Tips For Framing Your Art

In February of this year I got to start working in a frame shop. It was quite scary to start this new role at work but I was excited to start this and learn new things. Because of this I have learned a lot about how to frame your picture to make it look its best, for the picture and for your home.

The first thing I recommend is when framing and you want to do a mat around the image start with that first than the frame. Picking a mat can be very difficult especially if you don’t want to do a white one. White tends to be the basic color to use and you will see lots of galleries use this when they frame a photo. I have done this with some photos as well. 

If you want to get creative and use a color I always like to go with my favorite part of the photo and try to make that part stand out. To do this you can either try to match the color of the part of the photo or do a complimentary color. Doing this will make that stand out.

If your color is in black and white I would go with a darker gray or light black mat. I have done this with one of my photos that I framed and it complements the picture really well.

So now that we have talked about mats let's talk frames. The frame is always going to depend on personal preference. I have done frames for people where they absolutely love the gold and ornate large frames while others want more simple wood frames that are close to their furniture. 

The one tip on this I will give is if your picture is larger than 16x20 do a thicker frame. Doing a small frame will look disproportionate.

If you are not sure what type or color of frame to choose, think of the room you are putting it in. What does the furniture look like? Are there other frames in that room? If so, what color are those frames? Also what color is the wall? What color would look great against the wall and not blend in with it?

Now for one of the most important parts of the frame. The glass. 

Glass protects your artwork from dust and outside elements. It isn’t always necessary though. If you are framing a photo that is stretched on a canvas you don’t always need glass on it. Canvases usually don’t get frames when you first get them and it’s easy to wipe dust off, so if you are framing it you don’t have to put glass on it. If you are framing a one of a kind piece of artwork that is either really old or an original please please put glass on it you don’t want that ruined.

The glass that we have at the frame shop I work at has UV Protection in it. Which is an absolute if your art is going to be in sunlight a lot.

Some glass also has the option of having non glare (museum type glass) and this is definitely a personal preference thing and very dependent on where you are putting your photo. 

Of course I could go into detail of every part of a frame and what goes into each part and all the different ways to frame things. But these are the basic things you need to frame a normal photo print.

I hope these tips were helpful for you choosing your next frame and of course if you have any questions feel free to contact me. And here are some of the photos that I got framed so you can see my tips used in real life!