Grey and gold picture frame with 22-karat moon gold leaf

A grey and gold picture frame I make to measure for oil and acrylic paintings on stretched canvas. The wide panel across the face is hand-painted in a pale grey, and the two bands closing it at the sight edge and the outer edge are water gilded with genuine 22-karat moon gold leaf over dark blue bole. The same moulding is also made with a yellow panel and 23-karat yellow gold leaf. It belongs to my range of gold gilded and partially painted picture frames, where colour and shade of leaf are chosen for the work.

The moulding profile

Closest to the artwork a narrow gilded band is lifted clear on a low step, so a fine line of gold runs along the edge of the painting. Beyond it the panel opens out: a wide, flat plane of hand-painted colour taking up most of the 56 mm width. At the outer edge it closes with a second, taller gilded band, the crown of the section, and from there the outer side falls away vertically.

The proportion is the point. Both gilded bands are deliberately narrow and the painted field between them stays unbroken, so the width of the frame reads as a margin around the painting rather than as ornament.

Specification

• Style: wide hand-painted panel between two gilded bands
• Finish: panel and sides hand-painted in successive layers, satin sheen
• Gilding: genuine 22-karat moon gold or 23-karat yellow gold leaf, water gilded over dark blue bole
• Colourways: pale grey panel and sides with moon gold, or yellow with yellow gold
• Moulding width: 56 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 30 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, 13 or 20 mm deep, chosen in the order menu
• Timber: low-tannin timber, of the kind used in museums and conservation
• Corner joinery: mitred at 45 degrees, reinforced with wooden splines before gessoing
• Glass, backing and mats: additional options, quoted individually
• Fitting and hanging: sprung clips, picture wire, portrait or landscape
• Suited to: oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, painting panels, works on rigid supports

I make the frame to the dimensions of the painting, adding a technical allowance of 2 to 3 mm so the work slides in without pressure, and the moulding covers its edge by about 4 to 5 mm.

Which paintings and interiors it suits

This profile was drawn for painting on canvas. At 56 mm it gives the picture a clear margin without dominating it, and the flat panel earns its keep in front of heavily worked surfaces. It suits landscapes, still lifes, portraits and oil studies, and equally drawings and prints on a rigid support. I compare profiles against supports in my guide to types of picture frames for canvas paintings.

The pale grey version with moon gold is the cooler of the two. At 22 karat, moon gold is paler and faintly silvery beside classic yellow gold, and the dark blue bole cools it further, so grey and gold sit close in tone: white or grey walls, cool-toned timber, a restrained palette on the canvas. The yellow panel with 23-karat yellow gold goes the other way, warmer against dark wood and saturated earth colours. Both are built to the size of the work, the starting point for framing oil paintings never painted to a standard format.

How it is made and finished

The order of work is fixed. Lengths are cut, corners mitred at 45 degrees, then joined and reinforced with wooden splines. Only then does the frame receive its ground: coats of gesso rubbed back between layers, until panel and bands read as one surface. Over that goes the bole, dark blue here, which shows through the metal after burnishing and quietens its tone.

The gilding is loose leaf laid on water, leaf beside leaf with an overlap of about a millimetre, in one layer. The leaves measure roughly 80 by 80 mm, so for the narrow inner band I cut them with a knife on the gilder's cushion, then burnish the gold with an agate stone. The panel and sides are painted by hand in successive layers from a richly pigmented range, levelled between coats and finished to a satin sheen. No two frames come out identical.

How it differs from a factory moulding

Factory lengths are finished first and cut afterwards, the corners stapled once the surface is on, which leaves a visible line at every mitre; the gold is usually transfer foil or metallic lacquer. Here the sequence runs the other way: corners joined and reinforced before the gesso goes on, so ground, bole, gold and paint cross each mitre as one continuous skin. At an angle, real leaf burnished with agate throws light back unevenly, with warm shifts along the overlaps, while a sprayed surface returns it flat.

Function

In its standard form the frame comes without glass, for direct mounting of a painting on a stretcher. Rebate depth is chosen in the order menu: 13 mm for standard stretchers and painting panels, 20 mm for heavier stretcher bars or where room is needed for a backing board. That depth sets the maximum thickness the frame takes.

The same profile can also be made without a rebate, as a floating frame, the painting held on a spacer with the canvas edges left in view. I explain that construction in my guide to the floating picture frame for canvas art, and agree it individually before the order.

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.

Mounting and hanging

To hold the painting, I fit sprung retaining clips as standard; they pivot to the side, so the canvas can be taken out and put back without tools. On request I supply brass plates with screws instead, loose, for permanent fixing once the work is seated. The hanging orientation, portrait or landscape, is chosen in the order menu. Picture wire is standard, with a single D-ring available on request.

Ordering made to measure

The base price shown on the site is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the full length the frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees take extra length, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full consumption with corners and for the options chosen. It prices the frame itself; glass, backing and mats are quoted separately.

The calculator accepts artwork up to a perimeter of 180 cm, the limit set for a moulding of this width; larger formats I make to individual order, so please write to me first. Measure the painting to within 0.1 cm and enter those figures: the technical allowance I add myself. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.