Less Expensive Frames R Us?

Forums: Art, Frames, Custom Frames, Framing Kits
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Just purchased a large print (50" x 34") -- Can any one recommend a site that might sell customized framing kits? We went to a couple of local galleries but their prices were outrageous. These prices were all the more so since this print is so large that a matting treatment was not included.

JM

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Framing is amazingly expensive but usually worth the expense. I had a picture about that size framed at a 50% off sale and paid about $300 for it.

I did come up with a pretty cheap alternative for some large prints that I've received a lot of complements on, though.

I bought a large streached canvas (40x60 - about $50 at the art supply store), wash-painted it with a neutral color, stuck the prints on with heavy double sided poster tape and screwed plexiglass down on top.

Not very formal but cheaper than frames and nicer than thumbtacks!

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boomerang thanks, I'm now starting to think, like yourself, out of "the box".

Oh, Good night Gracie !

JM

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I have no clue if they are any good, but I had a watercolor teacher who loved www.pictureframes.com.

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There is no online store that will sell framing components for that size print. Don't seek out galleries that do framing. They usually don't have their own framing facility and job it out to a wholesale custom framer. In my area I use a wholesale/retail shop that gives me about 40% off full custom frame retail. Where do you live? Go to Verizon or SBC yellow pages and enter custom framing into their search. I'm sure you can find a shop that will be at least 20% cheaper than an art galleries prices which will almost always be full retail and often above. Trying to purchase and cut molding and cut a mat are really difficult to make anything look professional. Also you must use plexiglas which is more expensive than glass for that size print. It would be foolhardy to use glass -- too heavy and if it were shattered would likely damage the print.

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Lightwizard wrote:

There is no online store that will sell framing components for that size print.

Not true.

Frames By Mail will custom make frames to fit prints up to 80" x 80".

I've used them and they are ok but they don't sell glass (you can get plexiglass...) for their frames.

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Well, you've found something I've never been able to find. However, the mouldings are the most butt ugly I think I've ever seen and the shipping on a frame that large would be quite high. A 50 x 34 would frame out with a three inch matt to about 56 x 40, which when crated for shipping would be larger than UPS will take. Shipping alone could easily be $150.00. The width of the mouldings shown would be quite flimsy in that size which would mean a lot of wire reinforcing behind the print to handle the print, matting and backing. Glass for that size, again, would be very unwise.

Is this a "fine art print?" In other words, is it on archival paper and requires museum mount custom framing?

I'll wager to guess by the time you ordered the material including the plex (they plex prices are quite high), you'd likely save very little. Plus the problem of a user trying the fitting operation of the piece complete with a dust cover (I always recommend black kraft paper backing because bugs don't like it).

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Too bad you don't live near me, Jim. I'd send you into my custom framer and tell him to give you my discount. Something of that size even wholesale with a pretty decent looking and chunky enough moulding would be around $400. to $500. That would be with a real linen matt and a small fillet moulding on the inside around the picture. What did the gallery quote you? They will usually go rather elaborate as they'd like to make some good profit and not worry if they loose the order.

Having done framing for musuem hanging, I'd sometimes do that style even for interior design jobs. Just a plain square profile large moulding in oiled or lacquered pine, black lacquer or white lacquer, a linen matt and plexiglas. That could bring it down to $300. to $400.

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Ikea????

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Lightwizard wrote:

Well, you've found something I've never been able to find. However, the mouldings are the most butt ugly I think I've ever seen and the shipping on a frame that large would be quite high. A 50 x 34 would frame out with a three inch matt to about 56 x 40, which when crated for shipping would be larger than UPS will take. Shipping alone could easily be $150.00. The width of the mouldings shown would be quite flimsy in that size which would mean a lot of wire reinforcing behind the print to handle the print, matting and backing. Glass for that size, again, would be very unwise.

Is this a "fine art print?" In other words, is it on archival paper and requires museum mount custom framing?

I'll wager to guess by the time you ordered the material including the plex (they plex prices are quite high), you'd likely save very little. Plus the problem of a user trying the fitting operation of the piece complete with a dust cover (I always recommend black kraft paper backing because bugs don't like it).

