Photo Wall

Art Frames and Custom Frames – Artist Advice on Custom Framing

Artists who think that art frames itself (or customers will) may face some harsh reality.

For many artists, it’s no foreign concept to make that final brushstroke against the canvas and feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. All that hard work and your masterpiece is even better than you expected. If you’ve painted or drawn on stretched canvas, your work is ready to sell! If your work is on flat, 2-Dimensional paper, however… you may find yourself wondering how you’ll sell your piece. You could sell your work just as it is, letting your customer worry about presentation. This method, however, runs the risk of not getting the best value for your art, or worse, not selling at all because presentation can be just as costly! For this reason, art frames are a wise investment for any budding or experienced artist.

Art Frames
Framing your art makes the piece more valuable to your client/customer – they’ll appreciate the extra time and effort.

The most obvious solution for 2-D artists and photographers everywhere is purchasing custom art frames. Framing can be just as daunting a chore as any in the art world, the reasoning behind which is that the LAST thing you want to do is distract the viewer from your artwork. As Jason Horejs said in his recent post from RedDot Blog, “Framing art is time-consuming and expensive, and just when you think you’ve found the right frame, your clients let you know otherwise.” Even more discouraging is putting in the time and effort, only for “…a client [to] see [a] piece of artwork, fall in love with it, and then say, ‘but that frame has got to go.'”

Luckily for most artists, picking out a frame is simply an extension of their artistic eye. Find something that makes your piece “pop” instead of distracting the viewer, and don’t try too hard to match the colors of your art to the color(s) of the frame. Aside from the picking out your frame, the other important factor in selecting a frame is the price. Taking your art to a professional framer can set you back hundreds, even thousands of dollars. However, there are several ways to avoid this cost:

1. Build your own art frames and mats

Using materials such as wood, nails and stain/finish bought from your local hardware store, assemble your own frames! There are plenty of tutorials that can be found online, and we suggest looking around Pinterest to find even more creative solutions to DIY art frames.

2. Create artwork to fit a specific frame size

While limiting in a creative capacity, this process will save you time and money down the road. If you like to create art in series or with a certain color, then ordering in bulk may be your best bet. This will force you to restrict your sizing, but for the most part, this is a great investment either way. Frame USA offers volume orders and discounts for businesses as well – fill out our quote form and see just how much you can save.

3. Order custom-sized, wholesale picture frames from Frame USA

As we referenced in 2, ordering a specific size in wholesale can be a great time and money-saver. We also offer a Build A Frame service that allows you to upload an image or select an image opening, add mats and a frame, backing and glazing. We then assemble your frame and send it to you! Give it a try and you’ll see just how much you can save when compared to your local frame shop.

What’s your opinion on custom art frames and custom framing? How do your frame your work? Leave a comment for us in the space below!

Source: RedDot Blog www.reddotblog.com/framing-art/

For art frames and more, visit FrameUSA.com

Share Your Love
Frame USA
Frame USA

Offering picture frames, posters, art and more for over 30 years! www.frameusa.com has a great selection, low prices, fast delivery and friendly staff.

At Frame USA, we champion our craft. We make all of our art, frames, and more inside our warehouse. All wood frames produced from Frame USA are 100% made in America! We take great pride with that because not only are we able to produce everything in house, we are still able to offer highly competitive prices.

Articles: 511

9 Comments

  1. […] Artists who think that art frames itself (or customers will) may face some harsh reality. For many artists, it s no foreign concept to make that final brushstroke against the canvas and feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. All that hard work and your masterpiece is even better than you expected. If you ve painted or drawn on stretched canvas, your work is ready to sell! If your work is on flat, 2-Dimensional paper, however you may find yourself wondering how you ll sell your piece. You could sell your work just as it is, letting your customer worry about presentation. This method, however, runs the risk of not getting the best value for your art, or worse, not selling at all because presentation can be just as costly! For this reason, art frames are a wise investment for any budding or experienced artist. Framing your art makes the piece more valuable to your client/customer they ll appreciate the extra time and effort. The most obvious solution for 2-D artists and photograp  […]

  2. This article worked excellently for me, having known nothing about custom art framing. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities! I feel much more optimistic considering the options I have at my disposal, building my own art frames.

  3. I like the idea to build your own frame to customize it. Although I think I would feel more accomplished and proud to display my work if I made the frame myself, I think having a company do it would be a better option. Having a company make it for me would be great because then the quality would be better and I think I would find a way to mess it up if I did it myself.

  4. Thanks for the post. I don’t think I would agree that framing art would detract form the artwork. If anything I think it could add to the overall look and feel. I guess it depends of what type of art your doing. I also think you could incorporate the frame into your art and that would help to keep the focus where you want it.

  5. Thanks for posting this advice for custom framing. I think it’s great that it’s possible to order custom-sized picture frames. There are many paintings in my house that don’t fit the sizes for standard frames, so I need to have a few sizes that are custom made for them.

  6. Thank you for the tips on custom framing art. I like the idea to make your own frames as it adds a sense of uniqueness to each piece. But if you aren’t that creative or handy it may be best to buy a custom frame. I also like the idea that if your art is all a similar style then maybe it’s best to buy in bulk.

  7. I have a friend who is wanting to frame some of his art so he can try selling it, so thanks for sharing this. I like your point about how you can build your own frames using tutorials online. If he finds this solution is more of a hassle than it’s worth, then it’s good to know you can order custom frames online too.

  8. I like that you suggested ordering bulk frames if you want to save time and money down the road. My husband and I wanted to actually shop for custom shadow boxes where we can place our son’s artworks. We are planning to fill one of our rooms with shadow boxes and frames, so we’ll consider all your tips.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *