58 October 2014ART BUSINESS TODAY

FRAMING

Caught on filmJONATHAN GOODERS GCF specialises in framing TV, filmand music memorabilia. Here, he shares the inspiration andtechniques behind recent commissions

As well as the conservationaspect of dealing withvintage material, there arecontextual and aestheticconsiderations. It’s easy to

be tempted to put every poster into asimple black frame, which can lookabsolutely right, but a moreimaginative approach can bring apiece to life. The right frame can turnmemorabilia into visually pleasingartefacts that go beyond their originalephemeral intent.A good working knowledge of the

history of a particular field ofmemorabilia allows you to makeinformed framing choices. Talkingconfidently about pieces with clientshelps build a rapport, which meansyour creative ideas are more likely tobe adopted. We always recommendthe best materials to protect and

preserve artwork (we only ever useconservation or museum board).

Kiss of the VampireOur Gunnar computerisedmountcutter provides a lot of creativefreedom when designing apresentation, as seen in this set offront of house stills from the Hammerfilm Kiss of the Vampire from 1963.Front of house stills were displayed

in (or outside) the cinema at the timeof the film’s release. Each of these

stills measures 8x10”. Rather than justgoing with a standard multi-aperturewindowmount I decided to createmore of a statement piece. Hammer were notorious for their

lurid marketing, so with this in mind Idesigned a piece that not onlypresented the stills in an interestingway, but evoked the marketingmaterial that would have been foundin a cinema lobby of the time.The Hammer logo was created in

the Gunnar software using the draw

Left: The Hammer logo andthe dripping blood weredesigned with the draw toolin the Gunnar software

Above: The double mounton this Mummy posterutillises soft olive greenboard that pulls from thetones within the artwork

Opposite page:Nielsen’s metalia mouldingworks with the tones in the

artwork of this Le Mansposter to suggest the shine

of the cars

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tool, each letter being cutindividually using an inversebevel. The dripping blood wasalso designed within the software;to lose the white bevel, the bloodwas reverse cut, which alsoproduces a slight shadow thatprovides a 3D feel. The stills were hinged using

reversible museum tape andpresented in two ‘film strips’,which were raised with a smallfloat. To give the whole thingmore of a period feel, I opted foran Arqadia beaten metal frameand spacers were hand cut to fitthe different layers. To ensure thestills remained fully protected Iused UV protection glass.

The MummyThis poster for The Mummy isanother piece of Hammermemorabilia. Released in 1959, thiswas Hammer’s third gothic outingafter the huge international success ofThe Curse of Frankenstein (1957) andDracula (1958).This poster is a US half-sheet

(22x28”), which tends to be on heavierpaper stock than, for example, aBritish quad (30x40”), or a US one-sheet (27x41”). The poster was lightlyhinged using cotton museum gummedpaper tape. I wanted the frame to

evoke a sense of history, not onlyreferencing the time the film wasreleased, but also the late 19thcentury, when the film is set.Posters of this period are very

rare, so I used cotton museumboard to ensure the ultimate levelof protection, but also tointroduce the soft, warm depththat only cotton boards can bring.I used a double mount, with asoft olive green colour accent topull from the tones within BillWiggins’ original art, and toprovide the poster with an edge.I selected a frame profile of a

traditional shape, with a slightsilver green shimmer thatemulates the tones within themummy’s bandages. Given thevalue of the piece, I used museumglass and pH neutral Corri-Corbacking to finish it off.

Steve McQueenPosters for the Steve McQueen classicLe Mans are highly sought after. ThisSpanish one-sheet (39x27”) is printedon very thin paper; to bring out the

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colours and lighten the slightdiscolouration, the piece was hingedwith Hayaku archival gummed tape,and was mounted onto a slightly warmjumbo conservation board.The poster has some edge wear,

which was concealed by thewindowmount. There was slight paperloss in the image, which I disguised byapplying colour matched pastel to theundermount behind the poster.Nielsen’s metalia moulding works withthe tones in the artwork to suggest theshine of the cars, and to providesufficient support for the UV glass.

