Vitrine for pipe collection

A collection of a family member's vintage pipes are carefully sewn to a backing of fine Belgian linen. The acrylic vitrine is a nice contrast to the age of the pipes and has the advantage of showing a side-view you wouldn't get in a regular shadowbox. 

Whidbey Island Fair Convention!

Hi all! I am a volunteer at the Whidbey Island Fair as the superintendent of kids' arts and crafts and have been invited to go to a Fair convention in Vancouver next week. We will be closed the whole week, opening again on November 2nd. If you have something in the shop that is ready and you'd like to pick it up whilst I am gone, you can email appt@catherinedewitt.com or call 331-7616 and leave a message and Jason will arrange to meet you at a time that's convenient for you. Thanks!

Porcelain lid in shadowbox

 

This is a porcelain lid that is very special to the client. The box broke, but she wanted to preserve the lid. I used medium-dark blue silk behind the lid as well as up the insides of the frame to hold the Museum glass away from the delicate flowers. Because at our shop we only attach art that can later be removed, mounting the lid was a bit tricky. What I ended up doing was making a foam board hexagon that fit very tightly into the back of the lid. Because it was visible, I covered the armature with the same blue silk. The armature was glued to the backing and with a pretty good tug, the lid can be pulled off the hexagon.

The client wanted a fancy frame that complemented the decorations on the lid, and it had to be deep enough to accommodate the glass, the lid, and the backing. It was very successful and the customer loved it. The price for the framing was around $200.

VICTORIAN CARD

THIS WAS A SWEET VICTORIAN GREETING CARD THAT HAD BELONGED TO OUR CLIENT'S GRANDMOTHER. WE NEEDED A DEEP ENOUGH FRAME SO THE SLIK RIBBONS WOULDN'T BE SMASHED AND IT HAD TO HAVE A DESIGN THAT RELATED BOTH IN PERIOD AND SCALE TO THE CARD. THIS LITTLE SILVER FRAME WAS PERFECT, EXCEPT FOR THE COLOR. I CHANGED THE FINISH TO COMPLEMENT THE COLOR AND AGE OF THE CARD. THE BACKGROUND IS A LIGHTER BLUE SILK AND I USED MUSEUM GLASS TO ENHANCE THE VIEWING OF THE DELICATE EMBOSSING AROUND THE EDGES OF THE CARD. THE BLUE RIBBONS WERE CREASED AND FLATTENED, SO I CAREFULLY UNTIED THEM, PRESSED THEM GENTLY WITH AN IRON AND PRESSCLOTH AND THEN JUST AS CAREFULLY RE-TIED THEM.

A CLOSE-UP OF BEFORE AND AFTER OF THE FRAME FINISH.

MIRROR SALE

It's our 13th anniversary! As a thank you to all of our past and future customers, we are having a mirror sale. You pay for the frame, and we pay for the mirror and fit! Almost all of our frames are included. Metal sectional frames are not included in the sale. The frame must be structurally large enough to support the weight of the mirror, so there will be some size restrictions on narrow mouldings.
You can have your mirror beveled or flat. The largest size we will do for this deal is 40" x 60"; the smallest is 8" x 8". You can tell us the outside dimension of the frame you want and we will make it the size you request. The sale runs through the end of October.
The shop is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10 to 6. We hope to see you!

Today is the shop's 12th anniversary...Jason surprised me with a cake!!

How Light Affects Art

All visible and ultraviolet light will cause art to fade, and sadly, fading is irreversible. The only way to keep art from fading at all is to keep it in total darkness. Because this is an unsatisfying solution when what we want is to look at the art we have collected, we as the framers and you as the steward can help to minimize the damage light does to art by the glazing we use and the lighting you use to illuminate the work. Fading can be accelerated by certain pigments being more fugitive than others and by the quality of the work's support, but for now I will only address the impact light has on fading.

How much light is best?

Visible light is measured for our purposes in footcandles, which is a unit of illuminance equivalent to the illumination produced by a source of one candle at a distance of one foot. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston recommends five footcandles for viewing art, which is roughly a 150 watt incandescent bulb placed about five feet from the work.

What kind of light is best?

Neodymium, sometimes referred to as full-spectrum, shows the art in its truest colors. The glass bulb is delicately colored in the melt with neodymium oxide, a rare-earth element. (Although it is classified a rare-earth element, neodymium is in fact not rare at all.) These bulbs filter out yellow light and are very close to natural sunlight, particularly the glowing pinkness of morning light.

Another good incandescent lamp is halogen (also known as tungsten halogen), which emits a very beautiful bright white light. Caution should be exercised as halogen lamps can get very hot and must be placed far from the art to keep the temperature surrounding the art from fluctuating too much when the light is turned off and on.

Not recommended is the fluorescent bulb, which emits a high amount of ultraviolet light and because of the source of its illumination does not produce accurate color renditions. Also not recommended is direct sunlight.

What else can you do to minimize fading?

• Don't leave light constantly on the art.
• Have your work framed using glass or acrylic that has ultraviolet filtering properties.
• If you will be away from the art for long periods of time, cover the framed piece with a cloth before you go. This has the added bonus of keeping dust off and discouraging flying insects that may find the sizing on and in your frame delicious.
• Rotate your collection. Wrap stored pieces in archival paper with labels for easy access.