Odds and Ends

No, this isn't meant to be a Valentine's Day instructional, and yes, it is family rated. Actually, today's subject is rubbings, brass rubbings, to be more precise. The technique involves laying a piece of paper over a brass plate most often found in churches or chapels, and then rubbing the surface of the paper with a waxy metallic crayon, so the pattern is transferred from the"Brass" onto the paper. The technique first appeared in the early thirteenth century in continental Europe, and even today is used as a contemporary historical resource for medieval research. Plus, they're fun to make.

Here, in consultation with our client, we chose an antique gold scalloped frame to match the color and period of the image, in addition to a black mat to match the paper, along with a thin metallic gold inner mat to both separate the image from the framing solution, and to also tie the image and frame together. The Roman arch, which repeats the scalloped design of the frame adds the finishing touch: