Memorial Ceramic Poppy
We are very proud to be able to construct this frame containing one of the commemorative poppies from the art installation at the Tower of London in 2014. Each of the 888,246 poppies represented a British fatality during World War One.
Flag
Justina, my right hand woman in the framing department, is showing the size of the flag we’ve had to frame recently. The flag was brought in by one of our regular Royal Navy customers and measured more than 3m x 1.5m. We managed to reduce it to a mere 2m x 1m. It flew aboard HMS Lord Nelson, a pre-Dreadnaught Battleship, engaged at the Daranelles campaign in 1915-1916. It is currently on display at HMS Nelson, the barracks and support services site forming part of HM Naval Base Portsmouth.
Clay mask
This charming clay gargoyle was made by the child of one of our framing customers and will now be preserved forever, hopefully giving lots of joy and memories for the family in years to come. We had to build quite a deep frame to accommodate this piece of sculpture.
Computer Core Compilation
We framed this circuit board from a 1970s super computer a white ago. It shows how time has moved on. The total power of the computer this belonged to will probably fit into a mobile phone!
Dance Medals
These medals were framed by a proud mother who wishes to show off her daughter’s achievements as a dance competitor. Most of the long ribbons are threaded through a bevelled slit in the mount and therefore hidden from view. We also made special apertures in the shape of semi circles to keep the medals in place.
Fish Fossil
This Fish fossil, framed by us recently, was positioned on a tile. The tile had to be fixed securely, before we could apply the mount, which had to be raised so the fossil would not be touching the glass. The dark brown mount provides the necessary light and shade to show off the fossil’s features.
Iron Man
One of our customers completed an Iron Man Challenge and we framed the memorabilia which will serve as a fitting reminder of his amazing accomplishment.
Cycling Shirt Mark Cavendish
A superb example of the way we frame sport shirts – this one is a signed framed shirt by British 2011 Tour de France winner Mark Cavendish.
Certificate and Badge
This frame was produced as an example to show the First Sealord how we propose to frame this special award for Greenwich Hospital. We are now waiting for the appointment of a new First Sealord, before we can frame the first real award. He is expected to be appointed in May 2016, after which the certificates will be signed and we can start framing.
Fossil
This unusual fossil was brought in by Andrea Verenini, a regular customer to our gallery. It is the fossilised fin of an Ichthyosaurus, an ancient type of dolphin from the late Triassic and early Jurassic period, so around 150-200 million years ago, certainly the oldest animal I’ve ever framed! When Andrea brought his ‘pile of stones’ in, we asked him to lay them out and glue them onto mountboard. Sure enough, some of them came off straight away and we ended up gluing and stitching them into place. We have been informed that they are all still hanging beautifully on the wall. I wonder if they make it another 200m. years?
Man Utd Shirt
Another example of the way we frame shirts. We are often commissioned to frame signed shirts. They take a whole day to complete, which is why they are not cheap to construct. After deciding on layout, colours, frame etc.. we create a dummy from foamboard, which will be stitched inside the shirt. Then the whole shirt, complete with foamboard dummy, is stitched onto a piece of mountboard. Once secured, the mount is cut, usually with a curved line along the top to highlight the shape of the shirt. We fit and raise the mount, so the glass can lay on top without touching the shirt. Finally the frame is cut and all is assembled (somehow!!) and hey presto, another one bites the dust! Sounds easy??
Framing Samples – Afghanistan Flag and medals
After having repaired and existing frame, our customer was so pleased with the result that we were asked to construct another two similar items, which proved quite a challenge, as each aperture contains its own mini mount slip – a small frame inserted inside the aperture of the mount, or in this case, six little mini slips, one of which had to be shaped into a triangle. Never had to do so much matchs before to build a frame.
Buttons and Badge
Some time ago we framed a number of uniform buttons and a badge. Here is the mounted image before it went in the frame. This illustrated the space between the outer mount and the memorabilia necessary to avoid the items touching the glass.