AJoy Framing LLC, P. O. Box 872054, Vancouver, WA (2026)

10/10/2024

As much as I love the frame collection and samples I’ve been creating this last year, I’m always up for a new design challenge! Most, if not all, of my frame designs happen while designing. Especially if the piece I’m designing for is from another country. ‘One day I’ll have all the samples I need’ said no custom picture framer ever. There’s always room for more!

My client’s hand painted Egyptian papyrus, inspired by scenes from the Dendera Temple, needed something special. I didn’t know exactly what that was until I started breaking down the form, texture, and color within the piece to incorporate those elements into the frame.

Outer frame: The segments in the image were the inspiration for the segments in the frame. This repetition of pattern felt natural. The blocks, the carved segments created, made it feel architectural. Surprisingly, the natural wood looked better than any other finish we tried. The grain compliments the lines in the papyrus so well, it felt like the only choice.

The frame lip: THAT BLUE. Lapis lazuli, a favorite pigment of the Egyptians, had to be part of this collaboration. I used it as base color under black. After rubbing away the top layer and intense, almost glowing hue, is revealed.

The frame liner: THAT GOLD. How could I leave gold out of an Egyptian inspired design? I couldn’t. But again, to tone down the intensity, I used it as a base layer, under black. I added more texture to the liner to replicate the same painted texture within the painting itself.

The corners of the frame and frame lip are rounded to complement the shape of the figure, Nut, pronounced Newt. An Egyptian goddess who represents stars, sky, and motherhood. It was also mentioned during our design consultation, the round corners “make it feel truly custom”.

It’s true! It doesn’t really get more custom than this. I love my job!

With all elements combined, this design came together as the perfect showcase for this treasured piece.

Frame by , Artglass by

07/14/2024

This postcard was written 99 years ago TODAY (Reposting from original instagram post so technically it's TODAY minus TWO DAYS). I couldn’t resist the urge to paint, frame, and post about it on its almost-an-antique anniversary. I enjoy being sentimental about something that kinda means nothing. Also, I’m pretty sure it’s the law that the gift, for the 99th anniversary of anything, is a custom frame.

Postcard reads:

“Nancy, le 12 Juillet, 1925
Dear Mama,
I am arrived & am (being?)engaged in trying to put up with that awful Mr. Fellurs! You just learn…I am pinning my heart out for mon cherie. Margaret +”

Some of the text is illegible but you can feel the annoyed vibe coming off hot and it’s adorable. I love the way she wrote the capital M in her signature. It’s so bold you can faintly see her fingerprint. I can almost hear it.

Like most paper ephemera this postcard probably didn’t think it would live a long life ending up in the hands of someone unrelated to the original receipt. But here we are. I have these postcards that hold no value, they can’t be passed on to the family, and I can’t throw them away. They are too charming!

So, I paint birds on them because that’s what I like and I experiment with frames because that’s what I love.

The “mat” for this piece is salvaged tin from an antique trunk too far gone to be restored. I’ve been scheming up ways to incorporate steamer trunk parts into my custom frames. My dad and I have restored about 20 trunks over the last few years. It was bound to happen. Inspired by the ironwork on the front of the postcard and my love affair with Victorian travel this repainted tin gives just the right amount of whimsy.

I floated the postcard on an elevated platform to create a nice dark shadow like the shadows created by the embossed tin. The frame is maple with purple heart splines to match the top dusty rose industrial textured top all handcrafted by moi.

Hit 👍🏻 if it’s tin for the win!

Le Pigeon
Watercolor, ink, & gouache
1925 postcard from France
9” x 7” framed

Available DM for price

06/25/2024

I’ve been so wrapped up in my frame sample collections, my postcard project hasn’t received any attention.

The western red cedar I’ve been working with to create a line of handmade frames, is so lovely I overlooked the thickness of this board at lumberyard.

All of my boards are 3/4” thick except this guy. Because I don’t want to send it out as a sample, it’s not the same as all the rest, blah blah blah, yada yada yada, I made a frame.

