Friday 21 December 2012

Christmas has arrived - again !



Well Christmas is here again with November and December having flown by. The end of the world as predicted by the Mayan civilisation hasn’t happened, although when we all went down with the winter virus with a week to go and a huge order board it felt a little as though the end of the world was nigh. But as usual, we survived and everything got made in time.

We’re just reviewing all the things we said we’d do in 2012 and realising how many we haven’t done - but also how much we have done.

As ever a huge thanks to all our customers without whom we wouldn’t have a business (obviously). We wish you all a Happy Christmas and a great New Year.

Friday 16 November 2012

Mounts Make Cash!

To everyone who has taken some of our mountboard off-cuts and put a little cash in the Headway charity bottle we're pleased to say we've filled the 2nd collection box to the tune of £125.53.

Headway (the Brain Injury Association) is a fantastic charity that does great work throughout the UK.  In some ways it's not the highest profile name in the charity world, but I bet if you ask a few people you'll be amazed at just how many have a friend, colleague or family member that has been helped (and indeed rely upon) Headway.  You can read a little more about them at www.headway.org.uk

Thursday 8 November 2012

Hardly Earth Shattering News

Well it's a sad confession that we don't seem to have anything interesting to say about our world of framing and art printing.  I could use the excuse that we've been very busy (which we have) but I know that I've used that excuse in previous blogs.
 
But the truth is that the customers keep coming (thank you all so much!) and the weeks just fly by.  We're still seeing some fantastic pieces of art and some really nice photography, but don't seem to have time to write about them. 
 
About the most interesting thing to happen is that we've finally got around building the customer counter in the workshop.  This in itself is not that interesting were not for the fact that I built it!  Now those of you who know me will know what an achievement this is.  However, I'm not willing to confess how long it took me to build.  Let's just say that the carpenters in the area are not under any threat from me!  But hey, it's built, and it's strong enough to lean on!
 
Finally, has anyone noticed the word 'Christmas' has started to be mentioned!
 
 

Thursday 27 September 2012

Where did that year go?


Remarkably it was a year today that Jess first came to work with us – just to get some experience (thus proving that we can fool some of the people some of the time!)  Well she forgot to leave and now we couldn’t do without her.  It’s also true to say that with 1 year under her belt that I can no longer fool her any of the time!  

We need very little excuse to eat cake in the workshop, so today’s celebration was a must ! 



Many of our customers already know Jess as part of our small team.  Jess is a comfortable framing as she is working with the digital print side of our business.  She also shares Jules’s eye for colour and style when helping customers to select their frames.

 
 
We could say she’s pretty good at everything, but we can’t, because she’s absolutely rubbish at parking the van.  So at least I’m still better than her at one thing!

Thursday 23 August 2012

Ooo, it's so long !



Our giclée printers spend most of their time producing fine art prints or large format photography, but from time to time we have been asked to print off various family trees.

Since our first print of these a few years back, our customer has been feverishly researching her family history.  Having tracked down her ancestors far and wide, the print is now 5.7 metres long! 

These are definitely the longest prints we have had to produce.  It does make a pleasant change from art once in a while !

Wednesday 25 July 2012

You Won't Miss Us Now !

The trusty van has (finally) had a facelift and nice new shiny set of graphics.  Most of the previous sign-writing was out of date (and hence a pack of lies!) so it was well overdue. 

Jules wanted something that could be seen . . . .  and the new design can definitely be seen!!!!

Give us a wave if you see us about.

Friday 20 July 2012

It's a Significant Number (for us) . . . .

Last week saw us reach a particular threshold in our business as Mr & Mrs Stanley unwittingly became new customers that meant our total customer accounts had reached a significant number.  We’re shy about numbers so we’re not going to say exactly how many, but it had a good few noughts on it!

We thought we couldn’t let the event go unnoticed so we presented Mr & Mrs Stanley with a rather nice case of wine and a jolly looking plant.  We even decided it would be wrong to charge for the framing of their lovely artist’s technical drawing of an Aston Martin on which Mr Stanley worked before his retirement.  We received a lovely letter of thanks from the Stanleys who you can see in the picture receiving the gifts. 

In case you’re wondering who the third ‘On the Edge’ girl is in the picture, it’s Lauren who joined us on work experience for a week.  Lauren did really well and is herself a very good artist.  I’m sure we’ll see more of her work as her art career progresses.

