Lessen the shine on a gold frame

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Beveled

Beveled

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
In Memorium
Rest In Peace

Gone but not forgotten
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Oct 9, 2008
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Loc
Harbor Springs, MI
Anybody have suggestions for taking the shine down a notch on this frame? It's a wood frame, although it looks like metal. It has a nice red underpaint that I'd like to bring out. Fine sandpaper? What creates a uniform look?

I'd like to get better at this, so I'm planning to practice on some junk frames.


photo 2.JPGphoto 1.JPG
 
Seconding Nicole.

It seems to me that MOST frames look just a little bit better after a steel wool treatment. Start with very fine wool and progress coarser.

Have fun!
 
You might even try using a coarse steel wool depends on the effect.

another technique to take some of the shine/luster off gold leaf frames..
Take can of brown or black spray paint (I use krylon) hold about 24 inches away give a very lite mist coat.
You can practice this using just a piece of white mat board to see how much paint lands on paper. Then you can give it a coat of glossy clear or matte.

I have done this to change the tone of matt boards also. Works well on the metallic gold & silvers.

PS. Actually you can use any color even red depends on the look you are trying for.
 
I hate to be the bore in the classroom but:

Understanding what it is that you want exactly, dictates
what tool you use.

You can "screw in" a screw with a hammer.... but...

So, with "removing", not all things are equal. Otherwise we
would all be using a belt-sander with 40grit paper.

So "grit" is the important part here.

[BTW: Toothpaste is generally between 24,000 and 30,000 grit]

000 steel wool is 400 grit, 0000 is 600 and the same as Scotch brite green
Scotch brite white is 900, blue is 1,200 and black is 4,000

dry t-shirt will hold powders.... ajax is about 500-600, rottenstone (gray pumice) 900,
rouge is 1,400 and talc is 2,400.

Maguires wax cleaners and acrylic rubs are a multi viscosity and depend a lot
on what you use.... but generally 2,000 grit that can cut like 200 when used
with linen.

The grit is only a starting point.... how that "grit" point is delivered is also important.

Steel wool (IMHO) is the "instant gratification nipple for the uninformed". Grab a nail,
any nail.... go find the sample you hate the most.... forcefully drag the nail point along
the finish. Notice the "shatter" of the finish along the "line".... that is what steel wool
is doing on a semi-micro level. This will remove the gold (cut-through) to reveal the
red.. but you can also end up cutting right through the red primer and not even know
you did so.

If you substitute the steel for the same grit in rotten stone you get more of the
feathering thinning of the gold that allows the red to "glow" through, instead of show through.

A lot of times that gold is covered with a hard urethane clear overcoat..... so you have to
cut through that first.... but you also have to replace that protection after.

A damp diaper or t-shirt chunk, dipped in the gray stone, and rubbed as a paste, is the
fastest cutting as the damp will "carry away" the cut-away material. If you are doing
this on a water-gilded frame.... then you need to use mineral spirits instead.
 
Baer Charlton said:
I hate to be the bore in the classroom but:

Understanding what it is that you want exactly, dictates
what tool you use.

You can "screw in" a screw with a hammer.... but...

So, with "removing", not all things are equal. Otherwise we
would all be using a belt-sander with 40grit paper.

So "grit" is the important part here.

[BTW: Toothpaste is generally between 24,000 and 30,000 grit]

000 steel wool is 400 grit, 0000 is 600 and the same as Scotch brite green
Scotch brite white is 900, blue is 1,200 and black is 4,000

dry t-shirt will hold powders.... ajax is about 500-600, rottenstone (gray pumice) 900,
rouge is 1,400 and talc is 2,400.

Maguires wax cleaners and acrylic rubs are a multi viscosity and depend a lot
on what you use.... but generally 2,000 grit that can cut like 200 when used
with linen.

The grit is only a starting point.... how that "grit" point is delivered is also important.

Steel wool (IMHO) is the "instant gratification nipple for the uninformed". Grab a nail,
any nail.... go find the sample you hate the most.... forcefully drag the nail point along
the finish. Notice the "shatter" of the finish along the "line".... that is what steel wool
is doing on a semi-micro level. This will remove the gold (cut-through) to reveal the
red.. but you can also end up cutting right through the red primer and not even know
you did so.

If you substitute the steel for the same grit in rotten stone you get more of the
feathering thinning of the gold that allows the red to "glow" through, instead of show through.

A lot of times that gold is covered with a hard urethane clear overcoat..... so you have to
cut through that first.... but you also have to replace that protection after.

A damp diaper or t-shirt chunk, dipped in the gray stone, and rubbed as a paste, is the
fastest cutting as the damp will "carry away" the cut-away material. If you are doing
this on a water-gilded frame.... then you need to use mineral spirits instead.
Click to expand...

I'm going to go ahead and put this info in a folder for future use. Thanks Baer!
 
I have lots of things in folders.... and never use them, because
they are in folders.

You remember what I said at the start of the wrapping class

"Do it once, and it's a memory.
Do it twice and your hands remember,
do it three times and it's a habit."

File this one.... Vaseline has a viscosity of 180
but KY has only 120

Vaseline has a grit of 56,000 but KY is 66,000
but "cuts" faster, because of the low viscosity.

You can stick that one in the "Hanna" folder :D
 
Instead of abraiding the finish, you might consider adding something that will mat it a bit. This can be a wash of unpigmented casein, with alcohol added as a surface tension breaker, or a Very thin wash of acrylic medium with some rotten stone and alcohol.


Hugh
 
Hugh, Hugh, Hugh..... there are tea-totalers here....

why is it always with the alcohol??? :D

thanks for the reminder of what C[SUB]n[/SUB]H[SUB]2n+1[/SUB]OH does to get medium....
 
Call him in Russ... ethel does some really interesting things with untinted casein
and if you float some very finely ground lapis or malachite you get clear fish-eyes
in the finish.... with an certain iridescence.

Another interesting look is with leaded gasoline and unpigmented casein... you get
a permanent rainbow like gas floating on water... (answer is: at the race track)
 
preservator said:
Instead of abraiding the finish, you might consider adding something that will mat it a bit. This can be a wash of unpigmented casein, with alcohol added as a surface tension breaker, or a Very thin wash of acrylic medium with some rotten stone and alcohol.


Hugh
Click to expand...

I will try this too. The frame is nice as is except for the shine, so taking that down on this may just be the trick.

I really do want to try them all !
 
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