My dad owned a frame shop for 30+ years. This really captures the feel of working there. And like the place in the article, there was the same cardinal rule. There were lots of towels and the ER was ten minutes away. Bleed on yourself, bleed on the floor, but do not bleed on the artwork.
All the discussion is rightfully around the art bits of this article, but I'm an absolute mess thanks to those paragraphs about the author's mom. So gutting to have this juxtaposition of unforgettable art that's fragile and coddled and a woman who's forgetting everything about herself, equally fragile in her old age. Masterful work.
I have framed many drawings behind glass, and I can honestly say that it is one of my least favorite jobs. Time and again, no matter how careful I am, specks of dust or smudges appear on the drawing-facing side of the glass. Of course these would appear only after I had taped down the back and installed the hanging cable.
Read it again: it wasn't a client that brought those in, it was her boss. He was making her practice on cheap wood to not mess up expensive wood later. A jig would have undermined the practice.
I will appreciate the works around my abode in museum glass, fancy sustainable frames, and obscure paints a bit more. Blood, sweat, tears, (and money) went into these after all.
PS - Reminds me: I still have a Frank Zappa-signed defunct radio station sticker with a news article establishing its provenance and some other vintage radio station stickers to frame.
Go figure. I submitted this article retitled "Confessions of a picture-framer" because over the years I've winced when comments here attacked original title posts as clickbait. I figured for sure "Don't bleed on the artwork" would get the same downvote treatment and disappear.