I had this frame shape idea in my head for a while. I enjoy creating historical frame styles with rustic wood and rusted metal finishes. I thought it would look cool with a black and silver combo. It does and this pairing happened completely by accident. This bird needed something a wee bit sinister to live in. Today it found a home.

When I started this painting and framing project, I was under the impression I’d be able to paint a hummingbird from corresponding countries on all my old postcards.

Hummingbirds only live in the Americas! Did you know that? I didn’t. What am I going to paint on postcard from India?

This is purple sunbird (cinnyris asiaticus), who like a hummingbird, feasts mainly on nectar.

The postcard recipient, Louise, who I never met, loved the color purple. At least I think she did. She collected purple things and wrote letters in purple ink. I think it’s a fair to say she would have enjoyed seeing a purple sunbird.

The text, which I document before painting, mentions the inlaid mosaic tile work of Summan Burj in Delhi made of coral, lapis lazuli, and jade. I used some genuine lapis lazuli watercolor in this piece because despite the purple sunbird name, they’re actually pretty blue.

Purple Sunbird
Watercolor on 1925 vintage postcard from India
Framed: 10 1/2” x 8 1/2”

Available

03/30/2024

A day trip led me from Portland to the Dalles with the sole intention of scoring vintage frames. At the last stop, I purchased a Mexican feathercraft piece which remained an impulse purchase I regretted for years.

I didn’t buy it for the art-which was falling apart and filthy-I saw a sparkle of promise in the frame. It’s actual wood. It’s carved. It’s charming. And it’s cheap. ☑️ ☑️ ☑️ ☑️

Time passed with nothing to put in it nor the least bit of inspiration to create something new. I forced this relationship too hard. Classic Ajoy. New me is trying to let go of anything that doesn’t spark joy or make cash, I almost took it out back.

And then at the 11th hour the governor calls to say, “hey girl, what about one of your postcards” and a little piece of Marie Kondo dies because I have learned nothing.

The face of the frame is the impulse purchase. Because I’m still on a kick of splining every piece of wood I can find, I added a back frame for depth and to punch up the overall design. It’s maple with cherry splines, both salvaged from cabinet doors. I used glue plus a few well hidden dowels to secure the two frames into one handsome beefcake.

Inside is a 1925 postcard from Rio de Janeiro without a stamp—which is odd. Maybe back then you could just walk in to the post office, say, “mail this”, and run away before they asked for payment. Actually, there’s no address anywhere? How mysterious.

Under the fiery topaz hummingbird watercolor, reads: Rio de Janeiro 1925, October 24, Dear Pops: Arrived here on the 22nd and find Rio the same beautiful city. Leave tomorrow on the “coastline” ship for Porto Alegra, (6 day trip) Regards, Fred

I want to be 1925 Fred right now. But I’ll settle for “traveling” to far off places in creative ways like marking up old correspondences with bird paintings. I hear James Earl Jones whisper, “Once a bird frame, always a bird frame”, as I set sail to salvage more feathercraft frames. To EBay and beyond! 🫡

Available. DM for price.

03/02/2024

Several years ago my dad picked up this hardwood moulding from ReStore with me in mind. I couldn’t join it though because my skills and tools were limited at the time. I had just started making my own frames.

Also, I didn’t like the face of it. It was blah. Plus one part of the face had a dent. A dent so deep, no hot iron wash cloth was going to fix, iykyk. But it’s maple so I kept it safe/totally forgot about it.

Years went by, my skills and tools improved. The pandemic catapulted my desire to master frame finishes so I can control the whole design. So this week (when I remembered I had it) I changed the face of it and I covered that dent. And I just learned how to make splined frames! I love it now!

The splines are padauk which is a deep orange wood that smells like vanilla when it’s cut. I just learned that. I didn’t know I was sitting on the good stuff. Between the glues, the sharpies, and rubbing alcohol this might be the better thing to sniff? Idk, I really like glue.

I’ve been saving and hoarding hardwood scrap for years. I do use some for restorations but I’ve never made splines for the spline holes with any of it. I think they’re called keys. After destroying my neatly organized workspace looking for it, I found it. My precious padauk! It plays so well with the burnt sienna in the rust. I matched the mat color to the wood tone, raised the postcard on a platform that matches the face of frame hoping it would all come together to 🧨 that postcard directly into your eyeballs.

