Old Bakery Artists Art Trail 2011

We are proud to be sponsoring the Old Bakery Artist's bi-annual Arts Trail being held at various venues around Norton-Radstock from the 12th to the 15th of May!
We'll be exhibiting a piece of artwork from each Artist in our gallery for the week, so if you are out and about do pop in for a look and grab a leaflet!
You can find out more about the OBA and their Artists here at www.oldbakeryartists.co.uk

A 'Marvel-ous' collection of 3D object box frames...!

Here are a few more recent examples of interesting custom jobs that our customers have kindly given us permission to show...


Firstly a set of beautiful silver 'Apostle Spoons' that had aged to a lovely silver-gilt colour. These were sewn onto a suedette mountboard with strong invisible nylon thread and set off with a deep shadow mount to keep them clear of the glass. The gesso and silver frame complimented the colour of the spoons perfectly and all in all was a really enjoyable job to do. It makes a lovely feature of these antique family heirlooms that would otherwise have been hidden away in a dark drawer!


Here we have a somewhat smaller shirt than we have been framing of late! This was a favourite shirt of the little boy who wore this and will make a great memory to keepsake. It has been stretched over conservation mountboard and then sewn onto the undermount with no glue whatsoever. The glass has been floated clear of the shirt with a fillet stained black to match the deep box frame.
And finally below we have a 'Marvel-ous' set of limited edition figures... (sorry for the terrible pun but it had to be done! I hear you groan...!)

Arch Angel

The Fantastic Four

The Hulk

These great collector's figures were all deep box framed to free stand. The inside was faced with 'marvel' red on the sides and mirror glass on the back, top and bottom to show the reverse of the figure. The figures themselves were raised slightly on glass plinths to stand clear of the rebate.
They should certainly make a fantastic collection to display...

If you have any interesting and unusual 3D objects you would like framed do drop by or call for a quote. We enjoy a challenge, and with a bit of imagination there is usually always a way to effectively present even the trickiest of objects, which can make for a fantastic feature and talking point!
More examples coming soon....

Some more examples - Medals and Shirts galore!

It seems it's about time I showed some more recent examples of specialist framing, and for this post its all medals and shirts! Indeed these are the most popular kinds of specialist items to box frame and we do take a bit of professional pride in them!
Below is a detail of the interesting set of medals in the first picture. As well as the usual set of WW2 medals, this individual had ten Rifle Shooting medals which we hand stitched onto the suedette mountcard. The stitching is fiddly work but the end results are really satisfying!

Here below is another interesting set, again with the medals hand stitched onto suedette mountcards, this time Football medals from 1912 to 1928...

(The bendy window apperture is distortion from my camera lens - it is actually cut straight!)

Next below our shop example medal set showing how you could incorporate cap badges and flashes with your medals... Again it is all shadow mounted to keep the glass well clear of the medals.

And finally last of the medals for today as a change from the WW2 medals we so often frame, an Iraq War Veteran's medal very aptly framed in a much more contemporary style which I think suits it very well.

So now to the shirts... All of our shirts are first stretched over acid neutral conservation board and then hand stitched onto the under mount. We use no glues, so the whole process is completely reversable. The shadow mount keeps the glass clear of the shirt and presents it really smartly in a deep box frame.


This one has been done as a 'full shirt' with an extra window for some text....

And this one below has been done as a 'half shirt'...

As a general guide a 'full shirt' would start at £150 to £180, while a 'half shirt' would start around £120 to £140.
Medal sets very much depend on how much or little you'd like to include but can range between about £60 to £100. Please do feel free to drop by for a free no obligation quote, we're always more than happy to help!
More examples coming soon...

Don't miss our January Sale!

Our January Sale is now underway, so come and grab some bargains while you can!
There are big reductions on many framed prints and originals as well as some beautiful large and small framed mirrors.
Also we have some new 'Art Group' prints in stock with more coming soon including prints by the ever popular Sam Toft...
Don't forget we also stock crafts from our skilled local wood turners, silversmiths and ceramicists, and our new GIFT VOUCHERS are now available from the shop, just pop in and ask!

