Black picture frame with gold trim, made to measure

A wide black picture frame with a gold trim: a hand painted body in satin black, and a narrow band of real gold leaf round the sight edge, water gilded over a coloured bole. The gold marks the boundary of the painting and holds the eye there, while the black gives the colours a quiet ground.

Profile of the moulding

At the sight edge runs the gilded lip, a narrow band of leaf that reads as a bright line against the black. Immediately outside it the section lifts into a small rounded bead, and past the bead the surface opens into a broad flat field that takes up most of the width and inclines outward. The field closes with a short step, and a shallow curve carries the section up to the rounded outer edge, the tallest point of the moulding.

Specification

• Style: wide black gallery frame with a gilded trim
• Finish of the body: black satin, sealed with shellac and wax; high gloss lacquer on request
• Gilding: real gold leaf on the lip, water gilded, burnished with agate
• Shade of gold: 22-karat moon gold or 23-karat yellow gold; 12-karat and 6-karat white gold as cooler alternatives
• Bole beneath the leaf: red as standard, also grey, Victorian grey, plum, black, brown, yellow, olive green, light blue
• Moulding width: 55 mm
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 36 mm
• Rebate: width 7 mm, depth 13 mm or 20 mm
• Material: low-tannin timber used in museum framing and art conservation
• Corners: mitred at 45 degrees, reinforced with wooden splines
• Glass, backing and mount: additional options
• Fixing and hanging: sprung clips and picture wire as standard; brass plates or a D-ring on request
• Suited to: oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, works on paper under glass
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

I build the frame to the dimensions of the artwork. Measure the work to within a millimetre and enter both figures in the calculator. The frame is made 2 to 3 mm larger as a technical allowance, so the piece seats without forcing, and the moulding overlaps its edge by roughly 4 to 5 mm.

Which artworks and interiors it suits

This is first of all a frame for oil and acrylic paintings on canvas. The rebate takes a stretcher, black separates a saturated palette from the wall instead of competing with it, and the gold line holds the eye at the edge of the canvas. Portraiture, still life and darker landscape work suit it best.

At 55 mm across the section reads as deliberate rather than decorative. There are more dark sections among my black picture frames, and I have set out how width, rebate depth and finish suit a canvas on my page about framing oil paintings.

How the frame is made

The lengths are mitred at 45 degrees and the corners reinforced with wooden splines in bare timber, before anything touches the surface. The body is then painted by hand in a curated and richly pigmented paint range, worked back to a satin sheen and sealed with shellac and wax.

The lip is gilded by the water gilding method. Over the timber goes a multi-layered ground of gesso and bole, and onto the wetted bole a single layer of real gold leaf: it is the ground that is built up in layers, never the gold. Laid on water rather than on size, the leaf can be burnished with an agate stone to a mirror-like sheen. Each sheet, roughly 80 by 80 mm, is cut down on the cushion with a gilder's knife for a lip this narrow. I describe the technique in my article on gold leaf and hand gilding.

Two choices decide the character of the trim. The first is the shade of leaf: 22-karat moon gold is cooler and faintly silvery, 23-karat yellow gold the fullest classic warmth, while 12-karat and 6-karat white gold take the line toward silver. The second is the bole, the clay ground under the leaf and thin enough to tell through it: red warms the line, grey quiets it. Red is standard unless you say otherwise.

How it differs from mass production

The trim here is real gold leaf over gesso and bole. Gold paint and metallic foil go dull and turn green as they oxidise, which is why a factory frame with a gold edge looks tired within a few years. The body is timber rather than wrapped MDF, so it can be cut, jointed and rubbed by hand.

Functionality

As standard I supply this frame without glass, as a mount for stretched canvas. The painting enters from the back and sprung clips hold it. The rebate depth is chosen at the point of order: 13 mm suits a thin support or a shallow stretcher, 20 mm takes a chunky one.

The same section can be made without a rebate at all, as a floating frame, with a visible gap around the canvas. That construction is described in my guide to the floating picture frame.

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

Sprung clips are fitted as standard. They turn aside to let the work in and back to hold it, and they cope with anything from a thin board to a stretched canvas. Brass plates with screws are available on request and are supplied loose, for permanent fixing once the work is in place. Hanging orientation, vertical or horizontal, is chosen from the order menu. Picture wire is fitted as standard, and a single D-ring hanger can be fitted instead if you ask for it.

Ordering made to measure

Enter the width and height of the artwork in the calculator and add the frame to the basket. The product options also cover the shade of gold, the colour of the bole, the rebate depth and the hanging orientation.

The base price shown is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the artwork is not the whole length of moulding a frame consumes: mitres cut at 45 degrees take extra length at every corner, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full consumption of moulding including the corners, together with the options you select.

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. The calculator prices the frame alone, without glazing: glass, backing and mount are matched to the particular work, so please send me a message if you want the piece framed under glass. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.