When Will It End?!

When will it end?!?! It’s been winter for so long so very very long! These four walls are my protection from the biting cold but also the cage that I pace as I muter observations and accusations in the vernacular of the intoxicated sea goer. Beyond the window lies  frozen drifts, lakes of ice and frigid winds so treacherous that life would be untenable without these four walls. Somewhere on the distant horizon is fleeting spring, summer is a flash in the pan and autumn, autumn heralds the fall of leaves, plunging mercury, diminishing daylight and the ushering in of winter most foul.

I’ve never become friends with the coldest season. So I shut the blinds tight and turn inward to my cage, my gilded cage. These walls may protect me and confine me but they are so much more. For these walls are adorned with the visions of the artist, the soul of the dreamer. On these walls are memories of the moments that define me and images of places that I have not yet been. They hold family and friends, the past, the present and the future in a riot of colour that I can always count on, no matter what prevails beyond these walls.

So try your best winter, I will never embrace you, but you will never defeat me. These four walls have been fortified and energized to carry me far beyond your icy grip. They quiet my mind, they warm my heart and they soothe my ragged soul.

Trophy Hunting for the Chamber

Trophy hunting for the Chamber


Recently we had a booth in the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Mix and Mingle. We find that the Mix and Mingle is one of the most cost effective ways to get your product in front of a group of genuinely interested people. Simple, effective, inexpensive marketing.
Unless you are me.

Lethbridge has a population of over 90,000 of which there are probably 87,000 people who have not seen all of the projects and products that we can offer through our store.
But I have. 

So every year when we take a holiday, we like to bring back an art piece made by a local artist. It reminds us of where we went to escape this frozen northland that we call home. With a little research before we left we found that Puerto Rico is known for a small green tree frog with a distinctive two note mating call and I decided that I would have some artistic interpretation of this little fellow as my trophy this year. The hunt was on. 

It’s the last day before we fly home and my trophy has eluded me. No wood carving, no painting, not even a photograph of the little croaker and the money that I had earmarked for art is burning a hole in my pocket, so we try one more gallery/tourist trap. No frogs to be seen(as it turns out the melodious two note call of the Eleutherodactylus coqui  is kind of annoying when you have to listen to it every night and it is therefore considered a pest by the locals), however there on the back wall is a very handsome, hand carved, African Elephant head. I am pretty sure that there are not a lot of African elephants in the Caribbean but this one spoke to me and even though the tag on the back said made in Indonesia I laid down my cash and brought it home.

The point of my digression is that I wanted some cool new project for the Mix and Mingle, and therefor it is time to take the elephant off of the shelf and make him resplendent. Off to Rona to grab $80 worth of 1x7 oak and a can of stain then back to the shop to build a shadowbox. In the cutting room I have eight feet of very elegant (and certified forest friendly) moulding that will make a beautiful face for the shadowbox. With the face together I’m looking at the oak that I just purchased and not really loving it, so back into the cutting room and I find another piece of wide moulding that, if I I turn it sideways and cut it as a frame extender will be a worthy compliment to the face and the pachyderm. Of course the finish is not quite a perfect match so down to Home Depot (I like to spread the love around) to pick up a can of paint stripper and the proper accessories then back to the shop. Two days, three applications of paint stripper and four coats of stain later the shadowbox is assembled with a very nice, modern silver mat. But then I see this mottled jungle shadow type mat and I just know that this will be more harmonious with the project so I assemble it with that mat and it looks really good.
But this is for the chamber, these are sophisticated people. I can do better. I’ll add lights! 
I let my fingers do the walking and after calling three other craft stores I ended up at The Craft Store which had the lights that I needed. Normally the lights would go around the inside edge of the frame but in the interest of doing something different I decided to float the carving off of the mat so the lights could go in behind the head giving it a dramatic glow. 
The bottom line is that the Mix and Mingle is a very cost effective marketing avenue, provided you don’t go off on a tangent and spend three days building one special project just to satisfy an inner need to be different.  Anyway I now have the only African elephant, made in Indonesia, bought in the Caribbean, NOT a tree frog, night light, in Lethbridge(maybe in the world! NO the universe!). On display now at Wall Décor and More.

 And I think that I can write off last years’ vacation as a marketing expense… Maybe I should run that past my accountant?

Contest

REWARD OFFERED

Our store has, of late, been graced with the presence of the precocious young Waldie. She’s clever, she’s quick and she is hard to find. If you can catch a glimpse of her on our website or Facebook page email us and we will enter your name for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Wall Décor and More. 

