For my Gallery "Haptics" show last month, I had to frame 21 variable sized pieces of which we used wood moldings, glass and 'floated' the art / that's no mats, but includes spacer bars to create the 'float' space. For a Gallery Show, if you are an Unknown, the artist pays. If you are Blue Chip & Known, the Gallery pays. On work that sells, the Gallery reimburses the framing charge off the top before taking its cut.
It's expensive and I got what is considered a very good deal from a framer with whom I used to share a loft space. (Doing things in bulk brings down the price, especially in January at the slowest end of the year.). Still, $2,000 for those 21 pieces in which the original varied in size from 7" by 11'' to 23 by 30". The challenge of the show was to sell enough work to pay the framer! Which I did by 'a hair' - fortunately.
As most of us know. the frame 'pops' a work and gives it another kind of public life, and is a good argument for 'formality.' Yet the expense can be challenging. As a gallerist told me, "I knew that framers would end up making more than me, I would have had second thoughts about going into the gallery business."
I suspect as with framers, much the same could be said about coffin makers, as well!
Stephen V
http://stephenvincent.net/blog/
Where we just pased "Day 45", The First 100 Days of President Obama, haptics and commentary.
--- On Fri, 3/6/09, Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Mark Weiss <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: The cost of a triptych
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, March 6, 2009, 7:25 AM
There are framers who are truly artists, but most frames are very
easy to make. Your local frame shop puts them together out of stock
millwork. The tools: a t-square, framers clamps, a finecut saw, a
mitre box, a hammer, finishing nails and a countersink. The problem
here is cutting the matt. I regularly cut my own matts, but my matt
cutter limits me to about six inches maximum borders. In a tryptich
most of the cutting is very far from the edges and requires much
higher-end equipment or the skill to cut free-hand. I have a tryptich
that needs framing. No way I'm going to cut my own matt.
The other solution, which often, as in my case, isn't appropriate, is
to float the pictures on the backing.
Mark
At 06:11 AM 3/6/2009, you wrote:
>Would a framing class be a smart investment to your art? Glass is
>not that expensive and neither is wood. It's all labor charges. best,
manda
>
>--- On Thu, 3/5/09, Christopher C Jones <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
>From: Christopher C Jones <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: The cost of a triptych
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Thursday, March 5, 2009, 11:34 PM
>
>Today, I ordered two triptych frames for my art photography. Three
>prints in one frame... the cost is huge, for me, already, as I prepare
>to do the final prints. Three 350mmm by 350mm prints in a single three
>window matt board, museum archival and some four to five feet of
>non-reflective glass with a tasteful 2.5 cm black wooden frame. What can
>I sell? Do these prints price me out of the market? Unframed the three
>archival selenium toned prints I need to ask $1000 Australian for and
>just to meet costs. Am I priced out of the market?
>
>My heart is in my mouth waiting for the framing studio to phone with a
>final quote. Do I have the cash, being far too nervous to make it a
>commitment based on potential cash flows or lack there of.
>
>What else can I sell to pay the framer?
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