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How Hard Is It to Frame Your Own Artwork? Harder Than It Looks.
We asked the experts for some shortcuts — because “budgets don’t always allow for a professional framer.”
Framing a piece of art seems simple enough — until you try to do it yourself.
How do you decide which frame style is best? How large should the frame be? Does the art really need any frame at all? And most important, how do you avoid getting stuck second-guessing yourself?
“I have an overarching rule for framing: It has to make the work of art look attractive to whomever is viewing it,” said Thomas Jayne, the founder of Jayne Design Studio, in New York. “But that can be a myriad of combinations of frame, mat and presentation.”
Do it right, and a great frame will enhance the appearance of your artwork; get it wrong, and the art won’t look as good as it should. “Framing can really elevate a piece,” said Ryann Swan Hackett, the founder of Ryann Swan Design, in Greenwich, Conn. “It can also help a piece tie into a room a little better.”
For help navigating a process that isn’t nearly as easy as it seems, we asked these two and other designers for their advice.
Frame to the Edges of the Work
One of the simplest ways to approach framing is to use a frame that fits the exact size of the artwork without a mat. This often works for posters, large photographs and other works on paper — especially if they aren’t valuable and can be trimmed to fit the frame.
