Posts Tagged ‘framing’

How to “Custom Frame” on an IKEA Budget

May 4th, 2018
3 Comments

This may be a silly post, but I often get asked about where I get the artwork I’ve collected in my home and where I get them framed. Sure I’ve had some special pieces (investment pieces) custom framed. And it was worth every penny. But I personally love a mixture of high-low. Also, custom framing every. single. piece of art gets expensive!! Especially if the piece has more seasonality to it. 

Back in my college days, I took a framing class down in the basement of the BYU Museum of Art. It was a thrilling experience to be in the same room as original Van Goghs and Monets and Picassos and Maxxes. Brigham Young University has one of the largest private art collections in the United states. IT’S AMAZING!!! But that’s beside the point. I had the awesome chance to learn how to properly frame pieces myself to add to my home. During this experience I learned the “right way”, but also that there’s a “good enough” way. So I’m going to share with you the “good enough” way to do a floating frame with artwork with a deckled edge. And how to create a deckled edge on any of your prints or pieces. As long as it’s paper, it can deckle!

Here’s what you’ll need:

I strongly recommend just watching the video above for the step-by-step. But if you’re the speed-reading type see below for directions: 

  • Get your frame and artwork and measure how much you need to reduce the size of your artwork to fit it into the frame nicely. I would personally recommend making the artwork around 1/2 inch smaller than the mat opening on each side (if you’re using a frame without a mat, make it 1/2 inch smaller than the frame opening on each side. Depending upon what sizes your art and frame are, this may take some math. You may notice in the video above, I just eyeballed it. You can eyeball your measurements a little bit with deckled edges because it adds to the charm of the deckle. That said, I’m also pretty darn good at eyeballing square measurements (humble brag ;)).
  • Lay your metal ruler over the artwork just shy of what you want to remove. 
  • Press down on the ruler to keep it secure, you don’t want it wiggling around!!
  • Starting from the top, slowly rip off the excess paper all the way down the side. 
  • Repeat on all 4 sides. You don’t want to remove less than 1/2 inch of paper for a deckle, mostly because it’s a pain in the fingers to do that!! (see video)
  • Lay the mat over the backer paper and trace over the exterior perimeter with pencil. 
  • Cut excess paper with scissors (these lines don’t have to be perfect). If you’re not using a mat in your frame, cut the backer paper down to fit the full size of the frame. 
  • Place the mat back on the backer paper, lining the corners up nicely.
  • Put Tombow Sticky Tabs on the backside of the artwork along the corners and sides. Remove the double sided covers of the sticky tape
  • Gently center the artwork within the mat area and press into place. 
  • Place all pieces (mat, art with backer and frame backer board) back into the frame and hang! 

 

I really love the effect of the rich-colored backer paper. White would have looked fine, but I like how the deckled edge becomes more pronounced with the accent color of the backer paper. 

For very little time and very little money, you’ll have a framed piece that looks like a million bucks! Let me know if you end up using this tutorial. I hope it was helpful. Tag me on instagram @melissapher if you use this technique!

This tutorial and accompanying printable is free for personal use. Feel free to share, but link with love. 

Affiliate links are used to help support my crafting addiction. Your support and purchasing through these links doesn’t affect your final price, but helps me make more content like this. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Love Your Space More with Galleries of Art

August 22nd, 2012
6 Comments

This post is sponsored by Art.com. Find your art and love your space with art.com’s prints and museum-grade framing.

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 Over the last ten years, I’ve lived in ten different places. It’s a lot of moving around, if you ask me. Each space that I’ve lived in where I’ve taken the time to put artwork on the walls has felt like home. Even when I was just starting out in college, sharing a small apartment with 5 other girls, I made it a point to hang artwork on the walls.

I believe I have a few pictures from that time, I’ll have to do some digging and share with you later, but our apartment was the coolest, quirkiest apartment in our building. At least that’s how I felt.

Majoring in painting and drawing helped getting real art on my walls very early on. The biggest hurtle that I ever faced was how to group artwork together and frame it. I rarely worked in standard dimensions (and Ikea was a foreign thing to me at that time), so I would have to get creative. I still use a lot of the same techniques for hanging artwork today.

I feel it’s important to have at least a few framed pieces to put on the wall. It adds a heck of a lot of polish to your space, with very little effort. Do it yourself with a stock frame, or have it framed from the get-go.

I took a framing class from BYU’s Museum of Art back in college, it gave me a whole new perspective on art. Before we started framing art, we ventured into the bowels of the art museum and saw originals of the most inspiring artists that have ever lived: Vermeer, Miro, Warhol . . .

It was from the guys that framed and handled the art of those artists that I learned how to frame. I’m not saying I am any good, but it sure was a special learning experience to witness first-hand the care and respect was given for artwork.

For odd shaped prints and flat works, I like to use hangers. I scored these sample hangers in San Francisco a few years ago. I have about 20+ still, and love having them around for misc. artwork. It’s also great to have them around for giving art pieces. Simple, easy and they ship well.

I’ve also used bulldog clamps for irregular shaped pieces. They’re very low-impact, visually, and don’t affect the surface of the art.

For irregular sized pieces that are not flat, I like to use upholstery tacks and strips of leather. It adds a more tactile experience to the art, which I can’t get enough of.

I like to mix and match these high and low techniques for hanging artwork on my walls. It’s true to my diverse aesthetic and gives me no excuses for an empty space on my wall.

How do you hang art on your walls? Push pins? Stock frames? Vintage frames? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

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