It’s an odd use of phrase isn’t it? “The Joy of Custom Picture Framing”, but that’s exactly why you choose to take your artwork to an art framing professional – to be part of the process. By utilising their guidance and expertise, you can enjoy the process of choosing the picture frame to suit and harmonise with your décor. Also knowing when you leave the manufacture and assembly to professional picture framers, the products chosen, cuts and joins are bespoke with your artwork in mind, not a generic marketplace where mass manufacture is the key ending with a poorer framing result.
Join in the creative process
First of all, taking part in the selection of your framing along-side your picture framing professional is important; you’re helping to be artistically invested in where and how the artwork will be enjoyed at home.
Your ability to pick up a style, colour of frame or matboard that not only enhances the artwork but also ties together a theme at home, is really just as important as selecting a lounge or rug.
Consider these when choosing a custom picture frame and mat board (the card that sits around or on your art work):
- The picture frame’s colour and thickness – does what you’ve chosen suit the artwork?
- Is the matboard large enough for the eye to breathe? (This helps you to enjoy the artwork).
- Should the matboard be light to expand the eye giving the art the illusion of largeness?
- Or perhaps a darker matboard to lead the viewers eye into the piece to focus the eye on a particular view or part of the artwork?
Next, choosing the framing style, such as:
- standard
- ‘reverse’
- double framing or
- box framing
Then choosing the type of glass to go on top of the artwork:
- normal
- non-reflective
- UV
- or even no glass?
Finally, mat boards:
- Single or multiple mat boards?
- Colourful or plain?
- Or, no mat board?
By choosing these well, it ultimately enhances the presence of your artwork within the environment it’s hung.
Framing your artwork with glass preserves it
Using glass with your framing keeps finger prints, dust, mites and light off the artwork helping to preserve it. You can select different types of glass to suit where it will hang – for example, if it’s in a bright space selecting UV glass can help stop fading; or using non-reflective glass stops other light bouncing off it interfering with seeing and enjoying the art.
Picture framers love art and will help enhance your artwork specific to you
Having extensive knowledge and skills to be able to enhance all types of art from the valuable or sentimental to purely decorative helps you achieve the best out of your art and the way it suits you and your décor.
For example, specialty picture framers bring to life (in a 3D way) memorabilia. Think of a box frame allowing you to see the sides of framed medals, sporting jersey’s, silk scarves, boxing gloves, bats and balls, or craft work (like cross stitch or embroidery) or even your child’s first drawing.
Using Quality Picture Framing as a styling décor design piece
Artwork is often admired because of the quality custom framework – whether it blends into your walls or not. Like framing a canvas using a plain timber frame such as a ‘reverse frame’ or ‘shadow frame’ – it doesn’t cover the front of your canvas, but sits next to it. Minimalistic in style and blending into a plain wall, yet professionally finishing off a naked canvas allowing just the art within the frame to shine.
Most of all, joining in the process of bringing artwork to life with good custom framing increases your joy of keeping the memories and preserving the art work for years to come.
Helen is the owner of Artform Collective www.artformcollective.com.au, a busy custom picture framing business in Mona Vale on the northern beaches of Sydney. She has 25 years plus extensive picture framing experience; assisting many artists, locals and commercial customers with their custom picture needs.