Vellum, Indentures, Letters Patent, Royal Charters

Further to our Advice Page on framing vellum Royal Charters, Letters Patent, Indentures here we discuss further approaches to dealing with these often irregular items. Workshop images.

Mounting

An example of a computer-cut shaped mount wrapped in blue velvet. This allows us to accommodate the vellum, the cord/ribbon and the attached seal.

Another example that employs a double mount, blue on top and off-white below

Precision cutting. In this example, off-white top mount with blue behind.

Framing

Red velvet wrapped mount for Lord Hague of Richmond. The vellum is held in place behind the edge of the inner gold frame, and the glass is held away from the surface by velvet wrapped spacers. Museum anti-reflection glazing and with UV protection.

A simpler approach. The edges of the vellum sheets are shown within the shaped mount, the document is held in place using inert, colourless Mylar strips.

Antique veneered frame. Spacers the same colour as the mount are used to separate the glass from the surface.

Dark blue velvet. Genuine gold leaf Senelar Avignon frame.

ROYAL ACADEMY SUMMER SHOW

Sponsorship by Pure & Applied of the framing for the Madame Curie Summer Show Charity Auction

Picasso Plates

We were asked to frame some Picasso plates for an exhibition in New York. The plates had to be securely fixed for exhibition hanging and for transport to the USA and back. The plates were to be framed in a similar way to those in the Musée Picasso in Le Chateau Grimaldi, Antibes, France. We were fortunate enough to visit the museum that summer and view the plates at close hand.

Custom made, acrylic, locking brackets were fitted to the irregularly shaped plates with wool felt pads to dampen vibration. The bracket and plate were then very securely attached onto a plywood backboard and fitted into deep, oak box frames with acrylic glazing: a secondary backboard concealed the secure fixing and allowed for further thick felt for vibration dampening. We have, subsequently, framed several Picasso plates in a similar way for other clients.

Pablo Picasso Head of Goat, 1950

Pablo Picasso, Picasso Madoura Ceramic, Profil de Jacqueline, 1956

Picasso Plates. Musée Picasso, Antibes, Provence, France

Acrylic Solutions

Ideally, a book is read and stored on a book shelf. However, a framed book, if well done, can look fantastic on the wall. Framing an opened book presents its own unique problems: Gravity acts on the bulk of the pages in an upright position and accurate support must be given to them, they also tend to fall forward and this has to be countered. There is also a difference in height between the open front board (which needs to be supported from behind) and the bulk of the pages. If a book is opened too wide this leads to damage to binding, the spine and the end papers..the list goes on. In the example below the brief was to frame the artist's book opened at the signed image. Firstly a card model was made that supported the book and dealt with all the above problems. Then an acrylic case was made to the precise measurements of the card model. Mylar strips were used to prevent the pages opening. 

The encased book was then mounted in a deep box frame with spacers and glazed in anti-reflection, UV filtering glass.

Framed limited edition, Damien Hirst signed artist's book.

Framed Damien Hirst Limited Edition signed artist's book.

In the following example, the brief was to frame a signed copy of Winston Churchill's autobiography at the signed page with a photograph, a description letter, a brass plaque alongside. The signature was very close to the edge of the page and it was important not to cover it with acrylic. In the studio shot below the layout is shown with acrylic case in position in a gold and black double mount.

Signed autobiography of Winston Churchill.

Studio shot of an Andy Warhol book in white sprayed box frame. The brief was to create a frame that would allow the customer to occasionally open the frame, remove the book and display different pages. An acrylic case was made that had an opening at the top.

Andy Warhol Limited Edition book.

Acrylic boxes are a clean looking, modern alternative to conventional frames. Below is a studio shot of two life size 1960's anatomical charts

EXHIBITIONS

Pure & Applied Conservation Framing around the country

William Hogarth

St John Soane’s Museum London

Hogarth: Place and Progress will unite all of the paintings and engravings in Hogarth's series for the first time. The Museum’s own Rake’s Progress and An Election will be joined by Marriage A-la-Mode from the National Gallery, the Four Times of Day from the National Trust and a private collection, as well as the three surviving paintings of The Happy Marriage from Tate and the Royal Cornwall Museum. The exhibition will also include engraved series lent by Andrew Edmunds prints such as The Four Stages of Cruelty, Industry and Idleness and Gin Lane and Beer Street.

Early Edition Hogarth Prints lent by Andrew Edmunds

framed by Pure & Applied

Rick Guest

 Hospital Club. Covent Garden

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Pablo Bronstein

Grand Tour. Nottingham Contemporary

Andrew Edmunds

Frieze Masters.London

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Pablo Brostein

Chatsworth House

In 2015 the artist Pablo Bronstein was asked to exhibit at Nottingham Contemporary and Chatsworth House Derbyshire. The resulting exhibition: Pablo Bronstein and the Treasures of Chatsworth; The Grand Tour saw very large works framed by Pure & Applied at the Nottingham Contemporary and further works in antique and antique style frames at Chatsworth House, one alongside the famous Rembrandt painting” Man in Oriental Costume” of 1639.