I found this framed poster of a Greek island scene in May, clearly someone was preparing to move and lightening their load. If it had been in a simple white frame I might have kept it as is, but the red marble paper, beige matting, red inner frame, and mottled beige outer frame just seemed to be too too too much for the simplicity of the image.
This frame is the real deal, and by that I mean heavy and well made. The wire was even wrapped with tape so it wouldn't scratch the walls, nice touch!
The glass was intact and had a UV protection coating on it (at least according to the sticker on the back of the frame). At one point it must have cost a bit of money because the frame was clearly professionally assembled. But alas, over time its value was reduced to $0 and it ended up in the discard pile. So I decided to take it, take it apart, and paint the frame. I wasn't sure what I would put in the frame, but I knew the existing mottled beige/brown finish wouldn't go with anything I owned. Disassembly involved pulling many little metal 'points' out of the frame, surprisingly satisfying work. Here it is with all the layers removed, as you can see the red inner frame was attached to the outer mottled beige frame.
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| bye byre red and beige |
After a few layers of 'Antique Iridescent Gold' acrylic paint I was ready to dig through my stuff and find something worthy of this shiny gold treasure. In truth I had to stop painting because the cat stole my paintbrush and I can't find it, but it will turn up eventually.
Here is the reassembled frame from the back. You can see all the metal points holding the outermost foam core layer to the frame. There is another foam core layer that is against the item being framed, not visible in this photo.
A little detail of the corners....
And the title of this piece I ended up framing is.... Jungfrau!
It is a paper map of a Swiss Glacier from when I visited Switzerland many years ago.
Due to the size of the map I didn't use the beige matting, thus the paper is right up against the glass. I know that is a 'conservation framing no-no' because there should be a space between the art and the glass in order for air to circulate. However, this piece isn't super tightly sealed because the points aren't as tight fitting as they were originally. Time will tell!
Happy frame-finding and freestyling!