Skilled XS vs. Not-So-Skilled XS

ellice wrote:
On 7/19/08 4:55 PM, "Karen C - California" wrote:

Cheryl Isaak wrote:


It's more than diplomacy. When you work in retail, and in something that
involves people's personal tastes, knowing your customers is really
important - for repeats. If you've never seen a customer before - you can
certainly try to guide them - as often in a framers they'll start by telling
you their thoughts, then you have to show them selections of moldings that
may suit, and winnow that down - following the clues you get from them -
which aren't always apparent. Same with showing selections of mats. But,
there are people that if they say "no - that's not what I'm thinking of" -
you better follow that and shift gears. Because some people really do have
strong ideas - whether you like them or not, think they clash, don't work, -
and that's what they want. And, especially, once they've made a choice - no
matter if you think an alternative was much more suitable - you had best
just say "OK" and confirm it - without rolling your eyes, or asking again
"are you sure" - because that can just **** them off - and they will walk
out.

Framers may have regular customers that always do something the framer may
think isn't good - but will execute it well - and that's that. When I first
started working at my friends LNS/framing place - she'd give me a nudge at
times - to "just let it go" or not even try to move some regular out of
their box of pre-selected ideas. She knows her customers.

OTOH, some people, indeed, by judiciously showing them an alternative, and
just saying "well, I was looking at this and this combination crossed my
mind - how do you like it as an option" will look again, and maybe let you
guide them into a better choice. Some, you can even say - well, if you look
at this molding/mat....the color, or carving, or fill in the blank picks up
that stitch or accent color or conversely tell them it dulls, etc. But
there are indeed many people that it's best to just say, "OK - we'll take
care of that" - the same as people don't want their stitching critiqued,
many don't want their taste in framing or art or anything else critiqued.

I mean, not that I come up with something that totally clashes -- I have
more color sense than that -- but that he lays my mat choice on one
corner and his alternative on another corner, and I can really see how
his idea works better than mine.

That's a standard technique - put alternates at opposite corners, and then
you should also rotate them - so you see them by each end of the piece to be
framed. Also, that should be done with the molding corner samples. Just
like getting your eyes checkec "1 or 2?" and winnow down the choices.

ellice



I'm one of those who has trouble deciding on how I want something
framed. Luckily I've had wonderful framers who have been able to
suggest things. For instance, I did TW's Tempest. I'm not a great one
for orange and purple, so I gave it to my framer and said, "You choose."
She put a fairly wide greyish purple mat (with a fine line cut into it
so it almost looks like two mats) and an orange stained simple wood
frame. Absolutely perfect - and something I would never in a lifetime
come up with.

The only thing I can do is to recognize the right choice once it's put
against the finished work.

MargW