Antique Looking Picture frames
Buy customized antique looking picture frames with the perfect size for your painting.
Antique Looking Picture Frames for sale
Since 1905, we have specialized in antique looking picture frames for masterworks. Our atelier creates vintage looking picture frames customized to your specifications. We offer a wide range of products, which we have divided into three main categories: expensive, affordable, and low price. Also, we’ve created categories divided by era and style. So, for example, if you have a 16th-century painting, you can search inside that specific category. That allows you to find the most suitable models for your artwork in minutes.
Down below the page, we explain in detail how we realize our frames, focusing on the kind of materials we use, which kind of techniques we prefer to apply, and finally what are our main goals.
Innovation is key to build vintage looking picture frames
We are focusing on innovation. Thus, we commit ourselves to the never-ending search for sustainable materials that can guarantee top quality at a competitive price. We see innovation and sustainability as the same thing, and this is the reason why, when we create vintage looking picture frames, we focus on materials with a low impact on the environment. Because we believe that wood is one of the main characters concerning the topic, specifically its scarcity, which can soon become a more alarming issue. For this reason, we love to treat wood like a real asset, something more than just a simple good.
In addition, recycled materials significantly lower the final price of our antique looking picture frames. Why? That’s easy to answer. Innovation and recycled materials represent the future, and in the long run, will become more convenient compared to the strict and maybe too traditional procedures of manufacturing old style frames.
SECRETS TO CREATE ANTIQUE LOOKING picture FRAMES
The main secret to realizing amazing antique looking picture frames with a low impact on the environment and a convenient price is the approach of focusing only on the final result. We don’t bother much about how traditional masters did before us. We know they were great at their time. However, now, it is time for a swift.
First of all, we want to make clear that we strongly believe in legitimate shapes and decorations. Therefore, we never going to change them, otherwise, we will lose our main goal. What we are focusing on, instead, is the curiosity about new materials and techniques that can boost the quality and improve the price of our antique looking picture frames. The final result, indeed, has to remain equal or become even better than the results achieved with ancient methods.
With that clarified, we proceed now to explain what we have changed. First, our decorations, even the bigger ones, are made of wood pulp. Not always, of course, but quite often. We spent a long time creating a set of molds to realize high-quality decorations in wood pulp.
Wood pulp decorations to decor antique looking picture frames
A couple of decades ago we discovered wood pulp. That is a material made 99% of sawdust. The little rest is paint thinner: A solvent. Mixed, these two elements allow the creation of a soft paste. Of course, the paste remains soft until the solvent vanishes. So, after the evaporation of the thinner, the wood pulp becomes resistant as wood. The good news: it has the same properties as wood.
A carver can carve wood pulp much easier than real wood. Why? Because the wood pulp is softer and has no veins. Thus, when you have the dried ornamentation ready to be recarved, you can give it the master touch. See a video on our YouTube channel explaining in detail the process: wood pulp carvings.
So, what about the final outlook we were discussing earlier? Is the wood pulp enough good to achieve a top-quality result? The answer is absolutely yes! Not only as good as wood but even better because the wood pulp decorations aren’t less durable than wood; in addition, they are carvable in less time and effort. Lastly, they are better to receive the gesso preparation, the one we need before gilding. In fact, we noticed that the gesso gets fixed on dry wood pulp more easily than wood. That is due to the greatest amount of pores present in the wood pulp surface, which helps maintaining the gesso attached.
antique looking picture frames made traditionally
It is mandatory to adhere to traditional techniques for certain types of work—not really to do them on a regular basis, but just to be in touch with the roots of our work. In fact, if we lose the main roots, we could find ourselves in trouble in the very near future.
Also, some customers seek out antique looking picture frames made rigorously with traditional techniques. In any of these cases, we offer our customers what they look for. Of course, they are prone to paying a higher price to realize those kinds of products.
In other words, to create antique looking picture frames carved as old masters did, we need many working hours. Check out below a couple of videos on our YouTube channel showing the antique methods of carving:
Hand wood carving
Hand wood carving 2
Hand wood carving 3
With the above explanations given, it’s now your time to make a decision. Do you want to keep going towards traditions or do you prefer innovation? Tradition is fantastic but innovation in our opinion is even better. Remember, the latter is a way to save money and save the environment at the same time.
Astonishing and realistic Patina of antique looking picture frames
Patina is a word that refers to the process of aging antique looking picture frames. It relates to the tone of the final gilding and it manifests itself in several ways. We want to describe here the main features of this significant technique.
Firstly, vintage looking picture frames can appear relatively new, medium-aged, or very old. Thus, with that in mind, gilders try to follow their taste to accomplish the best possible patina for any kind of frame. In fact, the era and the style of the frame are essential to decide in which way to proceed. For example, it’s very unlikely to find a Renaissance frame with shiny gold. Therefore, when we replicate antique looking picture frames in the Renaissance style we age them quite a lot.
Secondly, we need to know the characteristics of the artwork to frame because we have the chance to choose between two different kinds of patina. The warm tone patina and the cold one. The first has a reddish tone while the latter has a greenish aspect. Knowing which are the main colors of the painting can help for a better decision.
Despite the option of choosing between two different tones, the gold remains always yellow. There is no way to change its primary color. Above all, there is no need to change it because it is beautiful in itself. Indeed, the option to have a warm or a greenish shade of gold on vintage looking picture frames depends on the pigments melted into the shellac, which would consist of the several hands of patina above the gilding.
Our consolidate tricks for aging vintage looking picture frames
At first glance, from a certain distance, your eyes will see old age on the gilding just by its color itself. But what happens if you step closer to the frame and start focusing on details? You will likely recognize a new gilding surface, especially if the gilder did not take proper steps to accomplish the patina. Now, is when it comes in handy an excellent gilding abundantly rubbed, with a few tiny broken parts, especially on the outer corners of the frame. Also, a few fake wormholes along the sides would be helpful to replicate good antique looking picture frames.
The tricks described above, even if can seem risky on a new product, constitute the core of a realistic authentic patina. Don’t make the mistake of eliminating one or more of these tricks just because the frame is new, and you want it in perfect condition.
If you follow our advice, the structure of antique looking picture frames must be intact and solid, but the gilded surface has to be damaged by wear and friction. Because that creates an aspect of healthy but at the same time aged craft object. In conclusion, you can’t create something with an old look without having quite a few tiny damages displayed here and there.
New generation of antique loooking picture frames
Since the manufacturing of Gothic-style frames, which we can consider the very first examples of antique looking picture frames appeared in the 3rd century, artisans have evolved quite a lot. The first kind of gilding to appear was water gilding. It was terrific, and we still do it when needed, but during the Renaissance era was invented a new system. The new process of gilding was called the oil gilding technique. It helped to save a lot of working time. As the final result was as good as if made with water gilding, the new system remained. We still use them both. This is just proof of the evolution of craftsmanship.
The use of the two different techniques helps us to benefit from each of them two. For instance, when we use water gilding to manufacture antique looking picture frames, we can benefit from the shiny and translucent gold, which is indispensable for certain decorations. On the other hand, when using oil gilding, we benefit from the speed of work, obtaining at the same time the necessary result of opaque gold, which has to be interposed with shiny gold to create a sort of movement on the ornates. This is the very principle of ancient gilding to avoid a flat alike gilding that can not display the forms of the carving in a clear manner.
To wrap up, we know that arts are evolving. It is just a matter of knowing the result you are looking for. If you seek out quality for an affordable price, stay with us. We know the path to replicate astonishing antique looking picture frames made to last; with very good materials, realized by mixed techniques. And finally able to encase a masterwork with a quite affordable expense.