Glossary of Terms.

MOULDINGS -

Obeche - A plain, almost grainless blond wood. It has very little character of it's own and is often sprayed, stained or gessoed and gilded.

Pine - A coarse grained softwood with a wide, tanned grain pattern. We use knot free pine - or at least edit them out of the finished products. Pine is well suited to whitewashes, waxes and staining.

Tulipwood - Also called Poplar, a pale silvery wood with a distinctive grain which shows through under black and white finishes. Tulip is a hardwood and gets more silvery as it ages, it is best treated with limewax but can also take a solid acrylic finish.

Ash - A beautiful hardwood with a grain pattern unlike any other, some silvergraining is also apparent and these patterns can be picked out with waxes.

Aluminium - Aluminium mouldings are extruded aluminium lengths which can be cut to create a frame. As they are stronger than wood they can be very slim faced and are connected with plates at the back. Aluminium sub frames are used in conjunction with drymounted aluminium panels to hover the panel off a wall, these are not visible from the front.

MOULDING SHAPES -

Rebated Mouldings - Any moulding which can carry glass and has the tell tale lip under which your artwork will sit.

Inlay Mouldings - These are open faced and are NOT designed to carry glass. Most commonly used to surround a canvas on stretcher bars. Some Inlay mouldings can be cut over large to make a floating inlay frame for canvases. Commonly a step in the moulding is used as a separator.

Tray Mouldings - Similar to Inlay moudlings these are NOT designed to be used with glass and are sometimes quite chunky. The canvas will sit on the tray and be fastened into place. Can be cut tight to fit or over large to float a canvas in the interior space.

Box Mouldings - Almost any moulding with a rebate deep enough to accommodate the glass, fillets, art and matt can be used as a box moulding. Classically the box moulding is a flat front, plain, just like M83 (Bespoke section) or FRMB (Ready Made Frames - Products)

Deep Rebate Mouldings - Those mouldings that are particularly suited to framing canvases or can easily be turned in to a deep sided box frame.

Swan / Scoop / Spoon / Reverse / Cushion / Hockey Stick - All refer to the type of turn on a moulding and the shape the moulding makes.

TALKING ABOUT FRAMES

Rebate - The inside edge of the moudling that is closest to the edge of the artwork.

Rebate Depth - The distance under the rim of the moulding to the back of the moulding. The deeper the rebate depth, the larger the interior space in a box frame. On open faced inlay mouldings the rebate depth given refers to the maximum depth of the canvas suitable

Sight Edge - The inner rim of the moulding as it appears on the glass - sometimes painted gold for Gold Sight Edge mouldings.

Glass Size - Also called frame size - this is the size of the glass used and will generally correspond with tthe size of the frame package.

Frame Package - The artwork AND it's Matt Mount AND it's liner and backing, Together this sandwich is the frame package. The frame package will normally be the same as the glass size and generally the frame itself is cut 2mm larger so as not to exert undue pressure on the glass or frame package.

Image Size - The size of the image visible through a window mount. Does not necessarily correspond to the final frame size. Please note a signed print and other information written on the paper around the image should be visible through the window mount is accounted for in the image size.

MOUNTING

Matt Mounting OR Window Mounting - Placing a photograph or artwork between two pieces of mountboard. The uppermost matt mount has a window cut out of it using a sharp 45 degree cutting head.

Book Mounting - As above with the two pieces of board hinged together to create a book jacket, often for the storage of prints or display in a browser.

Float Mounting Paper - This is where the whole of the piece of paper is visible in the frame. So the paper is tabbed down on the back corners with invisible T hinges, allowing the deckled edges to show.

Float Mounting Panels - Without glass in an inlay moulding an extra large air gap is left around the panel so that it appears to float in the frame space.

Float Mounting Canvases - As with panels an air gap is left arount the edge of the canvas. Allows some of the side of the canvas to be viewed.

Drymounting - The system by which a photograph, inkjet, digital print or poster is laminated to a smooth backing board, imparting strength and a smooth surface to the print. Drymounting uses a dry tissue adhesive which is heated and pressed in a machine - like a giant laminator - creating a permanent bond between the backing substrate and the print. Drymounting onto various backing substrates imparts slightly different properties to the finished piece and Aluminium composite panels are strong enough to be displayed without a frame and so the image floats in space. Service available but only to customers who can bring their prints to the workshop in East London.