Up & Running ?

Far from finished, but at least we’re in production again. The printers are all printing (which is amazing considering one of them had to be turned on its end to get it down a flight of stairs), the underpinner is hissing away nicely, the large glass and board guillotine has been recalibrated (they don’t like being moved) and we’ve even taken delivery of our new and updated computerised mount cutter – and very nice it is too! The vacuum press is getting hot, sucking air and pressing things as it is supposed to and the trusty Morso moulding guillotine is chopping beautifully.

So all in all we’re back to work and the batches of orders have started to leave the building. It’s nice to see a few of our customers calling in to drop off or collect their work and we hope to see many more. All are welcome.

Next week we hope that BT will put us some phone lines in and get our broadband up and running. We currently feel a little incommunicado! And it would also be nice if British Gas could supply us some gas so that we could get warm!!!!! (I shall avoid the temptation to rant again).

Work in Progress

It’s now been 8 days since we heaved everything out of our previous workshop and studio and the new unit is starting to take shape. It’s basically a form of organised turmoil.
As ever we could do with about twice the amount of room that we have, but it’s certainly a massive improvement on our previous layout and it’s nice to get everything under one roof.

If British Gas had been more efficient than their current track record in making a complete pig’s ear of connecting us to the gas (it was only the 1st week in October when we tried to order it) then we’d even be warm as well !! As it is, we’re freezing. These big companies are truly useless. Which reminds me – BT can’t get us a phone or internet connection until February and their sale chap even said that it would probably be later than that because their “estimates are rubbish”. Let’s hope their Directors all get good bonuses.

Anyway, that’s enough moaning from me. The airlines are connected, the new tables have been made and the computerised cutting equipment is up and running again. It’ll be a couple more days before we know whether our wide format printer survived being turned on it’s end to get it down a flight of stairs (with the help of 4 big friends – thanks chaps).

On the Edge are On the Up

Well, after months of thinking about it we’ve finally signed the lease on a new workshop. The thought of having so much room is great. In reality we know it’ll end up filled to the brim and we’ll want something bigger, but for now it’s going to be fantastic.

Our workshops at home are crammed to overflowing and even the house has been used as a store room for all our customers’ lovely art, so to ‘get our house back’ is going to be a real boon.

It’s very near to the centre of Market Harborough, so for those customers who like to call on us we’ll no longer need to explain how to find the rural depths of Gumley.

All we’ve got to do now is move an awful lot of equipment, and stock . . . and get the gas connected, and get new phone lines . . . and move all the computers . . . and get a new phone system and . . . get a new phone number and . . . . . . Oh blimey, I better get on with it!

We Finally Did It !

Jules is Pleased

Having said that we were thinking about getting a Computerised Mount Cutter we’ve finally bitten the bullet and have had a nice shiny new machine whirring away in the studio for a couple of months now. Frighteningly (having just looked back at the previous blog) it was April when we were thinking about it and I said something’s got to go. Well something did go – my workbench! So Jules gets a new toy and I get crammed in the corner! Actually it all works quite well, but don’t let on !


Like most new bits of equipment we’ve bought over the years, Jules is adamant she doesn’t need it. Once installed however, woe betides anyone who tries to part her from it.

Jules Fathoming the Software

It’s a fab piece of equipment that saves us a huge amount of time. It arrived in the nick of time to help us through what has been a truly hectic and busy summer period (thank you to our customers who kept us busy). To date we’ve only used it for basic mounts, but it does have a whole host of tricks and features for cutting fantastically creative mount designs with ‘V’ grooves, multi apertures and embossing. So once we’ve had time to play with all these new features we’ll be able to offer even more exciting mounts to our customers.

Time & Size Keep Going

Blimey, where do these weeks go? I promised myself I’d keep our blog up to date, the next thing I know is that March disappeared and April is rapidly slipping away. I’m really glad to say that time is flying because we’re very very busy, so perhaps it’s not so bad that we spend all our time framing and printing rather than scribbling blogs.

Well these frames just keep getting bigger and we thought we ought to record this one. It’s actually for a rather large mirror. It’s always a relief when we get mirrors finished and delivered as handling, storing and transporting huge sheets of toughened mirror-glass is a nightmare. We’re always convinced we’re going to break it – which, of course, we never have!

The Annual Spring Fair Visit

Well, Jules and I ventured off for our annual excursion to the Spring Fair at the NEC. We had already been told that the art & framing section was greatly reduced from previous years and this very much proved to be the case. Some of the major payers in the art and framing world were missing. A sign of the times!

Our main reason for this year’s visit was to have a look at computerised mount cutters . . . . . again! We’ve wanted one of these toys for a few years now, but a lack of space and the rather hefty price tag has always stopped us from taking the plunge. However, Jules is determined we should have one so it’s just a matter of which brand. The thought of a multi-aperture double mount cut in just a few minutes is pure heaven. So watch this space . . . . while I try and find some space. (something’s got to go!)

Harborough Mail Sponsorship

We've arranged with the Harborough Mail to sponsor the ‘Memory Corner’ section of the newspaper. For those who don’t know this little feature in the paper, it’s where they publish some great old photos of Harborough and the surrounding areas.  All being well the good folk of Harborough will see our logo-man dangling his legs at the top of this section each week!  We’re also sponsoring the area on their website where you can order prints of any of the images they have taken or used for the newspaper. http://www.photostoday.co.uk/

I ought also to say a quick thank you to Alastair Campbell of The Ideal Marketing Company http://www.idealmarketingcompany.co.uk/ who helped arrange this for us. A man of many contacts!