Custom Frame for Human Spice Latte!

Hey all! Just wanted to highlight some artistry brought to us by my partner, Mikey. He makes custom frames on commission, and sometimes just for my paintings when he feels inspired.

This is one of the latter. And, as he says, one of his most complicated frames to date. The inlay is - I think - ash bark, which he stripped from a downed tree up in Port Elgin. He flattened it with steam and some compression, and then cut it into strips using a table saw. Not the big wheely kind, but the kind that looks almost like a sewing machine with a skillsaw blade inside. I'm sure there's a proper term for it, but I myself am only a mediocre carpenter.

He normally uses stains we make at home from Black Walnut, copper, still wool, vinegar and the like, but to get that purplish, we ended up using a water-based stain we bought at Rotblotts some point before the pandemic began. I like it. It brings out the tans of the rider's inner lapel and the saddle. We used paint for the outer layers of the frame to echo the dusky tones into midnight.

The spray varnish is a little less eco-friendly, but it adds much more durability to the frame. Especially the bark, which is coloured with tiny flecks of lichen, which I don't think will keep growing now.

Man, I'm so much better at describing other peoples' work than my own. Description of painting: HUMAN SPICE LATTE. Headless horseman guy on horse drinking latte made of human spice! Get it? Is joke! Ha ha ha!

I want to think I'm not alone in that difficulty. Lol. Still working on that piece I posted last week. Hopefully it'll be finished by next week. Fingers crossed!