When a customer walks into my workshop I have several things to remember , I consider one of the most important ones however is to listen to what they want , then I may have to tactfully steer them in the direction of what will actually look good & also what I have in stock.

They may not realise the importance of mounting a picture,there are several reasons for doing this ,the main one is to protect the picture from being compressed against the glass, & becoming damaged . In the case of pastels this is vital as the pastel will come off against the glass & the picture will become smudged .

The role of the mount is also to separate the picture from the frame without dominating , merley toning in with the picture,fashions change with the times & at one time strong colour mounts were popular ,nowadays the trend is for neutral mounts creating space around the picture.There are a lot of different mounting techniques such as french matting which involves several layers of mounts showing one or more colours as a line which will pick out a colour in the picture.

All my mount board is of top quality acid free board , with colour fast dyes used & options of white , cream or black core to them.

Frame mouldings have to be strong enough to take the weight of the glass & backboard so as well as choosing a style of frame I have to make my customer aware of the practicality of their choice.

The role of the frame is to separate the picture from the background ie; whatever it is hung up against so I need to again listen to where My customer intends to hang the finished piece, & also in what light , if there are wall lights for instance or strong sunlight a which is not advisable with most prints & watercolours.

The golden rule with both mounts & frames is , if your eye goes first to either the mount or the frame then they are too strong , the eye should be led  into the picture without being distracted by either.both mount & frame should enhance the picture not dominate it.

All this to consider before I even start to measure & cut board wood & glass,one of the most interesting aspects of being a framer is that I never know what may come in next to be framed ,it could be a valuable old water colour or a limited edition print , a football shirt or a favourite postcard bringing back memories of a lovely holiday. I get  a lot of photographic work to frame, images of happy people smiling at me , children laughing ,happy family groups ,weddings, christenings, graduations.I also have a growing list of fellow artists who bring me regular peices into frame , photographers & cross stichers,coin & stamp collectors the list goes on.