What’s New January 2012 – Lots!

Well…the new year has started for us here with a whole lot of excitement!

We spent the beginning of January moving in to our new upstairs showroom and studio, literally expanding our work space at 190 Tynte Street North Adelaide by three times!

What this means for you… is more art on display, more framing choices, and yes…we are now open on Mondays as well!

New Hours – 10am – 6pm Monday to Friday, 10am – 2pm Saturday.

 

The other exciting news is the launch of our new website www.needleworkframing.com

Designed especially for Needlework Enthusiasts, this launch coincides with our very first advertisement  in the beautiful (and worldwide!) publication Inspirations Magazine – Issue 73 has just been released this week. Look for us on Page 31, along with an article on Conservation Framing for your Needlework!

 

Astrapia Nigra c1873 – Joseph Wolf & Joseph Smit

First edition hand-coloured lithograph by J. Wolf & J. Smit, heightened with gum arabic. Published in New York by M & N Hanhart c1873. “Astrapia Nigra” from Daniel Girard Elliot’s ”A Monograph of the Birds of Paradise”. Image size 580mm x 440mm. $7,500 fully framed to museum standards.
A magnificent image from Elliot’s Birds of Paradise, painted by Joseph Wolf, “without exception, the best all-round animal artist who ever lived’ (Sir Edwin Landseer).
Ornithological illustration reached its zenith during the golden age of lithography, and this image is from that great era. Even today, with all of the excellent methods of colour reproduction available, the beauty of hand-colouring cannot be equalled.
Joseph Wolf is pre-eminent among the ornithological artists of the day: he was the first bird artist to fully understand and use the new freedom of style that lithography allowed. The lithographic crayon suited Wolf’s drawing style, transforming his soft expressive lines and subtle suggestions of movement into a printable image. His work set a new standard in life-like representations and Wolf’s skill at capturing the essential character of his subjects also breathed life into the stiff “bird on a perch” portrayals so characteristic of bird art of the day.
The plates in Elliot’s Monograph of the… Birds of Paradise, “almost as magnificent as the birds they portray, were the fruits of Elliot’s considerable wealth, Wolf’s great artistry and both men’s profound knowledge and love of birds” (Dance). Elliot writes in the preface “The drawings of Mr. Wolf will, I am sure, receive the admiration of those who see them; for, like all that artist’s productions, they cannot be surpassed, if equalled, at the present time. Mr. J. Smit has lithographed the drawings with his usual conscientious fidelity, and in his share of the work has left me nothing to desire… In the coloring of the plates Mr. J.D. White has faithfully followed the originals; and in the difficult portions where it was necessary to produce the metallic hues, he has been very successful.”

Daniel Giraud Elliot combined his vast scientific knowledge, considerable personal wealth and the significant talents of the renowned bird artist, Joseph Wolf, to create one of the most stunning and rare ornithological works of the nineteenth century.

A Monograph of the Paradiseidae or Birds of Paradise is comprised of thirty-seven plates depicting the most colourful and exotic birds from New Guinea and Australia. The large elephant folio size is second only in scale to Audubon’s famous work. There were probably fewer than one hundred complete folios of this first edition.

Daniel Giraud Elliot (March 7, 1835 – December 22, 1915) was an American zoologist. Elliot was one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the American Ornithologists’ Union. He was also curator of zoology at the Field Museum in Chicago. Elliot used his wealth to publish a series of sumptuous color-plate books on birds and animals. Elliot wrote the text himself and commissioned artists such as Joseph Wolf and Joseph Smit, both of whom had worked for John Gould, to provide the illustrations. The books included A Monograph of the Phasianidae (Family of the Pheasants) (1870-72), A Monograph of the Paradiseidae or Birds of Paradise (1873), A Monograph of the Felidae or Family of Cats (1878) and Review of the Primates (1913). In 1899, Elliot was invited to join the elite Harriman Alaska Expedition to study and document wildlife along the Alaskan coast. The National Academy of Sciences awards the Daniel Giraud Elliot medal “for meritorious work in zoology or paleontology published in a three to five-year period. Established through the Daniel Giraud Elliot Fund by gift of Miss Margaret Henderson Elliot.”

New Scribe Tool – September 2011

We have just installed the brand new Gunnar T2 Scribe Tool to our amazing Computerized Mat Cutter.  This takes traditional French Matting to a whole new level – any design in any colour can be drawn right onto the matboard, all with perfect precision as only the Swiss know how. 

Call in with your designs, and see it working for yourself!

How to Stretch Your Needlework

Why not save some money on framing and stretch your own needlework? 
Here are some simple instructions to show you how.

How to Stretch Your Needle Art

1) Cut a piece of acid free fomecore (we use Bainbridge Alphamat Artcare) or matboard to stretch the needle art onto. The size of this board should be approximately 25mm or 1″ bigger than the opening in the matboard. For example, if the needle art you want to see is 20cm x 15cm (8″ x 6″) this is the size of the opening in the matboard.  Cut the board to stretch the needle art onto 22.5cm x 17.5cm (9″ x 7″).

2) Centre your needle art onto the board.
Turn the work over, and work from the back. Fold the two longest edges over the board. Using a needle with a continuous thread (preferably 100% cotton thread) insert the needle 15mm from the edge of the fabric. Lace from one edge to the other, trying to keep the stitches parallel, approximately 1cm apart. When you get to the end, tie the thread with a knot, leaving the other end still attached to the reel of cotton.

