Category: Interior Design

5 ways reframing can bring new life to your favourite pictures

julessainter

We redecorate our homes regularly, as fashions and our tastes change, but why do we almost never get a favourite picture reframed? Maybe we should. Giving a much-loved work of art a fresh new look makes it stand out and be noticed once again. There are, in fact, lots of reasons why we should make a point of reframing our artwork – here are my top five.

  1. Damage or wear and tear

Time, ambient UV light and quality of materials used by some framers can all come to bear on a framed picture eventually and, once the frame and mount deteriorate, you run the risk of the artwork inside starting to be adversely affected too so it’s important to take a look at your pictures every so often to check they’re still in good condition.

Some of the most common problems are the presence of woodworm, damaged or worn frame corners. Anything with woodworm needs replacing as soon as you notice the problem as these insects can spread to other objects or structures within the home and cause a lot of damage.

Damaged or broken frames may be repairable, depending on the extent of the problem. A professional framer’s advice should be sought to see whether the frame can be clamped and re-glued. However, if the frame has been dropped, the damage may be too extensive, in which case it could be time to review the whole piece.

Beautiful Oriental Mirror Back | Framed by Jules Sainter
  1. On second thoughts…

Let’s face it, something we thought looked amazing 20 years ago might be showing its age in terms of style or you may even be moving your artwork around and find that a frame which looked great in one room is now clashing terribly with the décor. It’s amazing how much a new mount and frame can freshen up a painting. You’ll see the colours and details anew and it can completely change the feel of a piece of art if you change framing style. Try putting a more modern, simplistic frame on an old oil painting and see what a difference it makes.

  1. Something inside the frame is bugging you…

No, not the picture itself, instead what about those tiny black bugs that miraculously find their way inside your picture frame only to die where they are least wanted? These are thunder bugs – also called thrips – and despite only being about a millimetre long, can be really distracting if they lodge themselves somewhere on your picture. They often get inside frames which have not been sealed properly. If you look at shop-bought frames you’ll see they’re often just clipped into place. A Guild Certified Framer will always seal the back of a frame with tape to ensure no dirt, bugs or moisture can get in and ruin your picture.

Angela Fielder Original | Framed by Jules Sainter of Lovingly Framed
  1. Something’s just not right….

If every time you look at a favourite piece of art, your eye is drawn away from it to something you can’t put your finger on, it could be that the mount the picture isn’t right. We often recognise subconsciously that something just doesn’t look right and it could be down to the mount being the wrong colour, or the wrong proportions for the piece of art it is meant to show off.

A strongly coloured mount can murder a delicate picture. Or the picture may have slipped slightly – this can happen if the wrong tapes have been used or if a picture is hung over a radiator or other heat source and the tapes dry out over time. Or, age may be taking its toll on a once-white mount. There are now ‘conservation’ mount boards available which will not discolour over time. If you do see this, it needs your attention because not only does it not look good, but a non-conservation mountboard contains acid which can actually damage the picture itself.

  1. Creating a brand, new piece of art

You might have a collection of framed items which have something in common. Things that show personal achievements, such as medals, sports shirts and pictures of events can look so much more impactful if framed together in a montage. If you’ve collected things over time and simply hung the pictures together in a group, why not think about reframing them into one themed grouping. This can make an amazing gift or keepsake for a family member and, by choosing a professional framer to do the work, you will be protecting the memorabilia against future wear and tear, fading or other damage by setting them safely inside a beautiful frame.

Cricket Montage | Lovingly Framed by Jules Sainter

Hopefully, I’ve managed to get your creative juices flowing with the ideas above. Have some fun with your artwork – you look at it every day so it should make you stop and smile rather than frown and think “I really must get that picture sorted out”

Men and Colours

julessainter

Men and Colours

I recently saw a sign in a paint shop that read 'Men choosing paint colours must have a note from their wives'.

 

Funny? Sexist? Or based on a truism that men can't see colour differences as well as women?

 

After years of dispute with my husband about the colour of top he was wearing in our first date (he says khaki, whereas I don't have one iota of doubt that it was mustard), I think there are differences.

 

Doing a quick count up of the number of men versus women coming to Lovingly Framed with their pictures to choose colours and styles, I find it is 76% women, 16% men, and 8% men accompanied by women (possibly to give men the illusion that they can choose but under the watchful eyes of their spouses.)

 

Certainly if we look at the statistics for colour blindness it does support a difference. 8% of men with Northern European ancestry have the common form of red-green colour blindness, versus only 0.5% of women.

 

But even taking out the issue of colour blindness in all its guises, it appears that there are some differences between the way men and women view colour which may be linked to the 'hunter gatherer hypothesis', which postulates that the sexes have developed specific psychological abilities in line with their prehistoric roles.

 

In tests, it emerged that women tend to better distinguish subtle differences between colour shades, whereas males show superior skills in tracking fast moving objects and discerning detail from a distance. According to the theory, men's vision has become honed to excel in ways that would have been most valuable in their roles of feeding and protecting their families, such as distinguishing and detecting prey from a distance. In turn, the vision of women, it is proposed, may have developed in order to help them recognise and catagorise near, stationary objects, such as wild berries.

 

Interesting stuff, but what does it tell us?

 

If we look out of the window of our semi-detached and see a lion peering at us over the recycling bin at the end of the cul-de-sac, call for alpha male. Or alternatively, ladies, perhaps pop out alone for a quiet moment with your friendly, local picture framer.