I’m proud of this piece because so many things had to be hoarded and forgotten about, learned and then implemented for this to exist. I promise you I’m still hoarding and learning. I’ll never stop, but I’ll try cut down on the glue*.

Belted Kingfisher
Ink, watercolor, & gouache
1920s postcard from Niagara Falls
5.5” x 3.5”, approx 9” x 7” framed

Available. DM for deets.

*my fingers were crossed when I said that

02/16/2024

The beauty of social media unites.

My friend/client, Kirsten, and I met through Facebook many moons ago. We had a mutual friend who introduced us with a DM that said, “I think you two would get along”. We sure did. We sure do.

Speaking for myself, I’m guessing the friend match was obvi bc we both have no fear of writing a long caption, status update, and/or message that’s from the heart. And if it’s on a personal account, again speaking for myself, it’s maybe delicately laced with profanity. Idk.

Being asked to frame this piece was a thrill! I’m a bird lover, she’s a bird lover, the artist is clearly a bird lover. I would come to find out Bekah, is an amazing wildlife artist. I’m so happy to discover her through this custom order.

The frame design, I had in my head while I was waiting for the piece to arrive, didn’t work when I saw it together. Oh well. It happens. Perhaps it would work with a woodblock print (someone send me a woodblock!) but not this original painting.

For this piece, the mat design I had imagined worked the way I visualized. I’ll take that win. It’s double matted but broken up with a bevel to create some depth. I painted the bevel to compliment Bekah’s beautiful, delicate line work on the feathers. The bottom mat gives much needed space between the bevel and the painting. I weighted the top and bottom margins until it felt balanced and the circle sits in harmony.

This piece is only 5” x 7”. I chose my favorite slim moulding (Fosters 719 maple) because every other frame was too much for the sleek, gallery-look I felt best for this bird. I love the depth of it. It gives a small piece the wall presence it deserves.

Without question it had to be black but why not have a little fun? I sent over a couple ideas and I got the answer you see here. Red splines. I love this design. It’s like a lil frame mullet. Business up front, party on the splines, right? Like the vulture, it’s pretty badass.

This is for old friends, new friends, and the beauty of our feathered friends.

02/03/2024

I had restored this frame so long ago, I completely forgot I rebuilt a section of the nubby. I didn’t even notice when I was fitting the postcard. That felt so good.

Then I remembered my idea to stain the whole thing black was to make certain the wood would all match. The Ron Swanson that lives in me would never alter the natural tone of the wood. And he certainly wouldn’t use kwikwood epoxy but reality is using what you have on hand.

I just wanted to see if I could do it. I just wanted to save a perfectly good frame aside from being previously painted gold, aside from missing all the corner pieces and aside from the broken nubby. Ok, it wasn’t perfectly good. In fact, if anything else was wrong, it probably would’ve been trashed.

The corner design came from another small frame. I had one of the four original corners to use as a template.

I don’t know much about this frame style other than it’s American, made to celebrate nature, produced around the 1880’s, and I absolutely adore them.

I enjoy fixing these little pieces of picture frame history. I have so many restored frames waiting for some art that I will make, find, buy, or receive. This frame found a match with my current obsession: Painting birds on old postcards. I have a large collection of paper ephemera from an old family friend who never had kids and no close relatives. Her belongings don’t mean that much to me but they’re so old, I can’t just toss them.

Lately I’ve been using her old papers as canvases. I’ve found so much pleasure in this whole process, I don’t think I’ll ever paint on new, white paper again. I think (hope) the original owner, would appreciate my endeavor. Or maybe she wouldn’t. Truth is, she never liked me.

She really didn’t. She hated kids. I was 9 when she died so we didn’t get along but now I painted all over her things. I win.

01/26/2024

The beauty is in the details, please scroll through the photos. Tell me what you think.

This is a vintage, hand-painted, Japanese textile passed down to my clients’ who reached out for a custom frame. They had intended to frame this for a while but just hadn’t done it yet. It’s so common. My favorite “I’ve been meaning to frame this” story is about a gentleman who finally got around to framing his diploma in 2017. I said, “oh, it couldn’t have been that long”. He said, “Reagan was president”.

