Painting on Black Velvet Carved Wooden Frames

Frame Preparation

• Artists create the hand-carved frame for this work of art apart from the painting itself. Rather than selecting frame molding after the artwork is complete, artists often create the hand-carved frame first. A hand-carved frame carries much of the finished artwork's overall appeal. Hand-carved frames are fashioned by talented woodworking artisans, and the beauty of the frame gives a painting an old world, 19th-century appeal.

Stretching the Canvas

• Before the picture is painted, the black velvet canvas is stretched and stapled into a stretching frame. Rough-sawn, 1-by-1-inch pieces of hardwood are laid on the back side of the fabric. Painters carefully stretch the fabric in both directions, and wrap the velvet around the frame, stapling it on the frame's backside. The soft velvet must stretch like a drum head so the painter has a surface suitable for painting. For larger paintings, a quarter-inch foam core board is used so the fabric remains rigid while painted.

Sketching the Image

• After the velvet is stretched, artists sketch their image on the surface of the fabric with white or colored chalk. Most artists aren't able to paint an image directly. The chalk allows the artist to work out the details of his creations. Because the chalk is absorbed by the paints, it doesn't affect the final image. Another trick for tracing the image is sketching on white paper, laying the paper on the velvet, and then using a large pin, such as the point of a drawing compass, to poke holes along the image's outline into the fabric.

Painting on Velvet

• Painting on velvet requires mastering a number of unique skills. Acrylic paints seem to work best because they hold color well, as opposed to oil based paints which tend to soak into the fabric and loose their color intensity. Paints do not lift off the soft velvet surface well, so artists must decide in advance how to address mistakes. Some artists paint over any mistakes with black paint. But the painted black surface has a different sheen than the perfectly flat-black velvet. Painting over a mistake with another color can create an acrylic buildup, which may add unintended texture in an area of the composition where no texture was intended. Therefore, black velvet compositions are less forgiving than traditional canvas, and in many cases mistakes can't be satisfactorily repaired.

Overall Presentation

• The modern look of the black velvet image, when combined with the old-world appeal of the hand-carved frame, creates a unique artistic opportunity. The artist can play the two styles off one another to make a statement as a result of the contrast. The unique appearance of the black velvet painting also contrasts well with a white-washed, or pickled, wood frame. Because of the style differences, the artist should consider at the beginning of the project how to tie the two art forms together when the painting is complete.