“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” Salvador Dali
For a long time I was dissatisfied with conventional, off the peg framing. I saw examples of beautiful frames in Edinburgh which I discovered were handmade by Brien Nicolson framers in Leith, the port of Edinburgh. I visited him a number of times and over a couple of years ordered quite a few of his frames.
After a lot of research and buying a number of their frames I decided to try it myself. I now have two approaches, hand finishing standard frames and bespoke frames which I make from bare wood moulding. It is a very time consuming, but satisfying process involving many stages which I feel gives an organic unity to the final framed painting and gives me a greater appreciation of the history and craft of what I do.
I have been helped considerably by the generous advice of Stuart Nicholson, before he retired, and by framer Bruce Reid in Newcastle. who has done framing for me for over thirty years. He makes the bare wood frames, makes many helpful suggestions, and I hand finish them.