Having reached the first exhibition with my wet plate work finding a proper way of presenting them was the next logical step. A few things crossed my mind. One idea stood out and I bought all the necessary materials. The plan was to make a wooden frame of 24×30 with a wooden back. On that back I’d make 4 pillars on which the photo was put so it was somewhat floating in the middle of the frame (baklijst in Dutch). I would spray the frame in black. Bart (because he’s much more handy than I am ;-)) made a “prototype” which I unfortunately did not like at all. It looked a tad too simple and too home-made so the idea went in the trash.
Then we went to Paris and saw the presentation of Quinn which I immediately loved. I hate to copycat but what’s original about framing anyway… at least, when you want the photo to get all the attention instead of the framing itself. So I bought 40 frames of 30×40, 40 passe-partouts and some black velvet to put behind the plate to “fill” the gap between the plate and its passe-partout. It’s the most richest black I could think of and thought it to match very well, also giving a bit of an authentic look (old-fashioned is meant by that ;-)) I made an example and knew that was the way we we’re gonna do it.
Holes were drilled in the back of the frame through which the wires went to hold the plate (see photo in a bit). Quite a shitty job as the wire was too sturdy really to get it done without killing your hands but…they’re all done now! I just have to put some nice paper over the back to make it look nicer and stop you from ripping open your hands when accidentally wiping the back. Anyway, here’s what it looks like and I’m quite proud of it though next time I’d loose the velvety stuff and put a white paper behind it in the same color and structure of the passe-partouts and leaving the same amount of space between the plate and the passe-partout on the left /right as on the bottom and upper side.
Oh, extra detail; there’s no glass in front of the plate.
Photography Contrastique - Alternative Photographic Processes 