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I tried your widget and I wouldn't really call that "custom" picture framing. If I was you, I wouldn't call custom picture framing a racket. Your suppliers won'

I tried your widget and I wouldn't really call that "custom" picture framing. If I was you, I wouldn't call custom picture framing a racket. Your suppliers won't be pleased to hear you belittle their passion. Your two examples demonstrate no understanding of color or form. It's like you folded an Origami crane and you're already calling Michelangelo a hack. Here's a tip, the shape of the frame moulding can enhance the structure of the composition. You need a good eye for composition to see something like that. That's just one of many factors you would consider when choosing frames, mats, fillets, etc. Your Joey Roth print there would look better with a tapered frame. Even if you could represent a moulding in 3D, you need a professional designer to coordinate all the desires of the customer. Custom picture framing is a personal, intimate, complex business. Here's my full response: http://pjbrunet.com/custom-picture-framing-falling-glass-razor-blades-rogue-lint/ http://pjbrunet.com/custom-picture-framing-falling-glass-raz...

aaronbrethorst 12y ago
From your blog post: The cheap frame from the discount store has unsafe hangers and it’s not sealed and it’s barely held together by cheap staples and the thin, chipped glass inside is a death trap in disguise. I've spend a good deal of time today reading responses from other posters on this thread today. I think I can bucket them into three groups: "This is too expensive" This represents the bulk of the responses: people who are used to buying cheap discount store frame you describe. The 80% case. "Are you kidding? This is cheap!" People like me, who represent most of the other 20%. I can appreciate the $300 and the $900 designs you reference, but I'm not willing to pay either amount. I'm not framing an Ansel Adams or a Henri Cartier-Bresson print. "This doesn't stand up to my expectations" As far as I can tell, only you in this thread. That's not to say that your viewpoint is invalid. Far from it. But, instead, it fails to recognize that there is a meaningfully large mid-market that doesn't want a $10 death-trap, but is also unwilling to spend as much as it would cost to buy a used Hasselblad[0] on framing a print. Getting that personalized, one-on-one, high-end experience would be fantastic. But it's also clearly not an experience that would work well with cutting out the middleman. Especially when that middleman is incapable of providing the MFA-requiring experience you eloquently described. [0] No really, my Hasselblad 501CM, plus an 80mm ƒ/2.8 Zeiss Planar lens, plus a film back cost me about $950 earlier this year. They're all in great shape, and produce the best photographs I've gotten from any camera I've ever owned.
- pjbrunet 12y ago
  I don't know what your market will be, do you? Is $900 for a picture frame expensive? Depends what we're framing, how big is it and how long will it take to build? Are we framing a Celtics jersey with a cigar and some tickets? I always billed six hours of labor for shadowboxes. Not many framers do big shadowboxes. Then you're talking about cutting a custom jersey insert out of foam, pinning the sleeves just right (two more inserts) then jig up the cigar. This was years ago but my shadowboxes were usually in the $600-$700 range. Obviously bigger frames cost more, especially if you get the museum glass and spare no expense. I'm not a camera expert but I bet your camera was made in a factory, not designed to your exact specifications, just for you. Your camera wasn't assembled in the US either. Nice camera though. What you wrote about wanting an app to do this, it reminds me of my freshman year in art school when I was so excited about programming games, computer graphics, 3D models, the demo scene, etc. It was really difficult to get out of my comfort zone which was all this technology I grew up with. I eventually got into non-objective abstraction and sculpture and oil painting and realized it was really satisfying to learn from these dead artists who had so much to offer me. Anyway, I don't know you, maybe we're nothing alike but I hope you talk with more picture framers and learn as much about picture framing as you can before you become this huge company crushing artists out of business.
  - aaronbrethorst 12y ago
    I hope you talk with more picture framers and learn as much about picture framing as you can before you become this huge company crushing artists out of business. I'm not the OP. Levleframes.com isn't my website. And I'm not questioning the value of paying $900 for framing in some cases. But, I think it's ridiculous to assume that someone who bought a poster reproduction of some Klimt painting would spend $900 for a custom frame. I'm not a camera expert but I bet your camera was made in a factory, not designed to your exact specifications, just for you. This is true. And not particularly relevant. A custom camera designed just for me wouldn't be able to take advantage of the rich ecosystem of V series lenses, backs, and accessories that I can use. Incidentally, every film camera is slightly different, which is why tutorials like this exist: http://stephengrote.com/teaching/courses/files/storage/Zone%20System.pdf http://stephengrote.com/teaching/courses/files/storage/Zone%... Your camera wasn't assembled in the US either. Nice camera though. How is this relevant? Anyway, I don't know you, maybe we're nothing alike but I hope you talk with more picture framers and learn as much about picture framing as you can before you become this huge company crushing artists out of business. Again: this isn't my website. And a framer charging $900 will either be able to differentiate their services from an $80 frame ordered off the Internet and a $20 frame bought at Ikea, and their business will do fine, or they won't.