It’s winter in Alberta. Therefore it is cold…or not, It’s windy… or not, and it’s snowing, or raining… or not. One thing that we can count on is that we are probably not getting a lot of sun, unless we succumb to the siren song of the southern latitudes. In which case I highly recommend the liberal application of Aloe Vera (have you noticed that the colours of our Canadian flag are an exact match for the tan lines of many Canadian tourists who have just tried to soak up six months of sunshine in a ten day beach vacation). The point of this narrative is that the days here are short and gray, but we have a remedy for the malady.

We at Wall Décor and More have just finished inventory and have found that our bins are full to bursting with mats! We have hundreds of mats in a rainbow of colours and we would like to share the wealth with our "Colour Your Winter" promotion.

For the month of February, on any full framing project we will include any of our in stock mats for FREE. That’s right, bring us that image or object that you have been waiting to frame and we will add a riot of colour at no extra charge. After all, wouldn’t you rather drift into that vivid holiday memory that’s hanging on the wall than stare out the window at another predictably unpredictable Alberta winter day. Hurry in, this offer ends February 28^th.    

Here it is February and Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. It’s odd how unprepared many of us are for an event that shows up on the same day of the same month every year. The big box stores try to help us out by putting candy hearts on the shelves starting mid-January. Still it seems that right about February 13 panic sets in and it becomes clear that once again Cupid is peeking around the corner armed with a quiver full of mediocrity. You know that he/she deserves better than a box of chocolates and a dozen roses, he/she means the world to you. Besides he/she is on a diet, and those beautiful flowers will be producing landfill methane in less than two weeks.

Hand Carved Kissi Stone from Zimbabwe and Kenya

May we humbly suggest an alternative? Perhaps a symbol of love carved in stone from Kenya or Zimbabwe or a beam of light captured by the hand-blown glass globes from Kitras. OR if you really want to knock it out of the park, how about taking some of your sweetheart’s favorite things or favourite memories and turning them into an art piece that will remind them what a great, thoughtful and romantic catch you are for years to come. It would be our greatest pleasure to help you become significant other of the year. 

Kitras Hand Blown Glass

 Custom Designed  Mat With Your Favorite Image

Buddha Shrine

Have you ever thrown caution to the wind and jumped into something that you knew was ill advised, but looked like so much fun you just could not say no?  The id kicks into overdrive and common sense is a casualty on the side of the road! This is how the story unfolded when the nice man walked into Wall Decor and asked if we could frame his 14th century Buddha statue. There was no way that I could say no. (What did you think this story was about anyways, we are picture framers that’s what gets us revved up!) So we calculated a price that we hoped would get the job - which we did! Then we took a deep breath and dove right in. We went on line to study shrines that would look authentic with this beautiful piece , we amalgamated several styles, threw in some of our own parameters, spent a few early mornings redesigning , too excited to sleep, laid out all the tools that we own and got to work. First step is off to the hardware store to pick up two 5 foot planks of Bolivian mahogany, a bucket of stain and some random hardware. 20 hours later we have the base and pedestal built, the door is assembled with Plexiglas and a pivot post instead of hinges and we are having a blast.

The statue would sit in an alcove with a light above it so we went with UV blocking Plexiglas on the top, the door and the two sides. We used a 6mm. mirror on the back and on the pedestal that the statue sat on. It turns out that the Burmese architecture of the appropriate time period favored octagonal pillars so we built them.

 We added some brass hardware that we antiqued using ammonia, and sanded all the edges to give a slightly worn, aged effect. At this point in the project we have come to realize that we have grossly underestimated the hours involved and we are actually working for the love of the challenge and Karma credits. Our profit and loss spreadsheet is extremely disappointed with us but the experience was priceless, and the end result is one of a kind.

 This post by Scott

The Framer's Wife - Blog #3 A cheery, cheesy poem!

T’was three weeks before Christmas

And all through the shop 

Every framer was busy 

Each in their spot!

The frames were all hung 

On the wall with a smile

To frame each portrait and painting

With the greatest of style!

The giftware was polished 

And put on the shelf

Waiting to be presents

From their little elf!

The sun was glinting

 On the fresh blizzard snow

The air was frosty

When the wind did blow!

When what to our wondering eyes should appear

But more parcels of giftware

To make our hearts cheer!

On candles and holders and wood jewellery cases

On Eco Fair bamboo speakers and mango wood vases.

On carvings from Kenya and solar powered globes

On puzzle boxes and bright colored orbs.

From around the world you’ll find a treasure

A gift to a loved one too lovely to measure.

As each framed picture was wrapped with great care

The giftware was boxed, ready to share.

Thank you for visiting our own Santa’s store, 

Merry Christmas from all of us at Wall Décor and More!

Kitras Art Glass

Ceramic Drawer Box

Mini Grandfather Clock 

EcoFair Santa Pin

Jewelry Cases

Boozik iPhone Amplifier

Stainless Steel Airplane Coin Holder

Vintage Auto & Train Engine

Metal Motorbikes

Metal Dinosaurs