The modern idea in framing pictures is to have the frame harmonize with the subject, rather than to employ a stock moulding with set pattern made by the mile, and cut up into frames of all sizes and for all sorts of pictures. All the frames shown in the illustrations accompanying this chapter were made at home, and from such simple materials as thin boards, burlap, tea-chest matting, denim, wire, sheet-lead, harness-rings, and brass-headed upholsterers’ tacks.
A Dutch Head Mounting
For the study of a Dutch head a unique frame, or mounting, is shown in Fig. 1. This is a board of thin wood of a size in proportion to the photograph, the latter being nailed to the board with large, oval-headed tacks painted black.
The board is covered with green denim, the edges of which are drawn over the back of the board and glued, or fastened with small tacks. The photograph, a platinum print, is trimmed to an oval, and then mounted on a white card. When the paste is dry the mount is also cut ovalwise, following the line of the photograph, and leaving a white margin half an inch in width. The picture is placed on the board so that the side and top margins will be equal; it is then fastened in place with upholsterers’ tacks driven three-quarters of an inch apart.
Fig. 1. Fig. 3.
These nails, as well as the other metal-work, are to be coated with a mixture of dry lamp-black and shellac before they are driven on the board. The nails should be painted some time before they are to be used, so that the black coating will be thoroughly dry. After the nails are driven in place it may be necessary to go over them with a small brush and some of the black paint, to touch up places where the coating has chipped off.
The ornament below the picture and the hanger-straps are cut from sheet-lead about one-sixteenth of an inch in thickness. The stems are of ordinary iron wire, such as may be purchased at a hardware store for a few cents. Each piece of the design is separate, and may be easily cut from soft lead with an old pair of shears, and afterwards trimmed with a pocket-knife or a small file.
Drawings of the metal parts to this frame are shown in Fig. 2. A is the strap at the top, where the hanger is attached; B, the scrolls forming the hanger; C, one of the buds at the top of the stem of wire; D, the flower at the middle of the frame under the picture; E, one of the long leaves; and F, a shorter curved one. These are all painted black before they are applied to the board; then they are caught with large and small nails, the large ones for effect, the small and invisible ones to securely attach the metal ornaments to the wood.
Small staples made from pins with the heads cut off are used to hold the wire stems in place, but at the outer ends the wire is caught under the buds or flowers, where it is held in place with an upholsterer’s tack.
The ornamental hangers are made from thin strips of stove-pipe iron one-quarter of an inch wide, and may be shaped with a small pair of pliers or bent with the fingers. (See Chapter V., Venetian and Florentine Metal-work.) The long upper part of the strap-pieces are bent over and caught at the back of the frame, and form a staple, into which the lower loop of each hanger is made fast.
If the large, oval-headed nails which hold the picture to the board cannot be had at your hardware store, imitation heads may be cut from lead, blackened, and fastened on with two or three fine steel-nails.
A Dark Card Mounting
The mounting shown in Fig. 3 is constructed along the same lines as that of Fig. 1, but the hangers are different, and the picture, having a white edge, is mounted on a dark card. The nails are then driven on the white band, in order to make them more conspicuous than they would be if fastened on the outer margin.
A line may be drawn on a piece of smooth brown paper indicating the size of the frame, and another one to denote the location of the picture. The design should then be drawn on the paper with lead-pencil, and the little flowers, buds, and leaves fitted to this plan. The wire may also be bent to conform to the lines of the drawing, so that it will be an easy matter to apply the accurately fitted parts to the frame, where they are fastened with small, oval-headed tacks.
A strip of sheet-lead five inches long and one-half an inch wide is cut V-shaped at the bottom, and the top is bent over a two-inch harness-ring, then drawn down and fastened with a nail, to prevent it from releasing the ring. These hangers are fixed at the top, midway between the picture and the outer edge of the frame. Large-headed wrought-iron bellows-nails are used on which to hang the picture; they are driven into the wall, and, when necessary, the picture may be removed from them by simply lifting the rings over the nail-heads.
A Triple Mounting
Fig. 4.
The long panel effect shown in Fig. 4 is a simple and pleasing mounting for small photographs, or colored prints. A board is covered with ordinary burlap, which is drawn over the surface and tacked at the back; apparently it is held in place by the large, oval-headed tacks driven all around the outer edge. A card-mount the size of the photograph is cut away at the middle, leaving the outer edge about half or five-eighths of an inch in width. This is laid over the photograph, and through it the nails are driven which hold the photograph and the frame to the board. The scroll-hangers at the top and the nail-head decorations add to the artistic appearance of this frame.
Plain Framing
For etchings, water-colors, or colored photographs and aquarelles, where a wide mat is desirable, plain narrow frames should be used. These may be made from moulding with the rabbet cut in by machine, but the boy craftsman may use flat rails and make his own rabbet.
First cut the joints with a mitre-box and saw; then with glue and slim nails a good union is made, as shown at Fig. 5, the dotted lines representing the long, slim nails. If a lap-point is preferred to a mitre, both ends of the flat rails should be cut away, as shown at Fig. 6, the union being made with glue and short screws driven in from the back of the frame, taking care, however, not to puncture or deface the face of the frame. Where a rabbet is to be made at the back of a frame, the front inner edge should be bevelled, as shown at A in Fig. 7, so that there will not be too great a thickness of wood close to the glass. A quarter of an inch out from the inner edge of the frame fasten four square sticks with glue and small nails. These sticks should be three-eighths of an inch square, and mitred at the corners, as shown at B in Fig. 7. The glass can then lie on the back of the frame within the space described by the small sticks, and over it the picture and back-board are placed, the nails being driven in to hold them in place.
Fig. 2. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9.
A Sporting Mount
For a picture in which horses are prominent, such as a race, a group of horses’ heads, or a driving scene, an appropriate frame is suggested in Fig. 8.
The frame proper is made from narrow strips of wood, the face of which is studded with oval-headed nails. This frame is then arranged on a large board, and at the corners blocks, or separators, are fastened, which will cause the frame to stand away from the large board for half an inch or so, in order that the stirrup-strap and the whip-handle may pass under it, as shown at A in Fig. 8.
The frame is hung by means of large harness-rings caught at the top of the frame with leather straps. These are carried about the back-board and buckled at the front. The stirrup is suspended from the lower middle part of the frame on a strap, which is caught about the back-board and runs under the small front frame.
Dark Flemish oak for the back-board, russet straps, and brass buckles will make a pleasing combination; and if the picture is a colored one, it will add greatly to the effect of the complete mounting.
A Round-robin Mounting
For one large head-picture and a number of small ones a novel scheme for mounting is shown at Fig. 9.
This is a one-piece barrel-head covered with burlap or denim. The photographs are cut circular and mounted on heavy white or cream-colored card-mounts, then trimmed so that a margin half an inch wide will be left all around. These are to be applied to the barrel-head with oval-headed upholsterers’ nails, as suggested for Fig. 1. The hangers are made from thin strips of iron, and should be as long as half the diameter of the board.