Monday 25 June 2012

It's in the Can . . .

Well we had some fun today.  We finally got around to having some professional photographs taken of our workshops.  We need some pictures for our new website (yes, we are eventually going to update the website!) and no matter how good your camera is, and how well you know Photoshop (I use it every day), there is no substitute for a professional photographer with genuine creative skills. 

We’ve worked with Clipston based photographer Rob Leveritt for quite a while now, so he got the dodgy brief of trying to take interesting shots of picture framing in progress!  He didn’t even flinch when I asked for some shots to represent our laminating and dry mounting service!!!  Exciting stuff indeed!

The main thing we learnt is that the only time you should wear white shirts & blouses whilst picture framing is for a photo shoot - it’s a grubby business!

So the make-up has been packed away, the models have retired to their Winnebago and the shots are ‘in the can’.  We await the result with great interest.
Have a look at Rob’s web site, www.robertleverittphotography.com  he has a really unique flair for getting really natural portrait photography - so different from those factory-line portrait studios.

Wednesday 20 June 2012

Summer's Coming . . . ?

I’ve just noticed that April’s blog I titled as “Winter’s Gone”.  Well that was premature wasn’t it!  But in case you need something positive to cling to, the great summer of 1976 didn’t start until June 22nd, apparently, and it rained for the early weeks.  We can but hope!

Jubilee week has been and gone and we decided that we must be the only business that didn’t manage to apply even the most tenuous link between our products and the Queen’s big week (surely a red white and blue frame would look rubbish!) .  It became quite amusing seeing what other businesses managed to promote as being to “celebrate the jubilee”.

We are now fully in the flow of exhibition season again.  The deadlines are getting shorter, the feeling of panic is rising amongst some artists (and us) and some of the exhibition rules on sizes, finishes and hangings appear to need a degree in deciphering!  Happy days!

Monday 2 April 2012

Winter's Gone

Well here we are in spring again.  It’s been nice to have the workshop doors open again and to wear a few less layers.

Jess mastering 'The Beast'!
Every time we think we’ve got the workshop sorted we found ourselves having change it all around again (with lots of upheaval ).  The latest addition to the workshop is a very nice pneumatic twin mitre saw  . . . . I know you’re impressed !  We decided to upgrade to this rather large piece of equipment as it gives a far better cut allowing us to get an even nicer finish on the frame corners.  It also lets us offer some frames that we couldn’t cut before, either due to size or the type of material.

My simple assumption that we could just buy a mitre saw were, as ever, naïve (my learning curve continues!) I soon found out we had to buy and fit an enormous compressor to drive it and a complex (and noisy) dust extraction system.  I think any illusions about picture framing being a cute traditional craft are rapidly disappearing !
Eater is a few days away, so I hope you all enjoy the break. 

Prizes, prizes . . . . .

For a few years now we’ve been pleased to put up a prize for Joules Clothing’s big fundraising day for Children in Need.  This year’s winner was the lovely Marie-Claire, shown collecting her prize of a large canvas print we’d produced from one of her own photos. Congratulations Marie-Claire.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

A Belated Happy New Year

Well as January ends we are back in the swing of it (as is everyone!).   We still can’t comprehend that we’ve been in the new unit for a year.  Where did that year go?

It’s that time of year when all the suppliers change their pricing and we too have to do a few sums.  But nothing looks too bad this year so hopefully no hefty increases for anyone.

Our main news for this month is that we have been joined full-time by Jessica.  Jess came to us in October last year after graduating from DeMontfort University with a BA (hons) in Craft & Design for just a few weeks of work experience.  From that point on we haven’t let her go!  But in all seriousness it’s great to have someone whose skills, interests and qualifications are perfectly aligned with what we do – and it’s certainly great to have another very capable pair of hands.


Our great mystery since we have been at our unit is our front door.  For those who haven’t been, it has a sign on it saying ‘come straight in’ and there is the huge industrial signage overhead with our name and logo on it.  There is also normally our van parked outside.  So why then do loads of customers walk straight into the neighbouring business - a cleaning machinery workshop!?  It’s baffled us all and must be some kind of optical illusion.  We’ve all stood outside trying to see why, but we’re baffled.  Fortunately Dan, next door, is a good chap and joyfully brings everyone back to our doorstep.   I may post a photo next month.  Rob