Painted Slips and Liners

Many recent posts show frames that include a painted slip (a narrow flat or fillet) or liner (a narrow inner frame). While we’ve been using gilt and sometimes black slips for a long time, I’d come to realize that many pictures coming in really wanted a line of color instead. One early example is this oil painting, “Pancho,” by Eugenia Frances Baker McComas (1886-1982). A gilt liner would have been alright, but yellow paint resonated much better with the pigment on the canvas.

Right after we framed the McComas, this terrific little block print by Elizabeth Norton (1887-1985) walked in, and it too beckoned for a colored line, a slip, inside the frame.

After that, I saw more and more opportunities for using colored liners and slips—especially for woodblock prints—and it became clear that I needed a set of samples to show customers. So here they are, at right.

I’ve been using milk paints (from Sinopia) and solvent-free linseed oil paints (from two Swedish companies, Ottossen and Allback). They’re a joy to use. Mostly we completely cover the wood (basswood works best). But the linseed oil paint in particular works beautifully in transparent coats, or tints. The three samples at the bottom of this picture are fumed quartersawn white oak with just a thin coat of paint allowing the wood grain to show through. Sometimes we use a coat of linseed oil wax on top.

Below is a gallery of pictures framed with painted liners and slips. Most have already been seen on the blog, so links are provided to those posts, if you want to see more.

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