Custom milling, custom moulding, custom frames.

February 12, 2009 – 8:25 am

We’ve been making a lot of of one-of-a-kind frames since the first of the year, utilizing new materials and local artisans to both prototype new ideas and improve on the classic picture frame design elements we’re known for in San Diego.

As Southern California’s fine art framer, The Frame Maker has been honored to create custom milled and finished maple frames for work by Jasper Johns, Kiki Smith and Xu Bing, all in the first six weeks of the year.

We are honored to be the regular framer for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, which sends most of this kind of work to us in one way or another. (This year we are thrilled to be corporate sponsors of MCASD as well).

Xu Bing’s piece that we have in right now is from the excellent “Artists Respond!” show that just closed at MCASD Downtown. At 135″ long, it poses a number of significant challenges when it comes to the framing: structural integrity of the container, availability of suitable materials at sufficient size, archival nature of the mounting, etc.

Through a San Diego contemporary furniture maker, we’ve created perfectly scaled moulding in solid maple at 14′ rough lengths that were delivered today; full production on this piece begins tomorrow.

Apparently, we’ve become Southern California’s oversize fine art framer as well. The Kiki Smith piece we shipped last week SDSU’s University Gallery for the show “Animalkind” was 78″ x 106″ when finished, again with one of a kind maple moulding a full 4″ deep milled here in San Diego, with a custom grey finish designed and hand applied in our shop.

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More on Custom Teak Picture Frames

January 31, 2009 – 7:51 pm

Here are more pictures of January’s custom teak frames. After milling, the new teak moulding is chopped to size and joined “raw”, that is, prior to final sanding and finish.

Sanding over the joined corners makes for a perfect frame. We use natural oil and wax finishes on our custom hardwoods that are made from plant resins. Much like tung oil and other traditional finishes, the oil really brings the wood to life.

Here are the pair of finished teak frames ready for the art package to be fitted. Next to them is another custom milled frame we made in January, this one from canarywood.

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Custom Teak Picture Frames

January 28, 2009 – 8:46 am

Next on the custom project board so far in 2009 are two frames custom milled in our shop from reclaimed teak.

This gorgeous lumber is architectural salvage collected in Asia and is imported by a FSC certfied broker.

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Custom finished frames for Jasper Johns @ MCASD

January 10, 2009 – 6:31 am

This week has been a crazy one for multi-tasking @ The Frame Maker when it came to really custom picture frame design for some of San Diego’s museums and designers– with pretty positive results.

First up, are the 13 custom finish maple frames we made for the upcoming Jasper Johns: Light Bulb show @ MCASD La Jolla.

These frames are made on FSC certified North American maple and finished with a zero VOC water borne colors and sealed with a simple clear furniture wax.

The color, a soft, warm grey, is inspired by a custom finish created at the National Gallery of Art for an exhibition of the same series of prints, 1st Etchings, 2nd State, that we are preparing for MCASD’s Light Bulb show.

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Classic Picture Frames & Custom Finishing

January 5, 2009 – 12:22 am

The Frame Maker has always maintained that its’ final product have a “classic” design structure. To us, “classic picture frames” are not necessarily traditional, but true to the piece and the context in which the piece is displayed.

High quality materials, fine hardwoods, genuine gold leafing, museum quality matting & glazing, and thoughtful craftsmanship all play key parts in creating a timeless, “classic” picture frames, and The Frame Maker is pleased to be known for producing extremely high quality custom framing utilizing all of these elements.

The demands we put on ourselves when it comes to providing our clients with the level of service they’ve come to expect over the years has prompted several small innovations in the shop, most recently a new growth in our custom finishing services.

The frame created for the San Diego Coastkeeper piece featured in last post is just one example of fine tuning an existing moulding to the intended piece of art via custom finishing for a truly “classic picture frame” effect that will work in a wide variety of environments, securely protects the artwork, and makes no compromise with the marketplace when it comes to the details of its design.

Sometimes only coincidence or dumb luck could produce the desired effect from the thousands of prefinished picture frame mouldings available today. The Frame Maker’s custom finish services are now available as a precision guided custom framing alternative.

To start off the new year right, in January 2009 we have the honor to be creating custom milled and finished picture frames for the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s upcoming Jasper Johns show, San Diego designer Jennifer Luce, and a pair of private collectors here in San Diego. Check back or mark this page for pictures, progress and finish over the next few weeks.

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