Home based framing biz - Seeking advice

[Phil Indeblanc]

This thread is so amazing. I have adoption papers for a few of you guys.

When I was 18 I used to do framing at one of those big stores (AB ring a bell?). Yes for the OP, and myself, cutting molding is a bit much. Matt cutting is a breeze with the right cutter on a rail.
Some amazing works to be seen here, the shops and the works coming out of them. I used to work at a sign shop sometime after the framing store, at a sign shop who went into framing. He got a die cutting like machine from france or some place which make the cleanest cuts, and ordered some quality molding. That was 20 years ago and all things have changed. I think once I get to making my first print on canvas and stretch it, I'll think about framing. One thing I have been getting more accustomed to accepting is that framing I guess does sell much easier than unframed.  I was hoping to offer a finished product that I could mostly produce and ship for the client to simply hang. As soon as they have to think about how and where to frame the sale can be easily missed.

[bill t.]

On 11/6 last fall you said you were going to show prints on varnished silver rag at an art show next week. Can you tell me how they were received by the public?

The public loved 'em.  It was on of my best shows ever. The public mainly buys the image without fussing about highlights and d-max and surface qualities.  They go for the image, and if it's local interest they may buy it as their first art purchase, ever.  My main reason for the Silver Rag thing is:

1. To intimidate other photographers.

2. For situations where I am competing with metallic prints and other paradigms meant to appeal to K-mart shoppers.  Silver Rag can easily blow that stuff away.

Silver Rag is the original "silver print" look-alike from some years ago.  It's now morphed into something more like a very low frequency luster surface on a 15 mil substrate that has lovable handling characteristics to those of us who mount our prints.  Looks terrific, I really like the way it resolves problematic reflections coming from eye-level light sources.  Costs a lot, but worth it both for appearance and mechanical reasons, although those who are into feeling prints may be disappointed.  To be fair: when not coated SR has relatively high bronzing and there are other more recent papers that are slightly better in that regard.  But when properly coated, Premiere has not a hint of bronzing or hazy masking of any kind.

SR has mucho gamut.  The gamut hulls of Gold Fibre and Silver Rag overlay each other almost perfectly, with very impressive d-max's and very similar tonality.  The difference is, SR takes coating much better, and develops a very hard scratch, fingernail, and pizza-sauce proof surface with just 3 light coats of Premier Art Print Shield, which also lowers the d-max to around L= 1.0 and almost makes the surface disappear except for the reflections.  Very pretty, very high gloss that does not look tacky.

IMHO the new and highly gorgeous Simply Elegant Gold Fibre does not develop an adequately hard surface with Premiere, the velvety surface shows trivial fingernail swipes the same as do matte papers.  But with some d-max and highlight compromises it takes water based coating pretty well.  Those water coatings increase the gamuts of both SR and Gold Fib in mid range greens and blues to a remarkable extent.  If you're shooting green parrots and jungles against blue skies, there's your ticket.

[Mike Sellers]

your posts are like infotainment to me!
Have you ever tried Pictorico PGHG? Closest look to Cibachrome in the inkjet world.
Mike

[bill t.]

Pictorico was on my list of papers to try during this relative down time.  However...

1. 7.3 mils would be less than kink resistant in my so-called workshop, and would probably show eggshell with most types of mounting.

2. 42" wide rolls?

3. Expensive.

So what am I really missing here?  Stop messing with my head, Mike! 

Optional reading:  I printed lots of Cibachome in the 70's.  Besides environmental-disaster chemistry is was way too contrasty for just any transparency, you either needed to shoot in very low contrast situations outdoors, or light to about an 8:1 ratio in your studio, or really like blocked up shadows and highlights.  It allowed you to make reversal prints in three tank dip&dunk processors originally intended for type-C.  But it was colorful for those shades that happened to fall within its dynamic range.  Check out Fatali's site.

[Photopro888]

The public loved 'em.  It was on of my best shows ever. The public mainly buys the image without fussing about highlights and d-max and surface qualities.  They go for the image, and if it's local interest they may buy it as their first art purchase, ever.  My main reason for the Silver Rag thing is:

1. To intimidate other photographers.

2. For situations where I am competing with metallic prints and other paradigms meant to appeal to K-mart shoppers.  Silver Rag can easily blow that stuff away.

Silver Rag is the original "silver print" look-alike from some years ago.  It's now morphed into something more like a very low frequency luster surface on a 15 mil substrate that has lovable handling characteristics to those of us who mount our prints.  Looks terrific, I really like the way it resolves problematic reflections coming from eye-level light sources.  Costs a lot, but worth it both for appearance and mechanical reasons, although those who are into feeling prints may be disappointed.  To be fair: when not coated SR has relatively high bronzing and there are other more recent papers that are slightly better in that regard.  But when properly coated, Premiere has not a hint of bronzing or hazy masking of any kind.

SR has mucho gamut.  The gamut hulls of Gold Fibre and Silver Rag overlay each other almost perfectly, with very impressive d-max's and very similar tonality.  The difference is, SR takes coating much better, and develops a very hard scratch, fingernail, and pizza-sauce proof surface with just 3 light coats of Premier Art Print Shield, which also lowers the d-max to around L= 1.0 and almost makes the surface disappear except for the reflections.  Very pretty, very high gloss that does not look tacky.

IMHO the new and highly gorgeous Simply Elegant Gold Fibre does not develop an adequately hard surface with Premiere, the velvety surface shows trivial fingernail swipes the same as do matte papers.  But with some d-max and highlight compromises it takes water based coating pretty well.  Those water coatings increase the gamuts of both SR and Gold Fib in mid range greens and blues to a remarkable extent.  If you're shooting green parrots and jungles against blue skies, there's your ticket.

Bill T.,
Are you referring to Museo Silver Rag Fine Art Paper 300gsm

Thanks for all your help on here... Also I like your #1 reason.

Darren

[bill t.]

Yes that's the paper, I buy it from itsupplies.com.  Unfortunately, other photographers are sometimes NOT intimidated for reasons I do not understand.

I would like to stress that there are other papers available with as much gamut and even less bronzing issues.  But without a doubt SR makes gorgeous glossy print that perhaps have a feel with their roots more in painting than in woohoo metallic photos.  When properly coated the surface of SR has very nice randomized surface that invokes the mojo of a fine art paper.   The surface also resolves reflections from eye level sources as a randomized sea of widely spaced stars that still allow a sense of contrast in the print underneath, as opposed to the more smoggy effects from many glossy, semigloss, and pearl paper surfaces.  It's all about competition on gallery walls, where you have little or no control over placement.

Its latest incarnation is only 15 mils thick, which makes it easy to handle and mount, while making it just heavy enough to avoid kinks from normal shop abuse.  It develops a surface with 3 light-to-moderate coats of Premier Art Print Shield that is as resistant to scratches and abrasion marks as a properly coated canvas, it's the only glossy I have tried that is as rugged in that sense.  BTW, Premier can rot your brain.  Maybe not the best choice if "feel in the hand" is important to you.  It's also very expensive, but I'm willing to pay if only for the reflection and coating qualities which are important to me but maybe not to others.