Black picture frame with a white gold gilded edge, made to measure

A modern black picture frame built around a 45 mm moulding in satin black, with a single band of gilding along the outer edge. The gilding is done in genuine 6-karat white gold leaf, laid by the water gilding method over blue bole. 6-karat white gold is the coolest leaf in traditional gilding: it reads almost like polished chrome, noticeably cooler than yellow 23-karat or moon 22-karat gold. The frame belongs to the family of painted and partially gilded picture frames, where the contrast between deep black and a cool metal draws a distinct but undominating outline around the artwork.

The moulding profile

The profile is machine-milled, plain, with no ornament. From the edge of the rabbet the whole face rises in a single even slope, in satin black, to the outer edge of the moulding. The slope ends at the flat, vertical outer side, the band that runs right around the frame on the outside: this is the only gilded element in the profile. The inner side, turned towards the centre of the frame, and the short return faces stay in the same black. Three planes read from the viewer's side, and together they set a clear hierarchy: quiet black as the field, a narrow line of metal as the outline.

Specification

• Style: modern, minimalist
• Face and side finish: satin black, hand-waxed
• Outer edge finish: 6-karat white gold leaf over blue bole, burnished with an agate stone, sealed with traditional shellac and wax
• Moulding width: 45 mm
• Moulding thickness, face to back: 35 to 40 mm, depending on the rabbet depth selected
• Rabbet: width 7 mm × depth 15 mm or 20 mm, chosen from the order menu
• Material: solid timber of a low-tannin species, used in museum framing and art conservation
• Corners: mitred at 45° and reinforced with wooden splines
• Artwork retention: spring clips fitted in the rabbet (standard); brass plates with screws supplied loose on request
• Hanging: cord (standard); single D-ring on request
• Glass, backing and mounts: available on request for an additional fee
• Suitable for: oil and acrylic on canvas, works on paper, photographs, prints
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

The dimensions above describe the moulding the frame is built from. The overall outer size of the frame and the rabbet opening depend on the size of the artwork: the calculator in the shop automatically allows 2 to 3 mm of technical clearance on each side.

Which artworks and interiors it suits

The frame sits well with work built on contrast: black-and-white and fine-art photography, minimalist printmaking, monochrome watercolour and ink, abstract and expressionist painting with strong gestural forms. Because the gilding sits at the outer edge rather than at the sight edge, the cool band of white gold draws an almost architectural caesura between the wall and the artwork, and leaves the area next to the image entirely quiet.

In interiors it works in modern, loft and gallery spaces: minimalist living rooms, Scandinavian-style apartments with darker accents, rooms with an industrial character, where the black closes the composition and the chrome-like band introduces a quiet note of luxury without the ornamental weight of classical mouldings. Other black picture frames from the workshop are gathered in the matching shop category.

How I make it

I build the frame from solid timber of a low-tannin species, chosen for its dimensional stability and chemical neutrality and used for the same reasons in museum framing and art conservation. I cut the corners at 45° and reinforce each joint with a wooden spline, a tongue of timber set across the mitre. The joinery is done while the moulding is still raw, before any ground goes on.

The sloped face and all the sides are painted by hand in black, from a curated, richly pigmented paint range. The satin sheen comes from hand-waxing, not from lacquer, so the surface holds a soft depth rather than a hard shine.

The outer side of the moulding is gilded by water gilding. The ground preparation is multi-layered: several coats of gesso, then blue bole. A single layer of 6-karat white gold leaf is then laid on the wetted bole, leaf beside leaf with an overlap of about a millimetre, and burnished with an agate stone until the surface returns a cool, almost chrome-like reflection. The blue bole reads through the leaf and pushes the metal further towards the cold end of the range. The gilding is sealed in the traditional way, with shellac and wax.

How it differs from mass production

This is not a ready-made moulding bought from a wholesaler and cut to length. Each frame is built from scratch to one set of measurements: timber cut and joined to the dimensions of a specific artwork, corners reinforced with wooden splines rather than stapled, the face painted in layers by hand. The gilding is genuine 6-karat white gold leaf laid over a proper gesso and bole ground, not foil and not metallic paint, and it is burnished rather than sprayed. Approaches to partial gilding of this kind are set out in the guide to custom gilded picture frames.

Small irregularities in the burnish and the finish are natural to handwork. They are part of the character of a hand-gilded frame, not a defect.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glass, as a setting for a stretched canvas, a panel or another rigid support. The rabbet depth is chosen at the time of order, 15 mm or 20 mm, to suit a standard or a deeper stretcher. Every frame in the workshop can also be made without a rabbet, as a floating frame, with a gap left around the canvas so that the work appears suspended inside the moulding.

Complete framing – additional options

Every frame I make can be completed with full archival and museum-quality framing: anti-reflective UV-filtering glass (four classes to choose from), acid-free museum mat board, spacers wrapped in acid-free paper and a Dibond backing. This kind of mounting protects the work from light, acids and distortion. I set out the full glass and material specification on a separate page: archival and museum framing for paintings and photographs. All components are available at extra cost, as an individual quote on request.

Artwork retention and hanging

As standard the artwork is held in the rabbet by spring clips, fitted in the workshop. They turn aside to admit the work and rotate back into a holding position, so a piece can be changed without dismantling anything. On request I supply brass plates with screws instead, provided loose for you to fit once the work is seated in the rabbet: a permanent fixing, suited to a piece that will stay in the frame.

Hanging orientation, portrait or landscape, is selected from the order menu and the frame is prepared in that position only. A hanging cord is fitted as standard. A single D-ring is available on request.

Made to measure

The base price shown on the page is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the whole length of moulding a frame needs: corners cut at 45° consume extra length, and the wider the moulding, the more they consume. The calculator allows for the full consumption of moulding including the corners, together with any options selected.

The online calculator covers artwork up to 120×80 cm. Larger formats are made to individual order. Lead time is 20 to 30 working days.

Personalisation: bole colour (red, black, yellow, green, blue, grey), type of leaf (6-karat white gold, 12-karat white gold, 22-karat moon gold, 23-karat yellow gold, palladium, silver), face finish (satin sheen or high gloss), or a different face colour.