3) Check the front of the work to make sure that it is still centred.  Tension the threads at the back, working from the knot backwards, being careful not to pull them too tightly, otherwise the thread might break. In case the thread does break, just re-join it with a small knot and continue. Check the front of the work once again, and when you are happy with the position, cut the thread attached to the reel of cotton and firmly tie with a knot to the needle art. Adjust the front again if necessary.

4) Fold the two short ends over, and using the same process, continue to complete the stretching of your needle art.

Art and Photo Restoration

Art and photograph restoration is a very specialised area, and should only be handled by qualified professionals.

Our Art Conservator, Chris Payne of  The Art Conservation Studios, is a fellow member of the AICCM (Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Materials) and is also employed part-time by Artlab Australia.
Artlab’s team of qualified conservators provide specialised preservation and restoration services for all works of art and historic items. Established in 1985, Artlab Australia is a South Australian Government business enterprise. Their laboratories are amongst the largest and best equipped in Australia. 

Our Photograph Conservator and Restorer, Alan Lesheim, is without a doubt the best in Australia.  With over 40 years experience, Alan uses both film and digital techniques to restore and re-create beautiful photographs, where the end results are second to none and are guaranteed to last 100 years plus.

Here are some “Before and After” examples.

What a Difference a Frame Makes!

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Ok, so I know I’m showing off my new Virtual Framing System  here, but it really helps to make a great point!

Most artists think they can’t afford to put really gorgeous frames on their artworks, especially if they’re going to be exhibited in galleries for sale.  The commissions paid to galleries and agents can wipe out their budgets for good framing. 

What they may not realise though, is that a beautiful frame can literally add hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to the artist’s selling price of a painting, for just a few dollars more.

A thin, cheap frame can actually de-value a painting, making it “suitable for a kid’s room” or “like a poster”.  On the other hand, a beautiful frame can make a painting a “collector’s piece”, or a centre-piece for a home, even if the subject is seen to be quirky or child-oriented, like Shane Devries’ painting is here. 

What people may not know about Shane Devries, is that he is one of Australia’s most talented young artists, and this painting really is something special.  It’s an original oil painting, the cover illustration of “Never Smile at a Crocodile”, Devries’ hard-cover book published by Scholastic 2010.

Luckily for me, he knows the value of his work…and trusts his framer to suggest only the best picture frames to suit his amazing paintings!

Shane’s next Exhibition starts 7pm
Friday July 22nd 2011
TVH Gallery
515 Sydney Road, Seaforth, NSW

New July 2011 Virtual Picture Framing

For a picture framer, this is the most exciting thing since computerized mat cutting! Seriously!

Have you ever visited a framing store, put your artwork or photo down on the counter, looked at a few mat colours and frames and thought to yourself  ”I have no idea how this is going to look!”?

Well, wonder no more!

 We have just installed the most amazing, state-of-the-art Virtual Picture Framing System, with a 26″ LCD viewing screen.

It takes your frame design from this…

To this…all in a matter of moments!

Or this…

Or this…

The possibilities are endless! Call in to our studio at 190 Tynte Street, North Adelaide to see it for yourself,  or email us at info@fineartframing.com.au

What’s New February 2011

Sydney-born, Adelaide embedded CJ Taylor is photographically concerned with notions of Australian identity and place, fictitious realities and real fictions, along with the relative absurdity and beauty of existence in roughly equal parts, and generally at the same time.

CJ’s tintype ”Robert” is a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize 2011, and is on display at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra from 25th February until  26th April 2011.

What’s New January 2011

 I just had to show off our latest creation – a hand-gilded, bright silver frame made especially for this Ray Caesar limited edition print “Consort Study” 2010.

Conservation Framing = Protection for Your Investments

This work has been stained where it was in contact with poor-quality, acidic mount board and tape. Photograph courtesy of the Ian Potter Art Conservation Service, University of Melbourne

 80% of all damage done to valuable art is caused by incorrect framing. Fact.

 

Paper is a very fragile product, and will break down if it is exposed to sunlight, moisture and/or acidic products. This is why it is vitally important that when framing, the correct products and techniques are used to protect it and slow down the aging process. 

 

Beware – not all products that are sold as “acid-free” remain acid-free.

This is something that matboard manufacturers probably don’t want consumers to know too much about.  The fact is, however, that any paper product made from wood pulp contains lignin, and lignin contains acid.  To neutralize the acids, calcium carbonate or chalk is added to the product (this process is known as “buffering”) making it technically “acid-free” at the time of manufacture. What happens though, over time and with exposure to light, the chalk stops working, and the boards becomes yellow, brittle and acidic, causing “burn” marks on any valuable artwork it touches. 

The only board to use, in my opinion, is museum grade 100% cotton Bainbridge Alpharag board.  It is naturally acid and lignin free.  To help protect your artwork further,  from exposure to sunlight, we use as standard Tru Vue 99% UV Blocking Conservation Series Glass.  Fluorescent lights emit UV rays as well as the sun, so it’s not enough just to keep artwork out of sunlight.

 

It never ceases to amaze me that people are happy to invest in valuable artwork, but then want to spend as little as possible on the framing.  It just doesn’t make any sense to me, but that’s probably because I have seen the heartbreaking and irreversible damage caused by “cost cutting” when it comes to framing. 

“The Age” newspaper recently published an article “Framed, and hung out to die”  outlining  just what a costly problem incorrect framing is becoming to our country’s cultural heritage.

Conservation framing protects valuable artwork.  Yes, it does cost more, but isn’t it worth it?

Click here to see some more photos of damage caused by incorrect framing and cheap products.