Framing on a budget
Have you ever gotten something framed and thought - why is this SO expensive?
Well I am about to be your new thrifty framing friend! A couple of years ago I took a 2-day framing intensive where our instructor walked us through how to build a frame, cut glass, mat and frame a piece. This blog post isn't going to be "quite" as thorough, but by the end of this tutorial you'll have a good handle on some basic framing techniques!
I wanted to share the best way to mat and frame a print or small piece of artwork on paper (note this is not for stretched canvas or anything 3D!).
If you think that this might be something you'd like to do more of you might want to invest in some of these tools. The cost of these tools will be about what you would spend getting one piece framed so it might be worth the investment!
My biggest tip for sourcing frames? Goodwill, thrift and secondhand stores. People donate things that have been professionally framed. This means that the quality of the materials is going to be much higher than a frame you will find in stores. It's a little more labor intensive and you might have to shop around if you're looking for a specific or odd size, but you wouldn't believe how many beautiful frames I've gathered over the years through this method. If you have the space, I would just these up every time you see them. You'll be able to spot them from the paper on the back and maybe a sticker with the frame shop's information.
Supplies
- Art piece to frame
- Frame that fits your art piece (for this tutorial you'll need a frame with an existing mat and glass!)
- Cutting mat
- Exacto knife
- Straight edge
- Foam board or matboard (you can grab this at an office supply store or craft store)
- Paper hinging tape
- Adhesive Tape Gun Optional, but a great tool to have for general crafting!
- Point driver - this is a great tool, especially for frames that you're reusing from professional framers
- Brown paper for the back
- Hanging hardware
A couple of things to keep in mind when framing - you want to make sure that nothing you do to secure the artwork will cause damage when taking it out of the frame, this means you want to have as few points as possible. Works on paper are going to change based on the humidity and temperature in your house, you want to make sure that it has room to expand.
Once you have all of your supplies, let’s get to work! I love having a clear and clean workspace when working on projects like this. Go ahead and disassemble your frame. If you have grabbed one from the thrift store that has been professionally framed, you’ll most likely have to cut the paper from the back and remove the metal points from the inside of the frame. Needlenose pliers are helpful for this step. This is also a great time to clean the glass in the frame.
Take your foam board and cut to the same size as the mat you’re going to use (you may find that you need to get a new mat cut to fit your artwork - make sure your mat opening is ¼” to ½” smaller than the artwork so the mat can cover your whole piece. (Please use caution when using blades!).
On your work surface, orient your foam board in the correct direction (portrait v. landscape depending on your piece). Center your art piece and place mat (your mat and foam board should line up!) Once you’re happy with the placement of your artwork, lift up mat and set aside. (You may want to use something to hold down your art piece at this point like a paperweight so it doesn’t shift - just make sure it doesn’t mar or damage your art)
Using your hinging tape, create a hinge to hang your artwork: grab one piece of tape about 2” -3” long and with the stick side UP, slide up one top corner of your artwork and slide your tape under so that half is under the art and the other half is visible above the art piece (the sticky side will be touching your artwork).
Take another piece of tape (sticky side DOWN) and place over the top of the tape. You will create a ‘T’ shape hinge, repeat on the other top corner.
We only secure the top so the piece can move and expand and with the hinge we are not taping the piece directly to anything, this is the best and least damaging way.
Please note - in this tutorial I’m assuming that the piece is around 8x10 if your piece is much larger you may have to use more tape hinges along the top of your piece, but the minimum will always be two hinges even if you have a small piece, just cut tape down if necessary.
Using your adhesive tape gun or double sided tape, create a border of tape on the outside border of your foam board and secure your mat to the foam board. With a lint free cloth and glass cleaner clean the inside of your glass and place the matted piece inside, checking to make sure there is no dust (or in my case, dog hair!). If you have a store bought frame, you can assemble. But if there is no hardware to secure the matted piece in the frame, you’ll have to use a point driver to secure the piece. I recommend a point every 3”-4” along each side.
Roll out your brown paper for the back, make sure it’s slightly larger than the frame. With either your adhesive tape gun or double sided tape, create a border of tape on the back of the frame and flip over and press down on your brown kraft paper, smoothing it down.
Lastly, you’ll want to add hanging hardware. The best kind to use is hanging wire - these are secured with eyelets and are attached to the sides of the frame rather than saw tooth hangers that are added to the top part of the frame which can cause strain on the top of the frame. I recommend adding the eyelets about ⅓ from the top of the frame. That will give you room to string the wire between the two eyelets, you don’t want the wire to be too taught or too loose!
I can’t wait to see your masterpieces! When hanging pieces, make sure things are hung with the center around 60” from the floor. If hanging a grouping, make sure the center of the grouping is close to that 60” height. Happy framing!
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