Why not give it a spin and see what it comes up to? I selected their "RP345" 1 1/2" wood frame with acid free foam backing and plexiglass (they won't do matting on frames larger than 84" united which his 50" x 34" piece would be) and it comes to $118.44 + $21.21 for UPS Shipping. That totals $139.65 delivered.

I don't represent these as being the world's finest frames - they aren't. They are however, as good as what you'll find in your run of the mill frame shop. If someone thinks they want better quality then by all means, go to a custom framer and pay for it.

I had a litho framed/matted a few years back in a custom framing shop and it ran me slightly over $275. I bought 2 frames with matting from this place last month that, as it turns out, are the identical materials and I paid under $120 for both of them together. I just had to do the mounting and backing myself.

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We don't know if that is the image size. If it has a border and the actual image size is not 50" x 34", it could be okay. If he wants to matt it, a 3" matt is the ideal visual proportion for that size print. That would mean the united inches would be 96". I'm not sure how they ship something that is oversized for UPS but I've shipped a lot of oversize art (the packaged size, of course) and it isn't cheap. There's not a lot of selection of carriers for one thing. I'd say to let Jim try it out and see what comes up.

I am partial to really nice looking mouldings for any print or painting that's worth it but, like I stated, on certain prints I have used the plainer looking simple mouldings curators are partial to.

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Also, thanks for the link as the metal section frames are defininetly of interest.

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Their wod frames ship broken down and they have a dovetail setup so you actually assemble the frame yourself. That's how they keep the shipping cost down. I've only bought the two frames through them but they arrived very well packaged/protected. I'd have to geuss that the metal frames are the same sort of thing but I have no personal experience with them.

Most of their frames aren't to my liking but they have 3 or 4 that I can live with for the $$ involved.

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I liked the early post idea of a (was it a 3 x 4 foot?) canvas painted a corresponding color, or having another canvas, such as dark beige linen, stretched over it, either acid free foamcore, or matboard, and some acid free gumstuff to hold the mat to the linen and the poster to the mat, then putting 3 x 4 plexi over that, screwing the plexi into the canvas frame at the corners. I'd go for the thick sided canvas, which is usually about 1 + 1/4 or 1 3/8 inch deep. I think Daniel Smith and Blink carry those.

.... assuming this is not meant to be timeless priceless art, but a way to hang a print you like on your wall.

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I've had many of my abstract artists wrap the canvas around the bars and paint the edges. A really nice touch.

I should have know, fishin', that they ship broken down which would facilitate almost unlimited shipping via UPS. Sounds like a good route for Jim to go if he thinks he can handle the fitting operation.

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For larger works, one could stack the frames. In other words, order one frame to fit the print and one to cap over that frame to make about a 3" frame. I could see a few combinations from what they offer that would actually make the frame much more attractive.

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I have a really great frame catalog at work, and keep forgetting to bring it home. Well, great in my opinion. Maybe I will remember tomorrow...

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I have several catalogs of frames that can be ordered on the internet but I've never done it because my clientele demand quality framing and they know the difference. I can't tallk then into less is more and often I have to frame something so ornately it makes me a little nauseous.

A really good trick to make something look richer at little added expense is to have the linen matt mounded on foamcore with a heavy bevel and then insert a small inexpensive gold, silver or wood fillet inside the bevel. Looks really classy. Of course, the fillet has to coordinate with the outside moulding.

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mmmm, I hate over ornate framing. I like simplicity with the image left to do the work.

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I can do a nice job using Baroque style moldings by keeping the matting and fillet very simple. If it fits into the decor, so be it. However, a simple frame can look quite nice even if the interior is more traditionally ornate. Underframing something can be as much of a problem as overframing. When the frame becomes part of the image, that's really bad. Those multiple fancy cut matts are an example. Of course, with the commercial serigraph (et al) limited edition prints, they are primarily decorative so one is pretty wide open in framing them as wall decor.

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Less Expensive Frames R Us?

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