I'm a bit obsessed with restoring old things (and by now, if you follow my posts here in the community, you already know it) and frames are one of my favorite items to restore.
I'd been looking for a long time for a frame in this style with rounded or oval edges to put some of my portfolio images in. That's because I've been photographing for many years and to this day I have very few images that I've taken that are properly framed in my home.
I realized that I always take care to frame other artists' work, but mine ended up in a corner anyway. So I decided to do it with care and had been looking for a frame in this style for some time.
Here in Brazil it's quite common to find these old frames in antique shops, almost always accompanied by a religious image. As a country with an immense Christian majority, it's trivial to find these frames with images of saints. Those that are already quite old, with the colors of the print worn away.
As I'm not a religious person, I was just looking for the frames. And fortunately, a few weeks ago I found this one during a visit to a thrift store in my town.
And I say fortunately because it wasn't the first time I'd found a frame of this style, but it was the first time I'd found it at an affordable price. These pieces tend to cost more and more around here, since people's outlook seems to be changing with regard to vintage pieces. Every time I found one, it was about the price of a kidney.
Okay, that's obviously an exaggeration. But around here we also use this expression a lot to say when something costs too much.
After removing the religious image from the frame, I also gave it a little makeover. It was in its natural wood color, just covered in a clear varnish. However, this covering was already quite worn and looked dirty. So my first idea was to cover the frame with gold paint.
Although I didn't photograph this part, I used a metallic paint in the old gold color, one of those made for handicrafts. I applied it with a very soft bristle brush and gave it two to three coats.
As the paint has a metallic finish, I think you can see how shiny the frame is in these photos. Exactly the way I wanted it.
Then it was time to choose the photo to go in the frame. I had a lot of doubts and passed the job on to my Instagram followers, who voted to help me choose.
The photo "Letting go like river water" was the most voted and here it is after being printed. This photo was taken a few years ago in a river near my house and I've already talked about this photo shoot here on a previous occasion. I gave the piece this name to remind me that sometimes we need to leave some things behind.
Finally, as the frame had rounded corners, I had to cut the image to fit perfectly and I used the glass of the frame itself as a mold. Then I cut it out with a stylus.
I was a little frustrated at having to cut off the model's hand (I should have foreseen this beforehand), but I still thought the end result was beautiful, dramatic and poetic. Exactly what I wanted.
For now my new painting is in my studio and I'm very happy to look at it every day. It's a comfort for me to be surrounded by objects and images that bring me satisfaction. And I think that's one of the main goals of interior design.
This photo is available to live in your home too. If you would like to have one of my works in your home, write to me. I ship worldwide and accept payment by paypal. If you're interested, just write to me here for more information.
See ya! 🌊