CARVING A CUSTOMIZED FRAME
Channel: Massimiliano Gurrieri
Date: 2024-01-21

See Massimiliano Gurrieri performing a handmade carved frame for a painting of Guido Reni. Notice the fingers of the carver; they let us know how small the ornament's dimensions are. It's a typical acanthus leaf worked with gouges.

For his painting, the client ordered a customized reproduction of a seventeenth-century Bolognese frame similar to our frame model cod. 02. Between our standard model and the reproduction that the carver is making, there is substantially a difference in the size of the carvings. The reproduction you see has much smaller carvings. Our client meant this change since Guido Reni's painting is small and very detailed.

A small error of assessment can easily break one of the ornament's leaves. Note the chisel's edge, which, through a slight incision made with the force of the fingers, allows one to dig slightly down into the wood, creating forms as meant.

The first step to start a handmade carved frame like this is to draw the leaves along the sides. As a result, you'll have a balanced partition of the ornaments. They are indeed repeated with the same size in the whole frame. The second step would be to engrave the wood with the chisel, following the marks on the moldings. 

Finally, we see the third step, determined by diligent cleaning to remove the excess wood chips. From then on, the leaves will be seen clearly and appear clean, tidy, and precise. We are carving Swiss pine because it is pretty soft. Indeed, over the past centuries, it has been widely used to manufacture antique picture frames like this in Western Europe. 

FIND OUT MORE BY FOLLOWING THE LINKS BELOW
https://nowframes.com/
https://nowframes.com/wood-carving/