Carved Picture Frames: Picture Framing
The framing of pictures is a matter of great importance. Etchings, water colors, oil paintings, Japanese prints, pencil drawings, and photographs all require varying types of frames. Some are better under glass, some without; some require ornate frames, others the simplest ones possible. The frames of a generation ago were almost invariably bad. They were too heavy and elaborate, often overloaded by shadow boxes, and in many cases were more important than the pictures they contained. Furthermore, these frames were of plaster and not of carved picture frames and gilded wood, as were the beautiful frames of the 18th century. Designs were poor and of a commercial character. At present antique frames are much in demand for both genuinely old paintings and prints.
Portrait photographs, travel views in photography, and others of this class may be framed in simple mouldings with or without mats; however, it is inadvisable to hang them on the wall. Frames for portrait photographs should have adjustable stands for Table use. With less body than oil paintings, water colors should be framed more simply; their frames should be of the simplest type, usually of natural wood, with little or no ornament; if the picture is small, a mat is usually advisable. For pencil sketches, equally simple frames are advisable. If the drawing has a considerable expanse of paper left blank around it, no mat is necessary.
The longitudinal system of framing employs deep plate frames or stringers running lengthwise along the shell, supported at wide intervals by deep transverse frames called web frames. Since the longitudinal frames resist longitudinal stresses, the thickness of deck and shell plates may be decreased in a vessel so framed with the result that the hull structure is lighter. At the same time, longitudinal frames resist transverse buckling. Oil tankers, whose cargo conveniently stows itself around the deeper inboard protrusions of the longitudinal frames, usually employ this system of framing.
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Photography
