3440
Lake Tahoe Blvd., P.O. Box 612711, South Lake Tahoe, 96152
ph 530-541-8438 fx 530-541-8709
www.masterframing.com
BUSINESS HOURS: MON-FRI 10-6, SAT 10-5
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Where are you located?
2. What kind of framing do you specialize in?
3. Do you do any unusual framing?
4. Do you do the framing on your own premises?
5. Do you have to be licensed to be a picture framer?
6. What does "Certified Picture Framer" mean?
7. How are picture framers trained?
8. What do the words "Archival Framing" or "Museum Framing" mean?
9. Do you teach any classes on picture framing?
10. Do you sell art prints at your frame shop?
11. Do you have framing examples at your store to look at?
12. Why is picture framing so expensive?
13. What do picture framers do in their spare time?
We are in the Bijou area of South Lake Tahoe, 2 miles west of the
casinos near the Safeway. We are in the same building as Sato's
Japanese restaurant and next door to Tep's Villa Roma. Our address is
3440 Lake Tahoe Blvd. Look for the green sign that says Lake Tahoe
Master Framing. Our hours are Monday through Friday 10-6, Sat 10-5. If
you have trouble finding us, please call us at 530-541-8438.
We do all kinds of framing,
from the little fingerpainting by your three-year-old to valuable
masterworks.
At Lake Tahoe Master Framing we do
every possible kind of framing you can imagine.
No job is too big: One of our
customers had a painting that was 10 feet by 8 feet. Both the canvas
and the frame were too big to bring in through her doorway! So we
assembled the canvas stretcher in her living room and then custom-built
a triple-stacked frame on her dining room floor! Where, you might
wonder did we hang it? Why, above the entry of course, 18 feet up!
No job is too exotic: We once had a
customer bring in a Sixteenth Century Bible that was brought over by
her ancestors on the Mayflower. We custom-molded a plexi-glass cradle
on which the Bible was held open to her favorite page with golden
ribbons. The entire piece was then floated inside a burgundy-velour
shadow box.
No job is too serious! We once
built a frame for a Ph.D. certificate. The new "Doctor" said do
something fun. So we made frame with concealed lights and tape
recorder. When the switches were thrown, the frame mysteriously lit up
from within and a disc jockey began announcing an advertisement for
Ph.D.s available at K-Mart on a Blue-Light-Special at only $9.95!
No job is too touching: We once interred the boxed
ashes of a beloved dog in a shadow box frame complete with the dog's
collar, favorite toy, multiple photos and other memorabilia.
Yes. Unlike some framers who send your art out
to be framed someplace else, we do everything in our store. Your art
never gets loaded into a truck and shipped to another framer. It
always stays in the protection of our store.
No. Anyone can call themselves a picture framer,
set up shop and take your money. Which is why the next question is so
important!
A Certified Picture Framer is someone who has
passed an extensive exam given by the Professional Picture Framer's
Association. The "CPF" designation is an indication of highest
achievement in the picture framing industry and assures you that your
art will be cared for properly.
The CPF exam covers all aspects of the picture
framing business from the care and protection of your art to every
aspect of archival framing. At Lake Tahoe Master Framing we have a CPF
on staff. More of our staff are studying for the CPF exam and soon we
will have more CPFs!
Picture framing is an unregulated industry.
Anyone can hang up a sign and call themselves a picture framer. While
most framers are dedicated professionals, the only way to distinguish
the best educated framers from the rest is the Certified Picture Framer
designation.
As of this writing, Lake Tahoe Master Framing is
the only frame shop in Lake Tahoe with Certified Picture Framers.
As in many of the trades, picture framing is
learned using the apprentice system. Although there are picture framing
schools, most of our knowledge is acquired on the job, learning from
someone who is an expert.
It takes several years to become very proficient
at many aspects of framing, more still to become quite expert at a full
range of framing situations.
As an example of the time involved, The
Professional Picture Framer's Association requires a minimum of one
year of full-time framing before one even becomes eligible to take the
Certified Picture Framer exam.
Archival Framing, Museum Framing and Conservation
Framing are terms used to describe framing procedures that protect and
preserve your art. Terms such as Archival, Museum and Conservation are
not technically defined in any official canon of picture framing
technique, but rather are generic terms that refer to basic principals
of good picture framing.
