For the Birds

This framing project, for a four color screenprint, was a gift for Jan's daughter. This print measured 11 1/2" x 24", a substantial size that would be a prominent piece in her apartment in the city. The blacks in this print were more of a deep charcoal gray, and the vermilion and goldenrod colored blossoms among the tree branches were a nice contrast to the darker color. Overall, my impression of the print was a hip, urban sophistication mixed with an appreciation of beauty in nature.

The design for this frame would have to convey these ideas as well, while (as always) complementing the imagery. We first tried black matting, but it really looked boring- too matchy, and it made our eyes go right from the mat to the birds, ignoring the lovely background colors. Switching to a complementary brown, Crescent's Sepia, made the birds stand out while also helping the background have a voice. It works because the brown mat has a red tone like the vermilion. We added a second mat in Artique's Canyon- a golden yellow color that picked up the yellow blossoms perfectly. We left some of the white paper showing to break up all that color so it wouldn't look, well, confusing! The result was a muted palette that felt trendy, urban, but would stand the test of time.

A black frame would do the same thing black matting had done. We needed to continue the color scheme of the matting while repeating the darkness a little. We also wanted to make sure the frame had that marriage of rustic and urban we were reaching for. As a bonus, the frame we chose worked wonderfully in Jan's budget, because it is an economical choice! We went for Framerica's Bonanza Wood line in Espresso Walnut. Bonanza Wood is a line of pressed wood (mdf) frames wrapped in printed "paper" (it kind of feels like wallpaper- a little bit of vinyl in the finish.) I can't explain it, but that actually echoed the finish of the ink on the paper! "Real" wood looked too rustic and too real! The very subtle print on the Espresso Walnut has some semblance of grain in it, which tied into the grain marks of the image. A simple one and a half wide, flat profile kept all the interest in the image itself, where we wanted it, and the color went a little darker than the sepia mat, tying all the colors in the project together. Jan was completely pleased with the final product, and it was another one of those jobs that I wish I had a copy of for myself!

Celebrate the Love

We had so much fun getting ready for Valentine's Day this year! We have a small collection of vintage Valentine cards, and we decided it was time to show them off! These are all available for sale, a truly unique and thoughtful gift for your loved one this weekend or any time of year!


This vintage card was showing some wear and tear, so we separated the best components of it for framing. The rose and two hearts are floating on the bottom mat, and a second mat in the same color adds some depth. A painted bevel on that top mat was too thin to do it justice, so we got creative with some gold ribbon. Larson Juhl's Nouveau in gold floral was the perfect frame to tie the whole project together. The finished frame measures 10 1/2 x14.



With Love and Kindest Regards! Isn't that a sweet Vintage Valentine? The card itself measures just 2 1/2 inches tall, so it needed some dramatic framing to showcase it. We started by again floating it on the background mat and adding a second mat in the same color. This is always a good treatment for items that have uneven or interesting edges you want to show. We added depth to the look by putting a spacer between the two mats. See the shadow just under the card? That helps add some drama. A heavy top mat and a beautiful antique looking frame (yes, Larson Juhl again, their Bolshoi in green) do the trick as well. I like the more delicate (and worn) touches in the beading and the outer edge of the frame. This finished frame measures about 9x11.



Ok, so it's not a Valentine per se, but this antique print was a great addition to the group, with it's lovers strolling down the lane. I instantly went to the Biltmore line; I think the pattern in this frame reminded me of little swirls of leaves blowing around in the fall on that lane and lent a sense of romance. I knew that I would want to use the Biltmore gold fillet too, so all that we needed to do was pick the matting color. The top mat is Bainbridge's Sonora, a nice muted taupe color. The fillet got lost against the print, so we added a second mat, Crescent's Suntan. This final project measures 24x29, and would be a wonderful addition to any home any time of year.

The card that started it all! Valentines Cards used to be so elaborate! This "pop-up" card measures about 9" tall, and everything you see from the girl on down folds up under a flap. The image in the top right corner is from the outside of that flap; it was an easy task to reproduce it to be able to show it. With the flap open, the card is about three inches deep, from back to front, so we had to use a four inch deep shadowbox. The inside sides of the frame are lined in the same blue as the top mat, which sits back about three inches from the glass. Many framers boast that they can custom cut mats, and it is easier these days with a computer controlled mat cutter. But the beauty of being a third generation framer is that we know how to cut mats like this in special shapes, by hand like the traditional framers did. We added a spacer between the blue and the gold mats, to help fill the space in that deep frame. This final project measures 19x15, and is suitable for wall hanging or standing on a shelf or table.

