Ah! Indian Silk Paintings! We would be quite surprised if anyone did not know of them or about them. Certainly, we, as picture framers are  well acquainted with these works of art, or at least, their facsimili.  Bold, beautiful, elaborate, colourful, intricate and highly detailed, exuding, if not dripping, in and with timeless Muslim, Buddhist, Hindus, Muslim, Jain and Sikh traditions, folklore, fairy tales and storytelling .  Alas, let's begin by the stating the obvious, Indian silk painting refers to paintings painted on silk, muslin, very thin cotton or cloth. The  silk fabric, called Paat in eastern India, Pattu in southern India and Resham in  northern part, is a natural, organic, fibre made from  the mulberry silkworm ...

Being St. Kilda football supporters, we are writing this post with some trepidation, reticence and reluctance, but write it we must. This is because we have been more or less inundated with picture framing request for the the picture framing of the 2023 Collingwood Premiership prints and posters. We have seen and framed different print versions, including the Herald Sun newspaper, as well as various Limited Edition formats.  However, and by far the most common print that Customers want framed is the popular and inexpensive Mark Day 64x45 cm Premiership Poster edition. With this in mind we will explore the most popular and cost effective, picture framing options ...

In this post we will  write about unmet, failed, or broken expectations. Not about big life expectations, but smaller ones, like the obvious one you would naturally experience when you fit a steel wire to the back of a picture frame, and rightfully expect it to hold, only that it doesn't, and you end up with a broken glass, frame, or both.  From time to time we have discussions with Customers as to which material, steel wire, or rope, is the strongest, safest and most durable to hang a picture with. Invariably, Customers asks or suggest the former, and are surprised when we tell them that, in our experience, cord is the gold standard.  Our experience in observing and repairing frames that ...

We will begin this blog post on stretching acrylic paintings by reminiscing with the older cohort of us who might recall the eponymous, mid 1980's Castrol oil company's advertisements featuring Sol, the Mafia Don, and his mafiosi confederates.  We were darkly warned that not all engine oils were the same, even though they may have smelled and looked the same.  To same extent, the same applies to many paintings on canvas that we see coming through our picture framing workship.  The catalyst for the creation of this post, once again was sparked by one of our Customers.  The gentleman in question had just brought back from Indonesia a large, colourful, expensive "oil" painting which he wanted stretched on a stretcher frame and float framed. On inspecting the painting  on our framing counter during the custom ... 

For picture framers and in picture framing, staples are usually those small, steel,  'U' shaped loops or fasteners that are generally driven into the back of picture frames  to hold the glass, artwork and backing inside the frames so that these don't fall out.  Pretty much every  picture frame has  a couple dozens of these devices which have been used on and in picture frames for hundreds of years. Yet, we don't ever remember reading anything much about them anywhere or at any time, so, here we go.  The staple, as a fastening device, dates from antiquity.  Some of the oldest known were iron dovetail staples found embedded and tying  stones together in several temples and tombs in Pasargadae,  the ancient ...

Why this post "On framing wrinkled, creased, crinkled and dog-eared maps"?  This is because, and as we have mentioned before, many of our posting ideas come from interactions with our Customers.  And it was by way of jest, that a Customer, having finished the custom picture framing consultation for  a couple of brand, new  posters, wistfully asked us: " I don't suppose you'd be able to frame old, crinkly, wavy, damaged, maps"?   The Customer, smiling, explained that she had another picture framing declined to re-frame a large, old map of hers as it was "impossible" to flatten with their dry-mounting method.   We then asked to see the map which the Customer had not yet brought in but had left in the car. 

Why this post about upgrading picture frames? Because it's happened to you as it's happened to most, if not to all of us, at one time of our lives or another.  You’ve moved out of your old home into a new one.   Or you’ve moved from an older flat into a newer apartment.   Perhaps you relocated from older style business premises to more modern ones. The end result is the same, either you, your wife, or family have decided,  the old frames just won’t do in the new location, these will need updating.  We come across this situation a few times a month, in most cases, it’s a retiree couple moving to a brand-new apartment.  Regardless of the circumstances the ...

On the subject of picture  framing jigsaw puzzles, it must be said that there must have been, and still must be, hundreds of people putting together puzzles together right now all over Australia. Our various statal, work and home restrictions, lockdowns and quarantines have pretty much driven a lot of people bonkers with boredom.  And since ennui and accidie are the enemies of our naturally wandering,  imaginative and creative minds, it is little wonder that so many of us have sought some relief from this depressing state of mental affairs by tiling, assembling and solving puzzles.  Interestingly, jigsaw puzzles have been around for about 250 years. The commercialization, if not the ...

Most of our blogs and posts here are a direct result our interaction with our Customers and the feedback we receive from them, for which we are grateful.  One sunny ( sometimes a rarity here in Melbourne )  Saturday morning a young mum visited us bringing an A3 frame with a broken glass. She asked if had  a frame to match, which we did, the frame being a pretty much standard 3x2 cms box moulding picture frame profile.   We showed her one of our frames and she was on the cusp on buying it when she asked, pretty much by way of a ...