The Earth Dies ScreamingThis poster (a US insert 36x14”) harksback to the style of the classicHollywood B movie posters of the1950s. I wanted the framing to reflectand celebrate this.Using a triple mount, I

incorporated two bright core boards topull the black, green and orange fromthe poster. This creates a striking visualimpact and emphasises the steppededge that leads the eye into the

artwork. The poster had suffered somediscolouration and aging, so to reducethis I opted for Bainbridge light stoneconservation board, which is a tonelighter than the poster, so makes it feelfresher.The poster was framed using UV

protection glass and the moulding isNielsen’s deep gloss palamino. Thisgives the presentation a 1950s Formicakitsch feel and introduces an elementof fun.

Doctor WhoTo mark the 50th anniversary inNovember 2013 of the longestrunning sci-fi series on TV, we decidedto create a celebratory window display.It turned out to be quite a challenge.After designing the piece on paper,

I had to deconstruct it into singlecomponents. This was especiallydifficult when it came to the TARDIS,as I wanted to create a relief model.Not only did this have to be scaled tothe appropriate size, but eachcomponent had to be sizedindependently to provide the

dimensions required to key into ourGunnar mountcutter. Some had to bereverse bevelled, some would havestraight edges and some standardbevels, so a lot of head scratching wasinvolved. The final TARDIS model ismade up of 15 individual elements.Images of each doctor, along with

the space-scape, were sourced from theweb. The space background was drymounted onto conservation board andspacers were cut to continue the imagearound the inside of the frame. Thetext and ‘TARDIS 50’ logo werecreated in the Gunnar software in asimilar way to the Hammer logo forKiss of the Vampire. Again, these wereinverse bevelled and raised with foamcentred board. The police box sign, St John’s

ambulance emblem and telephonepanel graphics were created inPhotoshop and printed onto lustrepaper. As a final flourish I added small‘handles’ to the doors to complete theillusion.

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This poster shows signs of aging somountboard a tone lighter thanthe paper provides a fresh light feel

This Doctor Who piece wascreated to celebrate 50 yearsof the TV show

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David BowieThe idea of this piece was to create anoverview of the client’s collection in asingle frame. He had numerous presscuttings, which we arranged,photographed, and then manipulatedin Photoshop to create a backdrop forthe presentation. This was printedonto matt paper and dry mountedonto conservation board to create themount. The record was floated off awarm grey to push it forward, and thecards were double mounted to providea unified feel.As with the Doctor Who piece, the

spacers were carefully hand cut toensure they married up with thebackground image, to provide a wrap-around feel. The piece was framed inNielsen’s matrix cube gloss profilewith UV filtering glass.

SantanaAlthough this is an old concert posterwith no commercial value, it holdsparticular personalsignificance for theclient, so ratherthan displayingit in theconventionalway, I wantedto createsomething thattransformed the

poster into an art object to reflect theimportance it holds for my client.Working with the powerful graphics

in the poster, I double mounted itusing strong reds and blacks toemulate and extend the colours. Thewhite bevel pulls from the white in thewording. Where the poster had beenpinned up it has suffered cornerdamage, so to disguise this I opted for

shaped corners. These not only coverthe damage, but they bring an extraelement to the overall design.The ‘in concert’ text at the top

proved especially challenging as it isnot centralised and is at a slight angle.A few trial and error tests on pulpboard were required to ensure that thewindow aperture is spot on.We opted for a hand-finished

frame, which was built up withmultiple layers of gesso that weresanded back to provide a glass-likesurface. This was further built up withblack matt spray to give a tactile feeland depth of finish. To complete thepresentation, I used a small red spacerto add extra depth. As there was so much black, and to

avoid losing the detail behindreflections, I used museum glass,which also ensured the poster wouldbe protected from fading.By working with your client and

thinking outside the box, it’s possibleto take even a humble poster of novalue, and turn it into something ofbeauty in its own right. ■Jonathan Gooders GCF owns Framers insouth west London, framers.co.uk

Top: The background of this David Bowie piecewas created by scanning press cuttings andmanipulating them in PhotoshopRight: Jonathan Gooders GCFBelow: This is an inexpensive poster, but theluxurious hand-finished frame reflects theemotional value it holds for its owner