frame square to the paper, with no mat. The margins of the art are very narrow, so I can understand why the first framer took that approach.

The customer wasn't happy with it, and asked me what options they had. I drew a couple of renderings in SketchUp to help them visualize my ideas.

I ended up aligning the image vertically with the fence line in the center, which made the top horizontal, and contoured the cut along the jog on the left and the tree at the top. The sides and bottom followed the art, and a second opening with the school's logo filled the extra negative space at the bottom.

The final product.

Re-using an old frame for one of my photographs.

I went back and forth about showing the whole image, and finally decided that the production was interesting. The subject is one of my favorite places on the planet, the artist is one of my favorite people.

A nice burl frame on a sweet etching of a tree, presented with a simple, single mat.

Project: Large frames.

This is the largest frame I've ever built. The art is 81 x 108 inches and was made by the artist dancing on the paper.

Here's the initial construction design sketch. The frame is a truss box, made of four interlocking pieces of maple lumber. Glued together, each piece reinforces the other to make a large, straight and relatively light frame.

Another large frame. The art is 105 x 77 inches

A large frame for a collage at the Walker.

67 x 160 inches

What to do with prints that you've been saving for too long? Frame them!

The color and texture on the frame just feels right on this print.

A sweet vinage frame gets new life.

Red lacquer frame for a lovely wood block print. The paper margins are tight, so we floated it, centering the image in the frame.

The decoration on this frame felt like waves for this boat.

A wide, flat wood frame compliments the tone of the print, and the mat colors subtly flatter the artwork.

The bold blue colors of this print defied matting, so a double frame was used instead.

A pair of etchings, matted to coordinate with the different toned papers, and set off in matching ebonized drawing frames. They can be hung as a set, or independently.

Artwork done when the (now adult) artist was a child

This vintage print looks period correct in a slim walnut frame.

Three Polaroid photos matted into one frame

Grids

Sets of images in matching frames installed in a grid to present as a single artwork.

A multiple image work framed to hang in a grid. Each frame is equipped with a cleat hanging system to make installation a breeze.

The same artwork in a different museum. (And in a different order!)

Photos of education program participants. There's a new group, and thus a new photo, every year. They're framed to coordinate rather than match.

These painted canvas movie posters were all different sizes. I designed a system to make custom sized stretcher bars. The frames are on the inside!

I framed these posters in the same moulding to create a unified grouping that doesn't get in the way of the individuality of each piece.

The simple beauty of a single white mat and either white or black handmade frame.

Project: Nine-panel collage.

The artwork is a collage composed of gallery exhibition announcement cards that the artist worked with further collage and embellishment, which were then arranged on panels in eight rows and six columns and mounted with photo corners to a white rag substrate. There were nine panels in all. The work was displayed in the museum's new cafe, so a stable support was a must. The rag board was glued to Dibond, and the Dibond was glued to an aluminum strainer. The panels were hung with cleats and the artwork was not glazed.

The SketchUp drawing of the whole layout. The alternating colors are to differentiate the panels.

Squaring up the aluminum frame

Lining up the collage elements for mounting--one of nine panels

The installed collage. Overall size is 77 x 386 inches. The artist is waiting to be photographed in front of the completed work.

Original watercolor in a natural maple frame.

Project: Reframing The Large Blue Horses.

I ended up refinished this frame three times to get the right look in the gallery. The frame was made from four different pieces of wood glued together. Check out the slide show below to see the whole process.

First finish

Second finish

Third and final finish

The Large Blue Horses

A page from the artist's sketchbook.

A tasteful certificate presentation.

Platinum Palladium print matted to show the entire, uncropped image.

Double frame to exaggerate the scale of this colored pencil drawing. The glazing is between the two frames, making the small green frame work like a mat.

The design process in ... well, in process.

Painting of the bride in a custom colored painted frame.

Top mat lifted to allow room for a cockled, float mounted watercolor.

This frame is finished in birch bark found while on the beach vacation. So the frame and the photos both commemorate the trip.

A custom-made wide frame made of oak with an ebony finish for a tiny painting. The art is about 5 x 7 inches. The wide ebonized ash frame acts as a mat.

A proud artist posing by his work (and my frame) at his exhibition opening.

Sentimental watercolor painting

On the left is an etching, on the right is a wood engraving, each set off by hand-done French lines and panels.

Project: Hand-made walnut frame.

This etching of dress forms is presented in a hand-made, beveled walnut frame with a shellac and rubbed wax finish.

Side view of the bevel.

This illustration from Winnie the Pooh is displayed on a stand on a dresser. A reproduction of Mary Poppins' umbrella keeps it company. (I made the umbrella handle, too!)

Oil pastel drawing in slim gallery frame.

An inexpensive reproduction of one of my favorite paintings in a re-used vintage frame. Double matted to flatter the green tones.

A pair of wood engravings, dressed up with French lines and watercolor panels on the mats.

Project: Ways to display 3D objects without glazing.

Necklace mount. A bent acrylic semicircle supports the artwork, a stem fastened to the case wall is the point of contact.

