Saturday, July 14, 2007

A day in the life of a picture framer (part 1)

Ever wonder what it's like to be a picture framer?
6:45 am
I wake up slowly and get suited for an hour of Tae Bo with Billy Blanks.

8:00 am
Grab a yogurt and mix Grape Nuts into it.
(and hope my teeth don't break from the crunchy)
~~~UPDATE~~~~
I no longer eat grape nuts, *sob*
My teeth, in fact, HAVE been breaking.
Ahhhh... the joys of getting older.

8:15 am
Shower.

9:00 am
Get my husband (Tom) and Perry (shop dog) in the car for the 10 minute drive to town.

9:10 am
Open the shop ~ Turn on Computer/air compressor/get a coffee, yum

9:30 am
Phone rings. It's a solicitor. Hang up before they try to get you to say "Yes, this is the owner"
Those solicitors will take that one simple word "yes" and use it to sign you up for everything you don't want. I find it's just best to hang up.

10:30 am
My Favorite Marquette artist comes in. Carol Papaleo, she owns Art UP Style.
Carol has a few "new paintings" she needs framed. Helping her at the design table is great!
We chose some nice matting and added a v-groove, and a "gun-metal grey" metal frame.

10:45am
I get moving on a really wonderful and slightly complex framing.
It involves 6 metals and 14 photos. Designing a layout for this came quite easy for me.
This framing also needed to have some calligraphy done, to describe what kind of animal it was.
I work on the calligraphy for about 1 hour, then I realize I need to go move my car!
I just can't see myself getting a parking permit, so I go and move the car every 2 hours.
Picture will be posted soon. TA-DA! PICTURES!! :)

A frame job with a story


Recently, one Mother brought us her sons "airborne" course certificate, wings (pin), a photo and patches to be framed. He told his Mom "This is something I'm really proud of, could you have it framed?" She brought it in and said to us, "Do it how you think looks the best". And we did :)
We choose a wood frame that resembled a camouflage texture (kind of) and a black mat that cuts on a BLUE core. From there, we added a v-groove in order to tie all the ingredients together!
It looks so awesome. She literally shrieked with delight when she picked it up. I LOVE it when that happens.