our trip in London, Sep 2007

photo of our trip to london last september.
digitally altered and grouped together, add in some background sketches.

then, framed with the maple leaves we collected in a park in Shepherd Bush. where we stayed.

"Living with Art" is launched!

our new series of product, Living with Art is launched!!

Framing Business in Malaysia

A guest from Australia walked in to our gallery last week. We are glad to know that he is a picture framer from Adelaide. He told us that he was attracted by the window sticker, " Guild Commended Framer"( GCF). And I think may be he was surprised to find out there is a UK's Fine Art Guild Framer in Malaysia.

According to one of the leading wood frame exporter in Malaysia, most of the picture framers in Malaysia are not well educated in this field. They learn the skills of making frame from the older generation (frame maker) or their parents. Normally they don't realize if the framing method is appropriate or not, as long as they think it is right and getting the job done. I have seen a framer try to wet mount a RM55,000 oil painting to a plywood backing board. He said this will make the oil paint looks flat and even! And another framer trimmed down an old water colour painting as he had not enough wood moulding for that framing job. Sounds crazy, isn't it?

Some of the frame maker friends are making joke of me for sitting the GCF test. They said I was wasting my time studying and wasting my money flying to London and get a "nobody care"'s certificate! I am sure they don't understand at least now I know better what is the proper way of frame making. Now I know how to help my customer to preserve their artworks or collection. With the qualification, I feel more confident to consult and help my customers. (Never mind, let them laugh! The customer's eye is bright....sooner later....they know who is the right person to frame thier artwork!)

However, as one of the many framer in Malaysia, we find difficulties to get the good framing materials in Malaysia. For example we don't have the conservation mount board selling here, no UV glass, form board, acid free or cloth tape, no hanging systems kits,.....and many more. The local framing wholesalers told us....no demand for this stuffs! so, sorry for that! That is why, we always have to scratch our head to find a way and making used of the local materials for our framing works.

Another issue,.....we are facing problem to get the good quality frame woods.... we have the good wood frame manufacturers in Malaysia but they are keen on export business ( making more money....US and Europe currency is profitable!) rather than supply to the local framers. (Good frames are not available for Malaysian...and dont blame the framers!) So, we have a very limited choices. I went to a few places like Perth, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Munich.... and I am so admired the framers there. They have all the good suppliers like Larson & Juhl ( http://www.larsonjuhl.com/ ), NielsenBainbridge (http://www.nielsenbainbridge.com/ ) .... where they can provide more than 300o choice of frames to their customers! And they don't have to keep big quantity of stocks...In Malaysia, we have only 200-300 choices. And we need to keep the stock! See, how pity is the framing business in Malaysia.

Yes...this is the fact of FRAMING business in Malaysia. Accept it!

Photo Restoration 写真を修整しました

before

after

A client came to me with her parents photo which was halfly destroyed.

They would like us to restore the photo.

Looking at the condition of the photograph, her mother and father's face need to be manually sketched. we had tried our very best and YES our client is satisfied with the output.

We had printed the restored photo and now in the mid of framing. We will post the framed photo once it is completed.

Our friend's Wedding Photos

Our friend, Robert had passed me some of his wedding photos to frame... since I have frame a lot of his stuff, he let me decide the frame design. So, my duty was to make their beautiful photos look more than beautiful.... sound interesting, huh....! :)

After a couple days, finally we have came out with 3 design...

Our new product ArtTime

our new product an Art Clock .. which we call it ArtTime ... with inspiration from the artist color mixing plate's unique shape .. .
we had decided to carve it onto Malaysian's rubber wood. Rubber wood is replantable wood.. it is environmentally friendly. Furthermore, we love its soft soothing color and natrual grains.

hope this would be your ArtTime!

First Professional Framer in Malaysia

'me' at D&J Simon and Sons test center, London

As I aware that every framer knows how to make a frame but not every one of them is able to do it nicely and frame it in a correct and proper way. So, for the pass few years, I had bought quite a lot of framing reference books from UK and US in order to upgrade my knowledge in the framing fields. After some years of hands on experience, I decided to take the challenge and I traveled to England to take the framing test at D & J Simons & Sons Ltd, London on 19 September 2007.

in the mid of testing the mat cutter before the test

enjoying making frame .. haha ..