Maybe your special someone will present a truly unique Valentine this year. Why not make it an heirloom and bring it to Gould Frame for custom framing! Happy Valentine's Day!

Sail away

Lets continue the boating theme, shall we? Maybe it will make us all think of warmer, sunnier places and help us cope with all this snow we've had here in Phoenixville!

This week I present what may be one of my favorite designs of all time. This was a Christmas present for my customer's parents.


I really have been selling a lot of Larson Juhl lately! This is their Tuscany moulding in a two and a half inch wide moulding. This line features a distressed grey-white finish that is inspired by antique Italian furniture. It isn't quite as grey as my photograph shows it to be- more of a taupe color with white and tan rub-through. The mat is Crescent's Palm Beach White, which coordinated nicely with the white parts of the frame and gave a sufficient contrast to the paper color.

This frame would have looked a little too busy for such a serene image if we didn't give them enough space away from each other. We utilized a wider mat design (three and a half inches) and what we call a "drop bottom", meaning that the bottom mat is proportionately wider than the top and sides, which are kept uniform. Our drop bottom is a dramatic six and a half inches. This design is used to add interest, but it can also be helpful when an image is "bottom heavy" to make the finished product seem more proportionally pleasing.

Becky was thrilled with the finished product, and I am sure her parents were as well. If not, well, I wouldn't mind hanging this on my wall and staring into it whenever I need a calming moment!

As messing around in boats.

An original piece of art makes such a thoughtful gift when it has special meaning to the recipient! This past holiday season, we had an opportunity to help a customer present just such a gift. Her boyfriend has special memories about reading the Kenneth Grahame classic The Wind in the Willows and still names it among the books that have changed his life. Maria had searched and searched and finally found an original print of one of the drawings that helped the story come to life! This would surely make a wonderful Christmas gift, but needed the extra special touch of custom framing.
For sure we wanted a natural, sort of rustic look for this piece. I liked the feeling of peeking into the scene, and wanted to emphasize that with the brown rag matting, Artique's Clove. We needed a little bit of breathing room between the brown and the image, so we added a half inch of a white rag mat to match the paper color. Just leaving space around the image would have felt too open- that second mat also serves to bring us into the scene.

Larson Juhl's Vermont moulding in Granite, one inch wide, was a perfect frame for our scene. It is a comtemporary rustic. It doesn't look old and distressed, but rather like a well worn piece of natural wood. The dark gray coloring, with spots of brown rubbed through, nicely mimics the style of sketching used in the drawing. See how the frame has the same feeling as the shading of the tree? That is what we were aiming for.

Sometimes we have to take into consideration the value of the artwork we are framing in making our decisions. We used a wider mat measurement here, and it works well to add balance. But there is another reason we went a little heavier: we had to take into consideration the paper size and make sure the frame size would be sufficient. A framer should never... NEVER.... cut off the border of a piece of artwork of value. It can sometimes be challenging to make framing choices that take this into consideration and still look great. We got lucky this time- Maria and I took about five minutes to pick this out, which might just be a record!

Of course we finished the job off with conservation glass to protect the artwork from damaging uv rays, and Maria and her boyfriend have a new heirloom- one I hope they will enjoy for years to come!

And the Winner was....

Last week, I showed you three options on a embroidery of Klimt's The Kiss, promising to share the customer's final choice this week. Might be hard to tell from this picture, but the lack of a mat should give it away.


We went with our first option, Larson Juhl's Mantilla with a gold fillet and no mat. Their decision was based on the smaller overall size, as well as how much they liked the swirl in the moulding echoing the border of the embroidery.

My favorite part of this project was the thought that went into it. What a thoughtful present for a first wedding anniversary- to frame a special memory from their honeymoon! And as I said last week, my customer was extra smart by letting his wife have the final say in the design process! Here's to many happy years for this great couple!


Custom Framing is so much more than sticking artwork into a frame. It is the design process that makes it so special. At Gould Frame, we strive to help you with your gift giving or everyday framing to showcase your precious memories and inspirational artwork to the ultimate enjoyment. We hope to see you soon, and to show off your project here on our design blog!

Choices, choices, choices!

Sometimes, a framing job comes in and as a designer, you know right away what moulding will be perfect for it. I love when that happens; I feel like some mouldings have a "soulmate" piece of art looking for them. When they come together, magic happens and each is made a little more complete by the other.

