Part IV of my six-part series “A Joiner’s Art: Frame Making as Woodworking” for Picture Framing Magazine has come out. The first installment, published last May, introduced the topic with some history and an overview (read Part I, probably the most interesting one for the general reader, here), then Part II (here) got into the craft starting with a discussion of wood and the workshop. Part III, here, in the December 2025 issue, explored selecting and milling wood, and cutting moulding profiles. Part IV is on joinery (the subhead is misleading; the editors accidentally forgot to update it from the previous installment). Here’s a taste of it:
A picture can only be well-framed if it’s in a well-made frame. The traditional woodworkers who were the first frame makers regarded joinery as the essence of their trade—which is why they were called joiners. So it is also the essence of the art of the frame when frame making is restored to its roots and treated as a joiner’s art.
You can read the whole installment online here.
