Picture frame restoration

[vicky whitworth]

Have been out mouching about the antique and junk shops today and bought an oil painting of some violets dated 1901 simply because I liked it.
The framing arrangement has been cobbled together albeit it looks like it was done some time ago. It has a plain, thin wooden frame next to picture and then a very fancy, goldish frame with flowers and swirly bits and this bit is in a grotty state with bits falling off in five places. It's all filthy too. I can't decide whether to:
1. Take off all the frames and leave it unframed.
2. Do nothing and simply live with it but the broken bits of frame stand out like a sore thumb.
3. Repair the frame if that is possible

Does anyone know if it's possible to do a DIY job on a frame like this? It doesn't have to be perfect - it wasn't expensive. How should I clean it all? The picture and the frame? Pics attached. Sorry, Big Bird muscled in
Thanks, Vicky

 

[LadyArowana]

I would not attempt to "DIY clean" an oil painting, it is a specialist task and you could very likely damage it.

Repairing the frame is more likely to be successful, but will depend how handy you are and how much time and effort you want to put in. In theory you would likely be able to make some sort of mold of the frame pattern from sections that are complete and then use that to cast replacements. A quicker option might be to just make something freehand from Fimo and then glue and paint. However, given the rather extensive losses it would probably be better to just take it to a framers and get a new frame! To my eye the double style frame is not actually doing the picture any favors anyway and you could choose something that that would match with where you want to hang the piece.

 

[Flyfisher]

Following on from milady's suggestion of removing the double framing, if the outer frame was cut down to the same size of the inner frame (an easy job if you have a good mitre saw), it looks as if that damaged bottom left corner could be completely removed, leaving you with much less repair work.

Of course, that may not give the end result you're after, but it's just an idea.

 

[worms]

Now that you've got the correct answers above, I can confess what I would do!

Masking tape and a can of suitable, goldish, spray paint for the embossed frame (then, if it is too bright, perhaps rub a little black shoe polish into the detail to bring it out), new cord and hang it. Once the outer portion is all the same colour, the broken sections won't stand out nearly as much. If the painting is valuable then spend money on professional cleaning and reframing, otherwise I'd hang it and enjoy it with minimal input to the frame.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

The frame will come up quite well if you gently brush it with a very soft fine artist's paint brush to remove the loose dust. The thick inset frame should be replaced with plain old gold mountboard. Better not to attempt to repair the broken bits, just leave them. As for the canvas, again brush off lightly as before and see how it looks. Depending on how much you paid for it either have it properly cleaned or leave it alone as a cleaned canvas is rather a shock to the eye. It is a rather lovely subject matter.

 

[88v8]

I guess someone had that old gold gesso frame, and the violets which were too small for the frame or perhaps damaged around the edge, and decided to insert the oak 'slip' as a means of marrying then together.

The gesso will be fiddly to repair, but not impossible, see here
http://thepolkadotcloset.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/how-to-repair-gesso-frames.html
and then as has been suggested you could use a different mount - gold in a gold frame, hmmm not sure - but if it were me in my house I would choose a new oak frame and stain it to my desired shade.

It depends what best suits the picture and your room; we have pictures here that looked really good in our last house which was wallpaper/paint, but look quite wrong in terms of their framing, in our stone shack with its beams n'all.

Ivor

 

[vicky whitworth]

Thank you for all the advice and opinions. Here's what I intend to do...Lose the infill frame altogether and get a neighbour who's a framer to cut the fancy frame smaller thus losing the damage in the bottom left corner and possible the damage at the top left corner. I guess he may be able to use some of the bits he cuts off to restore the missing bits of moulding roughly. If he can't I will try to colour them to match and keep the picture in a darker part of the cottage
I'm sure he won't charge me much. It's not an expensive picture so I don't want to spend too much on it.
Thanks to everyone. Vicky