Most of the time though, my job as a frame designer is more complicated than that. I am here to facilitate the narrowing down of a lot of options to a few, ultimately finding a best match for the customer's taste. There is no "right" or "wrong" answer to what is the best choice once we get down to a few options. It becomes a decision based on personal feeling- which choice enhances the artwork for that particular person?

We see this often when we are framing a well-known piece of art. For every person who owns a reproduction of a great work, there are endless possibilities of framing selections. We
encountered this recently with an embroidery of Klimt's The Kiss. My customer was celebrating his first anniversary with his wife, and they had bought the embroidery on their honeymoon. It was a wonderful idea to present it to her framed for their anniversary. It was even smarter of him to narrow it down to three selections and allow her to make the final decision!

The first option was Larson Juhl's Mantilla profile, in black, with a gold fillet and no mat.

We really liked how the embossed pattern in the frame mimicked the border of the work. This frame is labeled as black, but it is really a warm black/brown with red undertones. That mix of coloring helped highlight the range of those warm colors in the background of the image.

The gold fillet was used to provide a nicer transition between the dark frame and the gold border; otherwise it felt like a harsh jump. The lack of a mat gave the customers more options for hanging in their smaller apartment.


The second option was also a Larson Juhl Frame: Isabella, also in black.

This 2 inch scoop profile features a weathered finish as well as a line of aged gold beads on the interior edge. My customer liked how the frame reminded him of their European honeymoon, where they traveled through many historical sites.

We felt like we needed some visual space between the beading and the border of the fabric; otherwise, it felt too crowded and busy. A taupy gray over a grayish cream offered some contrast as well as the needed visual rest.


Our third option provided the most contrast between the framing treatment and the artwork. Larson Juhl, again, with their Sofia cap in iron with a matching fillet.

Sofia has an interesting finish- it is kind of metallic, but also aged. Usually the raised parts are more aged, like what would happen naturally over time. This line is actually more aged in the crevices, as if dust has been settling into them for years, and the raised elements have been polished.

My customer liked the detail in this frame, which he felt wasn't as matchy-matchy (yes, that's a technical term) as the first. But the coloring is definitely not as warm as our other choices, and we needed a mat that would help that contrast make more sense. This blue mat didn't really blend with anything in the art either, which helped the colors in the art pop out on their own.

So which is the "right" framing choice for this work? Everyone picks something different. Let us know what you think- which do you like? We'll show you which one our customers chose next week, and one of our commenters will win a copy of the book "Great Frame Design", which explores theory of frame design further!

A Special Birthday Gift

We were so happy to reconnect with a customer from our days in Old City, who, like us, has relocated to Phoenixville! Not as happy as she was, because she had a special project for her husband's birthday, and needed a framer she could trust.

When she first came in, it was with a photocopy of a picture of a wine bottle. Not just any wine bottle, a 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, with a label featuring artwork by Marc Chagall. That was her special gift for her husband, but she didn't want him to forget the bottle of wine after it was gone. She was hoping that we could build a frame for it, that she could present to him at his birthday dinner. Then she would remove the label and have us finish the fit. Not a problem at all, of course!

This couple are definitely wine aficionados; they have a wine room! While we framed these, she had some other labels from her last birthday dinner that would be framed as well. They would all hang in the wine room, and we needed to choose something that would feel elegant, old-world and masculine. A new line from Larson Juhl fit the bill excellently.



Sometimes my photography skills aren't as good as my framing design skills, so here is another picture of the moulding, called Dresden.
Even that doesn't do it justice! Dresden mouldings look antique; the finish isn't smooth. It's a different kind of rusticity than we've seen before, like layers and layers of finish built on top of worn wood. Warm tones of caramel and red show through the darker black/brown finish. In the right light, you can see beautiful cabernet highlights. (I think I have wine on the brain, don't you?)

We chose a cream rag mat that was just a little bit darker than the background of the label. Because the edges of the label were a little torn and had bits missing, we added a second mat in the same color behind, with the label floating in the opening. We mounted it with archival tape, so that it wouldn't lay flat. I think the worn edges of the label and the rough float mimic the fashion of the moulding in a beautiful way. To finish it off, we used conservation glass, so that the delicate printing and the vibrant colors of the Chagall print would not be damaged by UV rays.

Projects like this are a wonderful gift idea! When our customer and her husband see this, they will be taken back to a special night that they spent enjoying family, friends, great food and an amazing bottle of wine. What more could you ask for?