On 15 of Okt 2007, I received a letter from Fine Art Trade Guild, London informed me that I have passed the Commended Framer test. Now I am entitled to refer myself as Eng Theng, Khoo GCF! ( Guild Commended Framer). And from now on, I am feeling more confident to consult my client how the Conservation Standard framing can preserve their artwork or collection!

For this qualification, it is all about standard and credibility. Now our customers will recognize ART BUG frame & art Gallery as a professional framer and feel confident that a qualified framer will frame and preserve their valued artwork or objects.

Hopefully, the local customers who are typically a price driven market will start looking at value as well as just the price.

photo taken during Tendence Lifestyle, Messe Frankfurt

had been enjoying the days around Messe Frankfurt.

It was our first visit to Frankfurt.

our setting up day ... hehe.. quite fast though, we take only one day to complete everything.

the beauty of nature - greenery

photo was taken from my garden.
the greenery, the morning dew, the young leafs shoot
green and refreshing. the beauty of tropical garden ...

New Bangkok Airport - Suvarnabhumi Airport 新しいバンコクの空港

Landed in new Bangkok Airport - Suvarnabhumi Airport. Was stunned by her beauty.





Suvarnabhumi (pronounced as su-wan-na-poom) , means "The Golden Land" ... it was designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects. a company founded 50 years ago, is currently located in Chicago, Illinois, USA.







新しいバンコクの空港に着ました。　（Suvarnabhumi　Airport）
Suvarnabhumiの発音は　”ス　ワン　ナ　プーン”、意味は　金色の土地。
建築家は　Murphy/Jahn Architects。
Murphy/Jahn Architects　は50年前創立されました。今、アメリカの　シカゴにいます。

A Weekend in Bangkok バンコクの週末

A weekend in Bangkok.

Bangkok is an amazing city.. a lot of things to do .. and a lot of things to eat, especially if you like the kick of spicy food...

バンコクは面白い都市です。
多くの行い、多くの食べ物、　ハハハ　。。　辛い食べ物です　、大好き！

Erawan Shrine

can you find this in Bangkok?

convenient transport in Bangkok ... 'tot tot'

a shop in suan lum night bazaar ...

a nice architecture near Gayson ...

framing for Maple Leafs from Perth パースからの楓葉のフレーム

client came in with the maple leafs he collected from Perth..

he would like the name initial b, and e, to be included in the frame...

therefore, we had designed the back drop of the framing to have different fonts and size of character, B and E. color tone chosen is earth tone. natural scheme to match the leafs. and arrangement of the leafs is natural flow ...

お客様は　バースで楓葉を集められました。

フレームに入りたいです。

又、お名前のイニシャル　’B'　と　’E’　も入りたいです。

それために、私たちは　BとE　の　字　で　アートをデザインしました。

そして、このアートは　フレームの背景にしました。

自然の色を使っています。

father and son: first steps

framing shoes of father and son ...

the lovely first steps together.

our newly designed letter box

our newly designed letter box. painted with fresh green colors! filled with our house number. 26 !

web stock photo for modern urban interior

just feel these photos might interest you.
modern urban interior that fits with black silver grey color themes ... might have these photo flows well with the theme.


© Photographer: Nicalfc
Agency: Dreamstime.com

© Photographer: Emily2k
Agency: Dreamstime.com

© Photographer: Alevajkovic
Agency: Dreamstime.com

Our Renewed Site is Up!!! Yahoo!

finally our official ArtBug website is up and refreshen!

it is more contents compact compare to the previous one...

products listing are compiled in a more complete way.

and... along the way we will make it more informative .. so please pay us a visit anytime when you are free :)

cheers!

~ching

Hello!

our blog of 'ArtBug Buzzing...' is born today... yahooooo!
we will share with you our new coming activities and any interesting events surrounding us.. please come back and visit us often ..
cheers!

~ ching