So much framing today, just three frames but each a unique challenge.
The first has black gloss stain, but to avoid raising the grain of the wood I mixed a solvent-based outdoor varnish with solvent-based wood stain and applied that. This makes a smoky-black stain with high gloss, perfect for this.
I will later apply more black for a high-gloss finish.
Second, a frame for the Gynocrats painting. I needed to use two lengths of wood, and chose the best areas. I wanted to stain in red and brown, to match the deep red on the inner frame to Romeo and Juliet. I applied red solvent stain (there's no substitute for this in a water-based stain, dilute fluid acrylic works well, but only with certain pigments, and all will raise the grain). The place when the wood's barcode label was attached resisted the stain, leaving an ugly white patch which could not be covered with stain. I solved this by matching the colour and painting over just that area with a tiny brush and transparent acrylic paint.
The third frame is for the older painting, 'Masters of the Sky', which has needed a new frame for some time. This was plain brown, but tricky because the panel was developed for an older frame, so will need to be cut down to fit. The stain sponge (stain is best applied with a sponge) caught a splinter of wood, splitting it along the grain and catching a chunk of sponge. I had to grab some fine tweezers, remove the fragments of sponge, careful not to disturb even slightly the delicate and homogenous stain. Then I used a paperclip wire to apply a tiny fragment of wood glue, PVA for its transparency (I also use aliphatic resin glue at times, but PVA-based glue is better for this decorative job), then very gently hold the broken shard of wood in place as the glue dries. The mend should be completely invisible; but I know that even a tiny speck of PVA is highly visible if stained over, so I might have to leave the stain as it is.
All hand cut with my veneer saw; 8 precise cuts per frame. I imagine a ninja master (perhaps that famously bad Commodore 64 game did teach me something!) when making these exact cuts. As little as 0.5mm out would lead to a poor join, so each cut must be exactly made. These are perhaps the best three frames I have yet made, each with a different method of design. I will glue clamp the red frame now, the others must wait for the surface, and glue, to dry overnight.
