December 2019
The year is drawing to a close and November and December have been busy framing months for us – with plenty of projects and framing tasks to keep us out of mischief! We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of them on our social media – on Facebook and Instagram. And our thanks to everyone who has taken the time to share, comment, leave feedback or Like our posts and our business page. We really do appreciate it.
We’d like to extend our huge thanks to each and every customer who chose to shop local and bring us their jobs for framing in 2019. The workshop will be closed over Christmas and New Year as we take some time out to be with our family. We will reopen the workshop at 9am on Tuesday 7th January 2020. And we’re looking forward to another busy year ahead.
So from Alec and Jo – we’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year and we look forward to seeing you again in 2020.
October 2019
Reuse – Recycle – Reduce : we were very proud a few years after we set up to be commended in a letter from the Environment Agency for the amount of recycling we do as a business. And we’ve continued to do our best to reduce our waste ever since. Unfortunately cutting wood, mountboard, backing boards and glass does create a fair amount of waste every day. Our glass scraps are all recyced and we also send a lot of mountboard and kraft backing board scraps to recycling too. BUT, the mountboard and kraftboard scraps are things that could be reused by others. They are good quality board and we are always happy to hand them over to anyone who can use them – some people like them for art and craft projects, others use them for model making. Whatever you might use them for, feel free to pop in and grab some for yourself. We’d always rather they were put to good use, than just put them straight into the recycling bin.
Cutting wood every day also produces a lot of small wood shavings and small offcut lengths of moulding. We have a mix of bare woods and finished mouldings and these are then bagged up. They make great kindling for starting fires and wood burners – we usually have plenty available and are very happy for people to take them away and make use of them. For any of the scraps that people can take away to repurpose and reuse we’re happy to hand them over, but if you would like to put a small voluntary donation into one of our charity boxes then we’d be very grateful.
We are delighted to announce that Alec’s skill, experience and expertise in framing has been recognised by The Fine Art Trade Guild and he is now officially on their books as an Examiner for the Guild Certified Framer programme. This month the GCF programme celebrated its 25th birthday and passed the milestone of over 1500 framers worldwide who’ve achieved the qualification. Alec and Jo both hold not only the GCF qualification, but also Advanced GCF qualifications – Alec in Conservation Framing and Jo in Textile Framing and Conservation Framing. Jo is now in the process of training to also be an examiner. Alec manned the Guild stand at a recent trade show in Newmarket – chatting and giving advice to framers. Jo meanwhile has attended meetings with some of our suppliers, chaired an industry round table event at Newmarket and is also involved in the current review of mountboard and framing standards. She was also recently featured in 4Walls magazine, with a lovely write up recognising her as the first female framer to hold the role of Chair & Master of the Guild.
Alongside our busy work with the Guild, we have also been working hard here in our own workshop. You can follow a lot of our projects and individual work on our Facebook and Instragram feeds, so don’t forget to Like and Follow our pages. We’re also really grateful to every customer who has taken the time to write a lovely review on Google, Facebook and similar. It’s really appreciated by us. Alec has been kept hard at work in his painting room preparing solo artist exhibitions as well as pieces for bigger shows such as the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea. Amongst other things, he is currently working on oak frames for 5 large mosaics by renowned mosaic artist Michelle Greenwood-Brown. These are to be permanently displayed in Totnes town centre and we are looking forward to seeing them all on show. As they are to be displayed outdoors we’ve had to get a specific type of oak moulding that we had specially milled, as well as being careful on how we join the frames together and the preparation and finish applied to preserve the wood. The planning and preparation for jobs like this involves a lot of discusison with the artist as well as the funding partners, planning committee and council to ensure we meet all the requirements and specifications exactly, so it isn’t a quick process. But it is worth it when we all get to see the finished result and the artwork goes on display.
We are now in the final few months of the year and of course heading towards Christmas. So this is traditionally the busiest time for football and rugby shirt framing, memorabilia and medals and of course needlework pieces. We love seeing some of the creative and imaginative things that people have framed up as presents and it is great to be able to bring those ideas to life. We are hoping this year doesn’t break with traditional and that we also see a few quirky and unusual items! We are looking forward to another busy few months.
June 2019
We’re already half way through June – although the weather doesn’t seem to have noticed it is the Summer yet. We’ve had a very busy time since Easter, with plenty of work to keep us occupied. In amongst all that we attended the Fine Art Trade Guild’s annual get together in Stratford Upon Avon last month. The Guild Weekend is the UK’s biggest art and framing trade event and combines education, networking, the annual awards dinner and the Guild’s AGM. Jo has been Vice-Chair & Members’ Warden of the Guild for the past 3 years and this year she and Alec took an active part in teaching at the educational Framing Workshops that were taking place. Alec answered many questions on frame construction and Jo was busy discussing textile framing with framers from around the UK. Then on the Sunday morning at the AGM Jo was elected by the members to be the new Chairman & Master of the Guild. She is the first woman to hold the post for 30 years and the first ever female framer to be head of the Guild. The Guild, which has members in 35 countries, sets standards in framing, mountboard and printing and has been going in its current form since 1910. Jo has already Chaired two industry Round Table discussions – one in Chester and another in Brighton. Back with our day jobs – Alec has been painting in a frenzy to keep up with the number of hand finished frames in our order book. Jo has had some very interesting textile jobs through the workshop to keep her busy and we are still seeing a fair amount of military memorabilia from the First World War being framed. Next month sees the workshop closing for two weeks for our normal Summer Break. Dates are above ^^^^^. We’ve got plenty to keep us busy before then, and will be back towards the end of July ready for a busy summer schedule. And hopefully the sun will make an appearance too! And lastly – on 26th June we celebrate The Framing Lot becoming a teenager as we celebrate 13 years since we opened the doors for the first time. Our business has changed and grown so much since then, we’ve had a number of refits and moved things around, and we’ve built new workrooms and bought new and upgraded equipment. We’ve also taken lots of exams and worked hard on our CPD to keep updated with the latest techniques and materials on offer. Celebrating our birthday always also reminds us how grateful we are to each and every customer who chooses to use us for their framing. So a big thank you, from both of us. And here’s to the next 13 years!
