Finishes
The choice of finishes for your frame is vast, with sprayed acrylics, hand stains (both water based and spirit based), natural waxes on wood,
and different gilding methods.
Choosing the right finish to bring out the strength of an artwork is a subtle business - all too often people fall into the trap of trying to match
too many colours and end up drowning the image. By looking at different examples in our workshop, we help you identify a finish that is right
for your artwork and brings out it's full potential.
In the sections below you can learn a bit more about each of these different types of finish, with examples of some popular combinations.
Spray Finishes
Uncompromising Quality
At dyson art all of our spraying is done in-house using CFC free water based paints in order to help protect your artwork.
What is more, you can choose from any colour from the RAL system - thats over 200 colours in the standard range!
By choosing from a range of different woods to spray onto, as well as the number of coats of paint to apply, a wide variety of different spray finishes
are available.
We are meticulous in creating perfect finishes for your frame, and use a combination of polyurethane glues and dowel systems to prevent the sprayed
finish from cracking.
Having said that, although we do our utmost to prevent cracking in sprayed frames, as wood is a natural product this means that variations in humidity or
incorrect handling of frames can result in subtle hairline cracks. If you think these conditions are likely to arise, for example If you are intending
to tour your exhibition, you could consider building your frames in aluminium.
Solid Colour
A good 3 solid layers of paint on a flat grained wood ensure seamless corners and a flawlessly even solid coverage of paint for this contemporary classic.
Light spray, deep grain
By using a wood with a deeper grain such as ash, with a few layers of paint, you can bring out a lot
of texture & character. This can then also be finished with wax.
Light spray, flat grain
Using a flat grained wood, an even coverage of paint allows the natural figure of the wood to show through while keeping a smooth surface.
Hand Finishes
Bespoke solutions just for you
We use water based stains, spirit stains and a variety of paints which are all mixed in-house to meet your exact requirements. Choose from one of a number of finishes that we have developed over time, or ask us to create a specific finish just for you.
If required, as part of our service we can also create samples for you so that you have an example of how your frame will look with your chosen wood and moulding.
There are also many different waxing, liming and bleaching methods to enhance woods such as maple, oak or mahogany.
We also provide a gilding service
Natural Wax
Woods such as Oak, Cherry and American
Walnut (as seen below) are best finished with a natural wax to alow the natural figure and colour of the wood to show.
Fine details
Here an English Oak frame is offset with some American Walnut dowels.
Bespoke Handstain spray, flat grain
In this example our client wanted a unique
finish to her tray frames, so we developed a brown stain on Ash with a deep red base which glows through when seen at certain angles.