A look back... Midsomer Norton's Christmas Lantern Fayre...

Firstly a Happy and Healthy New Year to you all! Hope you all had a great Christmas and well done to all our customers who braved the snows to collect their Christmas framing! Hope you all kept warm and well in the snow and ice!
This is a somewhat belated post, a bit of a catch up after the busy Christmas period, starting with some pictures from Midsomer Norton's Lantern Fayre all the way back on the 3rd of December! We were just too busy to post them at the time but it was such a fun and exciting night it would be a shame to pass it by...

Many of the traders, including us, took part in the parade down the High Street, all dressed as Pantomime characters as part of a fantastic competition on the night. The public had to guess which pantomime each of us were representing with our window displays and costumes for a chance to win £250!
We were representing Aladdin, here are some pictures of our Aladdin's Cave window and us looking decidedly silly...







It was lovely to see so many of you braving the bitter cold and having a great time. Our shop was bustling and crowded and people seemed to enjoy the free mulled wine and chocolates too! So a big Thank You to everyone who braved the cold to support our town's Christmas Lantern Fayre, complete with Snow Queen, Ice Elf and even Santa's Reindeer.

Well done competition winners! And a visit from a Children's Book Illustrator ...

I've realised I've not updated the blog for a while, there just didn't seem to be a spare minute! But here is the first of a couple of belated posts about some of our recent events.
A little while ago with the support and help of local school's magazine 'Hey!' we ran a children's art competition to illustrate a dream holiday!
We got some fantastically imaginative entries and the children all worked really hard, so a big thank you to everyone who entered!
The winners and runners up pictured here were presented with their prizes by Children's Book Illustrator Paula Bowles who was a fantastic sport for taking part and made a special trip out for the prizegiving. (Paula's the one on the right of the picture...)
She presented the Winners with signed copies of her 'Time for bed Tiger!' book and all the children received art sets as well to continue their creative endeavours!
We framed the winners lovely artwork and mounted the runners up's, they look great don't they! So well done everyone and keep up the good work!
Paula is a member of SWIllustrators and you can check out her fantastic illustrations here at her blog and here at www.paulabowles.co.uk
Thanks again Paula, it was lovely to see you in Midsomer Norton!

Here are the winning pictures...

Winner Age 4 -6 Katie Green

Runner up Age 4 - 6 Natalie Green

Winner Age 7 - 9 Elena Cook

Runner up Age 7 - 9 Megan Dram

Winner Age 10 - 12 Imogen Young

Runner up Age 10 - 12 Melissa Dram
Fantastic work everyone!

Three generations of military service...

It being Armistice Day, I thought it an appropriate time to show a recent example of an interesting bespoke framing job. Our customer kindly gave us permission to show his finished frame which shows three generations of military service in his family - himself, his Father, and his Grandfather who served in the first world war, and I am told was only sixteen years old in this photo.
Each service man has been quadruple mounted in his regimental colours, with his cap badge shadow-mounted in an oval or circle apperture above. Quite a tricky mount to cut but well worth it for the effect. I photographed it before the glass was fitted to get some reflection free shots!



We seem to have had a few more medal framing enquiries than usual this week with Armistice Day being on everyone's mind. I will be putting some more medal examples up soon, but please feel free to drop in with your specifications and we'll be happy to advise.

A general guide to costs of framing medals are approximately between £40 and £60 depending on the frame chosen and how many medals or additional objects such as cap badges, regimental flashes or photographs etc... are included.

Our Armistice Day window display will be up for a few more days yet if you haven't seen it. It includes is a framed signed limited edition Artists proof of Queen Elizabeth by renowned portrait painter 'Christian Furr' to be auctioned in aid of HELP FOR HEROES on December the 11th at Norton Hill School.
I will post more details shortly...

Wear your Poppy with pride.