…

Ok, that’s a pretty long time.

But it’s never too late!

After seeing a photo of this piece, I knew it was going to be fun, inspiring process.

My intention, on top of quality archival preservation—as always, was to balance contemporary, creative elements with traditional design. I want the design to be appropriate, beautiful, but also cool.

After an in home design consultation we landed on some wonderful elements.

The bevel paper is Japanese yuzen paper. The pattern is of camellia flowers that thrive here in the PNW, as well as Japan. If it wasn’t for the recent cold snap, they would currently be in bloom.

With this paper, bits of camellia are forever adding their color and warmth to the piece. It’s glowy. The embossed finish resembles the look of traditional Japanese lacquer-ware, an incredible art itself. The richness of the red is beautiful contrast with the cool silver tone of the top mat, which unlike traditional Japanese mat design, often silk, is also paper.

I enjoy creating Japanese Kobe corner frames that look traditional but have a little flair. In this case the edges have been rubbed back to reveal a bright blue to match the sky. I love how architectural this frame style feels. The corners curve and slope like a temple.

This design, which just may be right on time, compliments the sentimental sweetness of this heirloom. It’s a family treasure. It’s safe and ready to be enjoyed for years to come.

12/22/2023

In 1997 my mom, my boyfriend, and I went metal detecting. We had watched my brother do it. It seemed pretty easy. He was finding things left and right.

Next to our house which was built in 1860, was an area where a house used to stand. Old property records were the only way we knew this information. Nothing had been there for a really long time. We head out, metal detect for two seconds, it beeps, we dig, we find this bottle (and some metal). See? This hobby IS easy.

We ended up searching for hours, days, weeks after never finding another thing in that location.

This is a 1880s Doc Marshall’s catarrh s***f bottle painted on paper of the same age. The paper is a recipe for a pharmacist to make catarrh. I salvaged the pages from a promotional booklet people received at home and then would take in to their local pharmacist to make.

This is one of several in a series I created and worked on, on and off depending on time and materials, over the last 14 months. Not all bottles have a charming story but this one does!

12/20/2023

This is an original Calumet baking powder advertisement I custom framed over the summer. How can it be only a couple days until winter? Woo dang, what a year.

I look at this now, all I can think: Sugar cookies. Sure, really nice frame on that—quality, but cookies please. If I can muster any other thought it’s about how charming marketing technology used to be. I’m talking about the turnable dial in the cardboard. I understand that dial. I don’t have to watch a YouTube video on how to use it like every other thing I come I contact with 90 years later.

It spins to change the price. I like it.

Today, the thing that spins is a fidget spinner, made to cope with all the anxiety from living in a world far too advanced for the likes of me.

Honestly, 2023 technology is pretty awesome. You wouldn’t know me any other way. I wouldn’t know you. There are so many ways to connect and share. It’s quite lovely.

However, because it advances so quickly, it’s somewhat terrifying. Have you seen the deepfake videos? I started this year humming and hawing over AI. Will it eventually kill me? 🤔I don’t care anymore. I need to save time. Maybe it can help me get ahead before it kills us all? 🤞🏼

Projects roll through my studio before I get the time to capture them the way I want to see them. My work space is tiny. I have to set up and take down constantly, leaving little time for fun photo shoots. I really wanted to see this piece in a “farmhouse kitchen with weathered white wood” but couldn’t setup the shot for so many reasons. Well, guess who could…

This background was generated by AI in PhotoRoom (highly recommend) along with all the other photos. The backgrounds were removed and refilled like perfect product photography in seconds. 🤯 Sure, I had good images of the framed art to start but, for me, that’s the easy part. Editing is time consuming.

And there’s my time being saved. Thank you robot overlords! More time for me & the cookies!

AJoy Framing LLC

10/10/2024

07/14/2024

06/25/2024

03/30/2024

03/02/2024

02/16/2024

02/03/2024

01/26/2024

12/22/2023

12/20/2023

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category