We enjoy experimenting with new designs and concepts here at SohoFrames. We like to say that we make picture frames for any creative vision, whether it is the actual design of the profile, the colour, or the material. We feel that some of these ideas show promise and this page showcases some of this work.

 

BUILDING MATERIALS

  • CONCRETE BEVEL EDGE CONCRETE BEVEL EDGE

    This photograph shows our first attempts at making some picture frame chevrons from this material. The leftmost and centre samples were made with a plain rectangular profile shape. The sample on the left was made using “sculpture cement”, which is cement mixed with stone granules. The centre sample was made using “repair cement”, bought from a local builders’ merchant, and the remaining sample was made using our own blend of cement powders, more of which we will explain in a blog post.

  • FINISHED CONCRETE FRAME FINISHED CONCRETE FRAME

    Finally, after much testing and the making of many more samples than shown here, we finished a complete frame (the artwork incidentally is a photograph of Magic Tree Road in Transylvania). The profile size is 30mm x 30mm.

  • CONCRETE FRAME CORNER 1 CONCRETE FRAME CORNER 1

    A close-up of the utilitarian finish we like in these frames of ours.

  • CONCRETE FRAME CORNER 2 CONCRETE FRAME CORNER 2

    Another close-up but this time showing the inner part of the corner.

WOODEN BUILDING MATERIALS

  • OSB OSB

    We kinda like OSB, or Oriented Strand Board, which is classed as an engineered wood product used throughout the construction industry, but also for other projects, in our case, picture frames. We lacquer the finished frames in acrylic, as per the coaster example in this photo, or finish using our own recipe of finishing oils.

  • OSB HOCKEY STICK OSB HOCKEY STICK

    We carved this example into a shortened hockey-stick profile. We can, of course carve any other examples required (smooth surfaces only, flat, curved, stepped, cushioned etc). Please ask for details.

PLYWOOD

  • PLYWOOD HOCKEY STICK PLYWOOD HOCKEY STICK

    There are many different types of plywood, from the simple Spruce Plywood we made these samples from all the way up to Furniture Grade Birch Ply (there is also a gorgeous Japanese plywood product called Rainbow Plywood, which is constructed from sheets of ply and coloured papers, but not to our knowledge available in the UK in meaningful sizes (we tried).

  • PLYWOOD BEVEL EDGE PLYWOOD BEVEL EDGE

    We like Spruce though! Profiles shown are examples only and can be customised in terms of shape and size. These we finished with a single coat of our own blend of finishing oil.