The Frame Game
Former corporate auditor Jerome Feig now specializes in gold leafing.
SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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The tables are turned: Jerome Feig Is framed.
erome Feig understands the
value of gold from two
points of view — artistic
and financial.
As the owner of Field Art Stu-
dio in Berkley, Mr. Feig con-
structs frames for fine paintings,
treasured artifacts and personal
mementos, periodically working
with gold leafing for customers
interested in special, high-fash-
ion furnishing effects.
After Mr. Feig bought the busi-
ness 10 years ago, he introduced
customers to gilding and silver-
ing styles. Formerly a corporate
auditor, he also introduced oper-
ational changes, including in-
ventory controls, day-to-day
budgeting plans and a new book-
keeping system.
"To my knowledge, there are
only two other gilders in the
area," Mr. Feig said of the gold
leafing skill that appears to be
growing in demand. "One person
works on a part-time basis with
the Detroit Institute of Arts, and
another person is in private prac-
tice as a furniture conservator.
"I got into gilding because I
was dissatisfied with a lot of what
I saw. I started experimenting
and taking one class here and an-
other there. It's a revival of an an-
cient art."
After studying with Bill Adair,
who had been with the Smith-
sonian Institution in Washing-
ton, D.C., Mr. Feig started
applying his craft to requests for
custom frames, which make up
j
90 percent of his or-
ders.
He
conducts
workshops for oth-
ers interested in at-
taining the gilding
skills — painters in-
volved with furni-
ture finishing
processes, arts-and-
crafts hobbyists,
window trimmers and furniture
decorators and designers.
Mr. Feig, who bases workshop
fees on the national average for
these programs, crafts gold leaf-
ing using true gold and synthet-
ic gold, with the former almost
double in price.
"Gold has more depth than
metal leaf," he said. "It was used
to bring light into the room by re-
flecting candlelight when there
was no incandescent or fluores-
cent lighting.
"The prices of gold and silver
have not gone up as much as the
cost of labor, and these tech-
niques are very labor-intensive
processes."
Working with a carved wood
surface, Mr. Feig has to seal it,
apply six coats of a whiting prod-
uct, polish for that stage, add
three layers of clay polish, affix
the gold and finally do the bur-
nishing to either give an antique
or distressed appearance.
The process for silver is simi-
lar.
Mr. Feig, who has been certi-
fied as a picture framer by the
Professional Picture Framers As-
sociation, completes his projects
in a workroom at the back of his
store. The front of the facility
serves as a display area for his
products.
When Mr. Feig bought the 45-
year-old business, he began rec-
ommending gilding for what he
considered appropriate tradi-
tional and contemporary paint-
ings, photography and antique
bookplates.
With custom-made frames
priced by the foot, gold leaf sells
for $26 per unit, while metal and
silver are priced at $18 per unit.
Oak frames go for $6 a foot.
Mr. Feig, a member of the So-
ciety of Gilders and treasurer of
the International Society of Ap-
praisers, traces his career change
to being tired of corporate life at
the time he noticed a Field Stu-
dio ad in The Jewish News.
His experience comes from
many years of being a wood-
worker and gaining an appreci-
ation for art from his father, who
was an architect. He passes along
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