What do you do when it rains every day and it seems that all of your co-townies have fled to the beach? A) You are allowed to be jealous for about 30 minutes. B) You quickly get over it and you start organizing and catching up, and sooner than you know in your rummaging-around you find something that just beckons to be refinished by your idle hands! (Well, at least that happens to me.)
I hang on to old frames and pick them up at antique stores, which are aplenty around here.
A dear client recently brought me his collection of gold leaf from the 60's to play with.
(Collected during his wild years as an abstract/figurative avant garde painter in New York):
So play in the studio I did!
The first frame I tackled was a white ornate 70's "plastique" frame.
I gave him a distressed gold leafed look with some verdigris, specks and chips.
Next this Tibetan carved wood frame. I let the warm wood tones come through the finish in the end, with a light green contrast wash.
Last but not least: these old pressed tin frames found new finishes as well: under-coats of purple, green and Chinese orange were followed by a distressed random gold leaf treatment, showing some of the under-color, followed by an antique wash, verdigris, specks, a light dusting of rottenstone -- and a gentle polish with some steel wool.
"Voila!"
Time well spent, don't you think?
See you soon !
(PS: It's usually not as busy in the summer, so if you have a special project on your agenda, it's a great time to bring it in for us to tackle it creatively.)
Beate
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