After I posted my original article about frames I had an interesting visit with an upscale framer. Regrettably, his frames are out of my league. But his advice is not.

We talked about corners. He said to worry less about slight corner separation, and cited examples of fabulous museum frames that have massive corner separations—well, OK, but they are very old, and some have been through a few wars.

He stressed the importance of no shortcuts in the finishing process. It is the finishing that can make a frame look good 100 years from now.

He described how I can improve the mid-priced frames I use, making them look better over-all, and reducing the brightness of the gold paint to increase harmony with my subdued colors. His suggestion was to apply tinted paste wax, let it set until tacky, dust on some ash or household dust (ick), then gently buff the frame. It will take some time to find the specialized wax he recommended, but I’ll blog my opinion on the result at a later date.

Links to some of USA’s best framers—enjoy….

www.holtonframes.com read about how they do corners. You’ll never look at frames the same again!

www.framesbyedwardwright.com great pictures about the many steps in applying finish to frames.