The Framing studio offers 3 distinct styles for mounting your image. Traditional Framing, Canvas Wrap or Canvas Wrap in a floater Frame. Traditional and Floater frames come with a multitude of frame molding options. All these choices can be a bit daunting so we have created this step by step guide to creating your desired frame solution.
Traditional Frame
1. The Framed Picture.
The first type of traditional frame solution is the framed picture. This is quite simply a picture surrounded by a frame with no mat board like in the example below. Glass or clear, acid free, Perspex is used to protect the picture form the external elements. The picture is held in place on a backing board which is held in place by metal tabs all around the back of the frame. The back of the frame then receives a paper dust cover to prevent dust ingress to your picture. Hanging Brackets or wire are added to the back of the frame for hanging.
2. The Mat Framed Picture
When you want to add a bit of pizzaz to your picture you can begin to add colored or plain white mat board. The construction of the frame with matboard id essentially the same as the “Framed Picture” above except that it has a colored mat board between the glass and the picture. The function of the mat framed picture is to give a more professional look to your framed picture as below. There are many different colors of mat board to select, from plain solid color to “suede” effect to “velvet” effect colored boards. These different finishes focus the eye on the image in the frame. Ideally the color of the mat board should complement the color of the frame and the colors in the picture being framed. The opening that is cut in the mat board for the picture is cut at 45 degrees and reveals a white edge to the mat board to further frame your picture. The amount of mat board that is visible between the frame and the picture can be adjusted in our Frame configurator.
3. The Multi-mat Framed Picture
If you can add One mat board to a framed picture, why not add 2 or 3? Well, you can. When you add 2 or 3 matt boards, your framed picture gains more depth and a more sophisticated look. The opening of each subsequent mat board that you add is slightly smaller than the previous mat board. The amount of “reveal” (see image below) of each subsequent mat board can be adjusted as you configure your framed piece. The down side of the multi matboard solution is that each subsequent layer of mat adds material and labor cost to your piece. The beauty of the configurator is that it allows you play with your solution and pick any number of mat board with various colors and visualize exactly how they will look. The change in pricing is updated automatically.
Canvas Mounting
Canvas mountings come in two forms.
1. Basic canvas
Your selected picture is printed onto a canvas material off a size that you select in our configurator. The basic canvas is then wrapped around a wooden frame and pulled taught. The hanging hardware is added to the wooden frame that supports the canvas.
2. Framed or “Floater” canvas.
The framed canvas is also called a “floater” because it gives the impression that it is not actually connected to the frame and appears to be “floating” in space. Designing your floater frame is similar to the process for a framed picture. Once you select the desored color and style of frame, the canvas picture is mounted to the “floater” frame. This mounting leaves a gap all around between the canvas picture and the frame. The floater frame is not fitted with a glass or Perspex window
