Just a guy making Canvas Frames

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by stonysmith, Jul 19, 2014.

  1. stonysmith
    stonysmith Well-Known Member Moderator
    I have a random question that has been bugging me for some time... is there a guild-name (or CV) for the job of spreading canvas across a frame? A barrel/cask maker is called a cooper, a cordwainer makes shoes, a cobbler repairs them, a wheelwright makes wooden wheels, a weaver makes cloth.

    Thru Shapeways, I produce items that look more or less like the image on the left. I'm just a guy making canvases. To me, the true "artist" is the person who can take random blobs of colored acrylic and turn my 'canvas' into the object on the right.
    View attachment 65442

    To also cross-topics with other popular threads at the moment, if I purchase and photograph a print of my 3d design, it is still going to look fundamentally like the item on the left. That is the true "product" that Shapeways will ship. I can see why Shapeways is working on changing the renders,etc. It's not just to present a "better quality picture", but it is also the concept that random shoppers that have zero clue about 3dp will come here, they see the picture on the right, and assume that they are going to receive that in the box. At the same time, it's a bit dis-ingenuous for me to present the image on the right because it's not MY work. I made the thing on the left, and StonyCantPaint(tm). In this case, my good friend John Kellet painted and made decals for the finished object you see on the right.

    What's interesting is that the R/C Model Aircraft aficionados have dealt with this by creating terms such as RTF, ARTF, and Kit. (google it)

    In the one-click world of instantaneous shopping, Shapeways has to be able to communicate the value proposition of what a buyer is going to actually receive (effectively a piece of canvas on the left), versus the work of art on the right.

    There may not be such a word for a person whose job it is to make canvas frames, but it occurs to me that there might have been such a job name at one time. Any ideas?
     
  2. numarul7
    numarul7 Well-Known Member
    The vague term can be "Didactical props" or "Miniature Kits" aka Something you paint on it and you receive it clean.

    It is basically "a kit" and maybe there must be some denomination on the general site about this , they are all miniature kits.

    Don`t worry that you can`t paint , sculptors are not great painters or drawing artists.

    If there it is a name for you ... you are a digital sculptor. We all are that , it is inherent in the tool used to model.
     
  3. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    I suspect he was after an impressive-sounding medieval name for his profession (but given that painting on canvas is more of a renaissance thing as far as I know and probably never was the kind of mass market that would support its own craftsmen, mounting canvas on a wooden frame was probably done by the painter himself or by the youngest apprentice in the workshop)...
     
  4. stannum
    stannum Well-Known Member
    In miniatures, you see the already mentioned "kit" term but also phrases like "master pattern designed by" or "sculpted by". And disclaimers like "model supplied unassembled and unpainted" (and "not for children under age X"). For example Dark Elf Wizard shop page provides multiple images, these will suffice:

    [​IMG]
    Original sculpt by Werner Klocke, also called the green as green epoxy putty was common for a long time (this artist already mixes in the same model). But Klocke is a miniature sculptor, not a greener or some other cryptic name.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Pewter cast, customer will have to cut the parts, clean any left over from the casting process (check end of cape) and glue to form the original again.

    [​IMG]
    A coat of grey or white paint to show how it looks uniformly.

    [​IMG]
    Paint job by Derek Schubert.

    For trains, or your customers are really new to the hobby, or they should understand SWs sends them resin kits (photopolymerized resin... FUD) that have no boggies, etc. Not RTR, ready to roll/run wagons.

    So you are a miniature designer and sell kits that need extra work (and even extra parts) to be useful. If you insist, call yourself a stretcher, as that is how canvas are done. Or maybe go with wooden panels.
     
  5. wedge
    wedge Member
    Interesting Questions :)
    For "random shoppers" I use the Image Caption for painted models like: "Printed in White Strong & Flexible Polished and painted with acrylics colors."

    I can go one more step back. ;)
    I have a modeling Tool in the shop. One Customer send me some Pics in the "green" State of the modeled parts and painted. (He gave me the permission to use them).

    Normally on Model kits you have the some text like Model us Unpainted and has to be assembled. But also small written, somewhere, so if yo mention in the Picture that this is a Painted model and somewhere in the Text should be ok.
     
  6. numarul7
    numarul7 Well-Known Member
  7. FreeRangeBrain
    FreeRangeBrain Active Member
    If there ever was, I suspect it was not a full time trade, given the rate of speed the painters consumed blank canvases. More likely, the artist himself would have done the stretching.

    In your example, however, I would suggest that the image on the right is the result of artistic collaboration. :)
     
  8. numarul7
    numarul7 Well-Known Member
    Just remembered where the Painters Masterpiece Frames were done , to the local carpenter and not by the painter , because the carpenter will do some floral sculpting on the wood frame.

    Got a little flashback from necessity for painters / drawing artists ... that part that artist tend to forget.

    Wood cutting tools are not part of a painter studio , but a carpenter / wood sculptor studio.

    There are some standard designed floral patterns for painting frames got one on my wall , it clearly show that it is done by a wood sculptor / carpenter skills.

    :)
     
  9. mkroeker
    mkroeker Well-Known Member
    Now we know all we wanted to know about Romanian home decor - though on second thought, what is in that floral picture frame - roaring deer ? :)
     
  10. numarul7
    numarul7 Well-Known Member
    @mkroeker Just some lady`s bathing in a river ... a replica I must replace with one of my paintings ...till then gotta sharpen the skills a bit.