Consider this: With any valuable art a reasonable
framing goal should be to enable the art to be removed from the frame
twenty or forty years from now and be in the same condition as it was
when it went into the frame. This, however, is easier said than done!
There are many factors that can adversely affect
your art once it has been framed. The levels of acid in the art or the
framing materials, the amount of ultraviolet light in the room where
the art will hang, the amount and kinds of adhesive used in the framing
process are all areas of consideration in archival framing. For more
information, see the page on Technical
Information
There are countless materials and techniques for dealing with the
myriad concerns in achieving "Archival" framing. Your well-educated
picture framer is the starting point.
Do you teach any classes on picture
framing?
Yes. We teach a Matting and Framing class once each year at the Lake
Tahoe Community College. The class is given each Spring Quarter. It is
a short class, beginning in April and running 3 weeks. The exact times
are announced in the Spring College Schedule. It fills up fast, so
don't delay in signing up. Visit the Matting
and Framing Classes page for complete details.
Of course, any short class on framing can only cover the basics so
don't plan to build a complex shadow box to frame your grandmother's
baptismal dress! Instead, bring some fun photographs or drawings and
come on down to the LTCC in the spring. We have a great time and have
made life-long friends in the framing class!
If you want, you can go directly to the Lake Tahoe Community College
and check their course offerings online by clicking LTCC.
Do you sell art prints at your frame shop?
We sell a variety of images. Primarily, we specialize in less expensive
prints and posters both framed and unframed. Many of our customers love
to browse through our print catalogs with thousands of images to choose
from. We can also direct others to Internet sources with thousands more
images. See our Links page
to go directly to the dotcoms of the art world.
Yes, we have over 2,000 moulding samples on the
wall and every kind of matboard and framing fabric there is. (There are
something like 600 kinds and colors of matboard and an equal number of
fabrics.
As for complete framing examples, there are many
framed pictures on our walls in a variety of designs and styles. Please
stop by and browse at your leisure.
One footnote: If you stop by Lake Tahoe's art
galleries, you'll see more outstanding examples of our framing as we do
the framing for the lake's best galleries including Sierra Galleries at
Caesars, A Frame of Mind
Gallery in Harveys, James
Harold Gallery in the Boatworks Mall in Tahoe City, Artifacts
across from the Marriot Grand Residence, Augustine Arts on Kingsbury
Grade on the South Shore and Tahoe Country in the Shops at Heavenly
Village next to the skating rink.
Look at the framing in these galleries and you're looking at our
framing.
One reason framing is so expensive is that many of
the materials are costly. Gilded moulding can run upwards of $200 per
foot. A large, archival suede matboard can cost $80. A single roll of
acid-free, reversible hinging tape can cost $36. Plexi,
ultraviolet-filtering glass, cotton boards, foam-core backing boards,
hardware... you get the idea.
Another factor in frame costs is the extensive
labor involved in each piece. If we could mass produce frames like
automobiles where there were only a limited number of styles and sizes
and colors, the cost per unit could be brought down. But with framing,
everything is custom. With the exception of the odd poster or hotel
job, we've never done the same thing twice! Of course, when every item
varies, the time involved from planning to building is significant.
And, if you want your favorite picture framer to eat more than just
peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches three times a day, then they need a
couple of bucks in their own pockets!
We all know the costs of doing business - rent
and utilities and taxes etc. But in framing there are the specialized
equipment costs, their maintenance and occasional replacement to add
in.
In our shop we have two large commercial mat
cutters, two vacuum presses, three power saws, an oval cutter, a board
cutter, a wall-mount plexi cutter, two frame-related computers, one
office computer... and so on.
Did I mention constantly upgrading our music
system? Just kidding!
Some of them write novels!
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If you love art and also love to read mysteries,
check out what one of us is doing in his spare time! The new Owen
McKenna Mystery Thrillers take place in Lake Tahoe! They
feature a detective who uses art to solve his cases. They are
Tahoe
Deathfall, Tahoe Blowup, Tahoe Ice Grave and Tahoe Killshot.
Read all about it at toddborg.com!
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