Gold tray frame for canvas, water gilded in 23-karat gold leaf

A tray frame stands a painting clear of its surround: the canvas rests on an inner frame set back inside the moulding, and an open gap runs between the two, so the picture reads as an object rather than something behind a border. Here the gold is confined to a rounded bead 20 mm wide, burnished 23-karat leaf above a black side wall 45 mm deep. It sits with the rest of my gold gilded picture frames.

Frame profile

The face of the moulding is a single half-round bead running the full 20 mm width, and the only gilded surface on the frame. The arc lifts from the edge nearest the painting, peaks midway across the width, then falls away to the outer edge, so the gold is one continuous curve catching the light along its length. The outer side wall, 45 mm from face to back, is hand-painted black and waxed to a satin sheen. Set within it is a flat inner frame, painted black to match, the surface the stretcher rests and screws onto; with 10 mm of space around the canvas, a narrow band of it stays in view.

Specification

• Version: floating on an inner frame as standard, overlapping the canvas edge on request
• Face finish: 23-karat yellow gold leaf, water gilded over red bole, burnished with an agate stone, sealed with shellac and wax
• Sides and inner frame: hand-painted black, sealed with shellac and wax, satin sheen
• Moulding width (gilded face): 20 mm, half-round
• Moulding thickness (face to back): 45 mm
• Stretcher thickness: 15 mm or 20 mm, chosen when ordering, other depths to order
• Gap around the painting: 10 mm as standard, other gaps to order
• Rebate, overlapping version: 7 mm wide, 20 mm deep
• Gold shades: 23-karat yellow as standard, also 22-karat moon gold, 12-karat white gold, 6-karat white gold
• Bole colours: red as standard, also brown, black, grey, Victorian grey, plum, yellow, olive green, light blue
• Material: low-tannin timber used in art conservation
• Corner joinery: mitred at 45 degrees, reinforced with wooden splines
• Fitting and hanging: screws through the inner frame, spring clips in the overlapping version; picture wire between two D-rings
• Suitable for: oil and acrylic on canvas, prints and photographs on canvas
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

In the floating version the calculator takes the size of the stretcher, and the figure you enter sets the gap: for 10 mm of space on every side, add 20 mm to each dimension. In the overlapping version enter the size of the artwork; I build the frame 2 to 3 mm larger, so the moulding covers roughly 4 to 5 mm of the edge. Measure to within a millimetre.

Which paintings and interiors it suits

I built this frame around painting on canvas, and it earns its keep where the edges matter: paint carried around onto the sides, heavy impasto that nothing should press against, landscape and abstraction in strong colour. Prints and photographs on canvas suit it too, since standing the work clear tidies an edge a moulding would emphasise.

A gold line on black is restrained: the metal reads as an edge rather than a mass of colour, so the frame settles into a modern room as readily as a wall of older pictures. The rounded bead turns the light gradually where a flat gilded edge draws a hard line.

How the frame is made and finished

The corners go together first, mitred at 45 degrees and reinforced with wooden splines while the frame is bare wood, so the joint is mechanical before anything goes on the surface. Then come the gesso, laid on layer after layer and rubbed back between coats, and over it the bole, the gilder's clay, in red. Those built-up layers make a surface dense enough to burnish.

The gilding is 23-karat gold leaf laid on gilding water, leaf beside leaf with roughly a millimetre of overlap, which is one layer of gold, not several. The leaves run to about 80 by 80 mm, so for a face this narrow I cut them into strips on the cushion, then burnish the dried gold with an agate stone. The sides and the inner frame are painted black by hand, and the whole frame is sealed with shellac and wax. More on my page about water gilding.

How it differs from mass production

A trade tray frame is an extruded length cut to size, an inner frame stapled in and a foil edge for gold. Here the gold is metal, laid on water over a layered ground and brought up with a stone, so it holds its colour rather than dulling. On a face 20 mm wide there is nowhere to hide a poor mitre.

Functionality

The frame is used without glass, so the canvas stays open to the air, which is how oil on canvas is best kept. The interior takes a 15 mm or 20 mm stretcher, chosen when ordering, and the 10 mm gap is a standard rather than a fixed dimension: tell me the space you want around the painting and I will set the inner frame to it. The same moulding is also made the conventional way, the bead lying over the edge of the canvas, if you would rather the frame closed on the work. How the two differ I explain in my guide to the floating picture frame for canvas art. The same construction on a flat 24 mm face, in cooler 22-karat moon gold over blue bole, is my gold leaf floating frame for canvas paintings.

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.

Fitting the artwork and hanging

In the floating version the painting is fixed from behind: I drill the holes through the inner frame and supply the screws, so you fit the stretcher yourself, with nothing showing from the front. In the overlapping version spring clips hold the work and swivel aside, so a painting can be changed without tools. The frame hangs on picture wire between two D-rings, or a single central D-ring on request. State portrait or landscape when you order, because the hardware goes on in one orientation only.

Made to measure

The price on this page is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the whole length a frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees take additional length, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator works out the full consumption including corners, plus any options.

It accepts artworks up to a perimeter of 200 cm, the limit for a moulding of this width. Larger formats are made to individual order. The frame takes 20 to 30 working days.