It was an ordinary day. Just finished one of the biggest matting and framing jobs that I have ever done. My brother deals in sports collectibles and knows I enjoy watching baseball on TV and that my favorite team is the Phillies so he gathered together a poster, autographed cards and simple signatures of everyone associated with the 1980 World Series winning Phillies team and asked if I wanted to work out a deal for them. Didn't take long to work out the deal and then I had to decide how I was going to mat and frame everything. Took some time to take all the measurements and do the layout, but I was able to get everything on a 32"x40" regulations sized mat board. Decided to do a double mat and the colors naturally had to be red and white, the Phils colors. I layed out the job on the computer at Grebinger Gallery where I work and cut the white top mat and the bottom red mat in no time. Bought the mats, foam board, glass and frame from Keith, the gallery owner and took everything home to put it together. All the autographs are documented so I had to be careful that I didn't damage any cards. I cut pieces of acid-free paper the exact size of the baseball cards and used them on the rear so any tape I would use would not damage the cards. The poster fit into the center of the mat with two rows of cards on the left and three rows of card on the right. The autographs that were not on any baseball card went along the bottom. One item that was autographed was an envelope with a photo of the Vet on the left and Pete Rose's autograph on the right. Another large card bore the name of Harry Kalas and another post card had the names of three of the pitchers on the team. Three cards were meant to run horizontal, but I couldn't figure how to do that so I placed the in a vertical position. I don't believe anyone will comp[lain about that. I dry-mounted the poster, but hand-mounted each card individually into the openings I had created. Took quite a few hours to complete, but the final result will look great above the desk. Called my brother Steve who stopped to look at it and gave his approval. Said I could get big bucks for it, since it was presented in such a nice manner. Hey, that's my job, matting and framing. I've looked at it for quite some time now and I think I would have done it differently if I did it over again, which I'm not going to do. All the player's cards on the left I would chose players who were looking towards the poster and the player's cards on the right would feature players who were looking the opposite way and in to the poster. I know this is a minor change, but would have looked better. I love the way it turned out and may have to do one for the 2008 Phils. May be a long time before the World Series trophy returns to Citizen's Bank Park again. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
 |
Attaching the cards into the mat, one at a time
|
 |
Finished foam board with poster on it and mat with autographed cards.
|
 |
Had to tie sides together with wire so the frame wouldn't break.
|
 |
The final result!
|
No comments:
Post a Comment