May 2019
This month we are very proud, for the second year running, to be a funding partner for the Young Art Devon exhibition. This takes place at The Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey from 3rd to 5th May from 11am to 5pm each day and admission is free. This is an exhibition of over 400 young artists from local Devon schools who submitted original artworks. A panel of professional artists chose the 12 winners and 1 Judge’s Choice winner. We then provided the framing for the 13 pieces – the design for each one was chosen to reflect the image itself – so a fully bespoke piece. Each was framed to Guild Conservation standards and we used Anti-Reflection glass so that each piece could be fully enjoyed without reflection. We then presented each in a SMART Bag – a specialist art transport bag that can be reused again and again. At the event there will be a silent auction of art by professional artists and all money raised from the event goes to Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens. Cancer affects 1 in 2 of the population, and has affected our own family and friends. Cancer in kids & teens is often very treatable and research continues to push boundaries and prolong life. We are proud to be supporting the event and helping raise funds for such a worthy cause.
You can find out more about the event at www.facebook.com/youngartdevon or www.instagram.com/youngart_devon or www.youngart.org.uk or about the work that Cancer Research does for children and teenagers at www.cruk.org/kidsandteens
March 2019
The start of the month saw us waving goodbye to a few things. We have been working for many years with 2 mountcutters from Italian makers Valiani. Our Pneumatic machine that could cut mounts up to Jumbo size was the first one we purchased and then we added our computerised Valiani machine a short while later. Both have been great workhorses for us and we’re glad we’ve never added up exactly how many mounts they’ve cut over the years. At our recent visit to Spring Fair at the NEC in February we purchased a new Swiss made Gunnar mountcutter. This is a Jumbo sized machine so it meant that we could say goodbye to both of our other machines. Our Pneumatic one has a new home with a framer in Dorset and our CMC has gone to a framer in Lincolnshire. We then took delivery of our new machine and spent 2 very busy days with Sarah from Gunnar who talked us through the new software and the machine’s capabilities. We’re looking forward to being more creative with mount design and to be able to offer that same creativity on a CMC up to Jumbo size board. The last thing we said goodbye to was our Framing Lot van. It was just about to turn 10 years old and has served us very well as a delivery vehicle and moving advert – but it was time to give it a new lease of life. Its new owner is planning a full camper van conversion so we know it is off to have many more adventures. It does mean though that the handy van people looked for parked outside will no longer be there. We have been using our car more over the past few months, but if you do notice the van is missing, now you know why. In among all of that we have been kept busy with framing! We are enjoying the slightly warmer weather and looking forward to a packed schedule of exhibitions to get frames ready for. Just as a final note, we have also now confirmed a few days in May when the workshop will be closed and these are listed above ^^^^. Just a reminder that closures are always listed here on our news page and we never mind phone calls to check we are here and open. We’d much rather that than you had a wasted journey.
February 2019
We started the New Year by revamping our website and we hope you like the subtle new look. As part of that our emails were offline for about 36 hours as things transitioned from one provider to another – so if you sent us an email during the last week of January and didn’t get a reply, it may not have reached us so please do send it again. Our huge thanks to Ian from IJKJ Services Ltd for all their support in setting things up and for dealing with the transition for us. We were not alone in updating some IT. One of our largest suppliers also installed a brand new IT system over the New Year and unfortunately it caused them (and by association – us) no end of problems. This has meant lengthy delays in getting supplies, sometimes up to 3 weeks, and we would like to thank everyone who’s order had been delayed for their understanding while this got sorted. The latest news is that they are nearly back up to date and so, barring a few minor glitches, things should be back to normal service now we are into February. It has had a slight knock on effect which will last slightly longer for us – we’ve had days twiddling our thumbs waiting for stock to arrive and then a rush to get work finished when it does. Everything should be back to normal very soon. Jo had her Fine Art Trade Guild hat on earlier in January and visited another framing supplier up in Birmingham. As part of the day she had a full tour of the warehouse and saw how they manage to track and pack hundreds of orders every day. It was a fascinating visit and gave a real insight into how that side of the industry works. On 4th February we are both off to the Spring Fair held at the NEC each year to look at some new framing equipment. This event is the UK’s largest home and giftware trade show and it is also useful to be able to check out upcoming trends long before they hit the shops. And finally, later this month Jo heads back up to London for Guild meetings in her role as Vice Chair of the Guild.