I’ve recently been asked to sell some of my work at a consignment store that just opened up in my town. I met with Sarah, the daughter of the owner (Alice) of Alice’s Consignment Shop, and she loved my work. She suggested that framed pieces would sell better, and I agreed. The problem is that I don’t keep frames on-hand. And what artist has the budget to go out and buy a pile of frames all at once? I certainly don’t! After talking to a friend/artist of mine, Shay, I decided to get creative in my framing. I posed the question to my POE team mates in the Etsy forums as to where I might search for unusual materials that could be turned into frames. I loved the idea to search out salvage yards and immediately planned my trip into the city. I ended up going to a place in San Francisco called Building Resources on a fantastically beautiful day in the bay area. I had so much fun poking around at all the odds and ends and came up with several things to play around with – and for an unbelievable deal! (Really, you just have to go there if you’re in the area. If I told you how little I spent you’d just call me a liar.) Have a look at what I found:
They had gobs and gobs of old trim for just a few dollars….
….the layers of old paint chipping away will be a wonderful match to some of my more rustic pieces…
….the tile is another great find…I just have to figure out how to make them hangable…
….this little square of wood flooring should make a cool frame for another kind of rustic feel…
These windows are probably my favorite find of all the things I discovered there...
…and they’ll work great for a collection of images in one frame using the idea I found in Tiffany Teske’s blog post…
So now that I’ve shown you my amazing salvage finds I’ll have to keep you posted as I create ready-to-hang photographic art pieces. I may have to even include some of them in my Etsy shop… Oh! If any of you have any ideas for how to hang those tiles on the wall safely I’d love to hear it! Also, tips on turning those pieces of trim into frames would be welcome too.
I’m reminded in all of this how sometimes limitations can be a great spur for creativity. Don’t let a meager budget (or limited equipment, bad weather, no car, etc.) stifle your creativity. Rather let it take the opposite effect and see what you can come up with when you have less!
What a great post, and a great idea!! Good luck with your sales at the store :)
i'm so jealous … i want a salvage yard i can run riot in … damn this silly germany country! & i love your photos as usual.
oh man! what great finds!
looks like a fun day digging through the salvage yard! :)
i know you will make them shine!
WOW I can't wait to see what you do with these, with your photos they should be beautiful!