aaronbrethorst 12y ago

From your blog post: The cheap frame from the discount store has unsafe hangers and it’s not sealed and it’s barely held together by cheap staples and the thin, chipped glass inside is a death trap in disguise. I've spend a good deal of time today reading responses from other posters on this thread today. I think I can bucket them into three groups: "This is too expensive" This represents the bulk of the responses: people who are used to buying cheap discount store frame you describe. The 80% case. "Are you kidding? This is cheap!" People like me, who represent most of the other 20%. I can appreciate the $300 and the $900 designs you reference, but I'm not willing to pay either amount. I'm not framing an Ansel Adams or a Henri Cartier-Bresson print. "This doesn't stand up to my expectations" As far as I can tell, only you in this thread. That's not to say that your viewpoint is invalid. Far from it. But, instead, it fails to recognize that there is a meaningfully large mid-market that doesn't want a $10 death-trap, but is also unwilling to spend as much as it would cost to buy a used Hasselblad[0] on framing a print. Getting that personalized, one-on-one, high-end experience would be fantastic. But it's also clearly not an experience that would work well with cutting out the middleman. Especially when that middleman is incapable of providing the MFA-requiring experience you eloquently described. [0] No really, my Hasselblad 501CM, plus an 80mm ƒ/2.8 Zeiss Planar lens, plus a film back cost me about $950 earlier this year. They're all in great shape, and produce the best photographs I've gotten from any camera I've ever owned.

pjbrunet 12y ago
I don't know what your market will be, do you? Is $900 for a picture frame expensive? Depends what we're framing, how big is it and how long will it take to build? Are we framing a Celtics jersey with a cigar and some tickets? I always billed six hours of labor for shadowboxes. Not many framers do big shadowboxes. Then you're talking about cutting a custom jersey insert out of foam, pinning the sleeves just right (two more inserts) then jig up the cigar. This was years ago but my shadowboxes were usually in the $600-$700 range. Obviously bigger frames cost more, especially if you get the museum glass and spare no expense. I'm not a camera expert but I bet your camera was made in a factory, not designed to your exact specifications, just for you. Your camera wasn't assembled in the US either. Nice camera though. What you wrote about wanting an app to do this, it reminds me of my freshman year in art school when I was so excited about programming games, computer graphics, 3D models, the demo scene, etc. It was really difficult to get out of my comfort zone which was all this technology I grew up with. I eventually got into non-objective abstraction and sculpture and oil painting and realized it was really satisfying to learn from these dead artists who had so much to offer me. Anyway, I don't know you, maybe we're nothing alike but I hope you talk with more picture framers and learn as much about picture framing as you can before you become this huge company crushing artists out of business.
- aaronbrethorst 12y ago
  I hope you talk with more picture framers and learn as much about picture framing as you can before you become this huge company crushing artists out of business. I'm not the OP. Levleframes.com isn't my website. And I'm not questioning the value of paying $900 for framing in some cases. But, I think it's ridiculous to assume that someone who bought a poster reproduction of some Klimt painting would spend $900 for a custom frame. I'm not a camera expert but I bet your camera was made in a factory, not designed to your exact specifications, just for you. This is true. And not particularly relevant. A custom camera designed just for me wouldn't be able to take advantage of the rich ecosystem of V series lenses, backs, and accessories that I can use. Incidentally, every film camera is slightly different, which is why tutorials like this exist: http://stephengrote.com/teaching/courses/files/storage/Zone%20System.pdf http://stephengrote.com/teaching/courses/files/storage/Zone%... Your camera wasn't assembled in the US either. Nice camera though. How is this relevant? Anyway, I don't know you, maybe we're nothing alike but I hope you talk with more picture framers and learn as much about picture framing as you can before you become this huge company crushing artists out of business. Again: this isn't my website. And a framer charging $900 will either be able to differentiate their services from an $80 frame ordered off the Internet and a $20 frame bought at Ikea, and their business will do fine, or they won't.