This blouse mount is a collaboration with a co-worker. She made the form, I worked out the wall mount.

Object mounted to painted panel, which is then hung on the wall. This gives the piece spacial definition.

A family heirloom, preserved in museum matting and mounting.

This textured frame provides a simple but attractive presentation for the family portrait. (The print over the fireplace was featured earlier in the gallery.)

Pencil portrait of a prized pup.

New frame made to look like an old frame using a photo as reference.

Acrylic stand for a Joseph Beuys sculpture.

Bent acrylic mount for an accordion book.

Objects set on a fabric backing and presented in an acrylic box frame.

Project: Mount 3D piece to see both sides.

An acrylic mount on mirror to show all sides of this piece of ear jewelry which was featured in an article in Vogue, February, 1968.

Wire mockup, used as a pattern.

The finished mount was made of acrylic rod fixed to mirrored acrylic. Here's the mount without the sculpture.

Framed pictures remind you how fast kids grow up!

Cherry frame flatters floral.

A very embellished work flattered by the natural beauty of a wood frame. Just enough width to see the grain, but without being bulky.

Project: Custom profile.

I worked out the shape on a straight cut-off of the material I was using.

The "sketch" was used to adjust the saw blade angle.

A cut-off of the final moulding. The hard edges were eased by sanding.

A bespoke pine frame for an artist's "fake Cezanne" which she will go on to embellish and finish herself.

The wide frame has strength to carry the hangers, so no strainer is needed. The canvas is fitted with a proper backing board and is held in the frame with springs that make it easy to remove and replace the painting.

Joining the corners in the mitre vise.

Ready for art!

Textile works mounted and framed in a five-sided acrylic box.

Three images in one frame.

Project: Thurbur.

This is a portrait of Thurber, the beloved pet of one of my oldest and dearest friends.

One time Thurber came to visit us, and parked himself on the oak floor near the door, in the sunbeam.

I tore up that section of flooring to make a repair, but saved the pieces.

Later, I used that flooring to make this frame for his portrait.

Thurber

The frame, in process.

The repaired floor.

A page from the artist's sketchbook.

Cedar frame for Adirondack scene painting.

I left the knot in at the upper right because I thought it was beautiful.

Floater frame for painting on canvas.

Custom painted cap frame.

A pair of photographs in matching frames.

Project: Statue of Liberty case.

Small, framed images of the Statue of Liberty as part of an artwork created inside a saxophone case that includes maps, statues, stamps, postcards and a coin.

Custom painted customer frame.

Maple frame with custom painted bevel.

Wide black frame gives this poster presence.

Pine frame with flame-singed accents.

Wide maple frame. The art is smaller than a sheet of notebook paper, float mounted with a narrow reveal. Displayed here with some found objects, the frame now hangs on a wall in my daughter's home.

Re-used gold frame, being appreciated by a discerning critic.

Mirrors look good in frames, too!

Area map in furniture wood frame.

Area map in elegant silver frame.

Custom blue finish with red bevel.

Marbled paper, both fixed to hang vertically and horizontally. One in blue mat with red painted bevel...

...the other in a green mat with orange painted bevel.

Artist made postcard collection.

Float-mounted print on a warm-toned matboard, flattered by an ebonized walnut frame finished with shellac and wax .

Project: Stretched canvas.

A favorite painting, finally framed properly with strainer and backing board.

Information from the painting is preserved in a Mylar envelope on the back of the frame. Strainer frame supports the cap frame and provides a solid place for the D-ring hangers. Coroplast backing board protects the painting.

The lovely warmth of a rubbed boiled linseed oil finish.

Why not frame another set as a gift?

A new frame to match the old frame, which was damaged.

Preserving an irreplaceable poster.

A simple cleaning.

Design for a wedding invitation dressed up in a formal black frame.

A pair of Lee Brown Coye scratchboard drawings, which were among the last of his work. Float-mounted to show the irregular edges of the original artwork.

My brother and sister-in-law arranged to honor my dad's 90th birthday by having him named Hell, Michigan's Mayor for the Day.

He received numerous certificates and memorabilia, which I collaged into a frame made of textured cedar that I painted black to resemble charred wood. I highlighted the inside and outside edges with devil red.

Traditional nature presentation for the bird lover's print.

Title cut around the remarque.

Hand-marbled accent panel.

Leafy motif reflects the subject of the colored pencil drawing.

Decorative mat cut.

Pentagon mat opening follows the design of the cross stitch.

The stamps are floated with a v-grooved top mat.

Here the stamps are floated with a wide margin and no v-groove.

Simple single mat in a stout frame.

One lighthouse stamp for each of the Great Lakes, arranged in roughly geographical order and accented with a very narrow bottom mat ribbon.

Barnwood style frame for print of a barn.

Two diplomas in one frame.

Textured mat enhances the brass rubbing.

V-grooved top mat.

Boxes, pedestals and crates

Project: Handling frames

Handling frames for moving artwork safely across the country. I forgot to photograph the large one until it was behind the couch, waiting for the movers, but here's the SketchUp drawing.