(no subject)

[slemslempike]

One thing I have been vaguely intending to do for a while is frame some things so I can put them up. It turns out that most of what I have is an odd size, so I only managed to do these with frames I found in Primark sales and charity shops:



The one on the left was painted by one of the guards at my guesthouse in Amuda (NES), and is an illustration for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The one in the pink frame is a pen and ink drawing from Khartoum that looks like a scaffolding up a building with people swarming on it, the next is a watercolour from Eritrea, and the final one is Persephone bookmarks. I had been trying to work out what to do with these for ages, and I think it looks quite good. I have at least enough for four other ones like this, so next time I'm home I shall find a Home Bargains or similar and get some other frames.

Other things that need frames are:

* 5 Kate Beaton prints that are very awkward sizes.

* 8 black and white postcards of Nina K Brisley Chalet illustrations. These should be easy, I think I will get a bunch of postcard frames from Tiger or similar that match but have different patterns and colours.

* 5 slightly smaller than postcard size greetings cards with illustrations of South Sudan (done by Hannah Rounding). Can probably be postcard frames but might need to have a deeper "edge" than usual.

* A Matilda illustration proper print type thing that was a gift from my parents ages ago. This is in a mount and everything, I just need to get the right sized frame, which I feel should be doable since it's from somewhere "ready for framing".

* A handful of weirdly sized small watercolour paintings done for tourists from places like Zanzibar and Ilha that I like but are unhelpfully too small for postcard frames, and not quite square enough for square frames, and yet not worth the cost of custom framing.

* This print: https://www.ayqakhan.com/products/summers-over which I adore but is also oddly sized.

I also have a large Batik print from Eritrea, that I think needs a stretcher so at some point I will find out where to get that done and on past experience, argue with the framer that I don't care if it costs more than sticking it to some wood would, I want it stretched not stuck.

Next I have to work out where to put them, probably in the living room where my two larger paintings are, and of course my Greg Davies cut out (the most beautiful art of all), but the postcard sized ones in my own room. The Persephone bookmarks, when I have all of them done, probably need a blank strech of wall to be places down one on top of the other.

Comments

[slemslempike]

It belatedly occured to me to google, and there are places online you can order quite reasonably priced custom mounts, so I can just get a cheap frame that's large enough for the longest dimension, and then get a mount to make it fit.

[nineveh_uk]

Having spent much of today cutting a mount not particularly well in order to frame a picture, this is definitely the option I'm going to take in future (they're not even particularly expensive bought in shops, given the price of the card - I just already had one I thought I should as well make work).

And nice art!

[slemslempike]

I had had a thought that I could get some card and do it, but then I remembered myself and that way lies very uneven lines cut in grubby card, and quite possibly a bleeding thumb.

Thank you! I like to buy pictures when I'm away as a sort of memento, and even if they are not Great Art I like them very much.

[nineveh_uk]

I did have a special mount-cutting tool available and I've done it a couple of times before, but frankly it was still a pain in the neck and since it isn't actually mine I'm going to return it to Mum when she visits next week and pay for pre-cut in future.

It doesn't have to be Great Art to be art that is attractive and of interest. I envy your ability to buy pictures when away. My brother in law is also very good at it - alas I am not. I still regret my failure to buy something when in Uzbekistan because I was too conservative.

[katlinel]

S did this with the freebie postcards that we got with our Xena videos (yes, that old). I think he just used a Stanley knife to cut the required rectangles in the card, but then he is not as innately clumsy as I am. And then we just got one of those cheap glass clip frames.

I love what you've done with the Persephone bookmarks.

[slemslempike]

Thank you - in some ways it makes me think of Nicola wanting the wallpaper framed to go on the staircase.

[alithea]

Very nice!

I have art to hang too when my bathroom and kitchen painting is done. I treated myself to some lovely prints for the bathroom, must remember to post pics when they're up :)

[slemslempike]

I put off doing anything for ages because I was thinking I would paint and do other things to my flat, so wanted to wait, but I have realised a) that is not a short term prospect and b) I can always put art back up.

[alithea]

Yeah, if I waited til I'd done everything, my walls would have been bare for the past 14 years! I have put up the Moomin pictures in the kitchen but I need some different hanging arrangements for the others because we made a right mess of the plaster doing it (the kitchen walls are a dodged disaster area).

[yiskah]

I LOVE the Persephone bookmarks! They look amazing. Can we have a close-up of the Khartoum one, which I don't think I've seen? Also a link to the custom mounting place (fnar) given (as you know) I face similar framing challenges.

Also, makers of cheap art / prints: MAKE YOUR STUFF IN CUSTOM SIZES FFS.

[slemslempike]

The mount thing I found and played around with was this: http://framefrog.co.uk/Custom-Mount-Choose-Outer.php?view=std&rurl=%2FCustom-Mount-Choose-Template.php

But there seemed to be lots when I googled that were similar and maybe cheaper.

Khartoum:

I bought it the last time I was there with Forcier, having to borrow $100 from a consultant int he process :) The mount is the wrong size and cuts off some of hte detail, which I shall fix when I can be bothered, also at some point it seems to have been slightly rained on and smudged. But overall I like it!

I am v pleased witht eh bookmarks, but now I am going to have to try and find matching frames for the rest of them, as I think with the different prints it needs to have the frames more matchy than would otherwise be necessary.