What do I need to start framing?
So, you’d like to start picture framing? Perhaps you want to try framing before you start investing in lots of machinery and equipment? Maybe you just fancy picture framing as a hobby or you want to frame you own art or photography?
In that case, perhaps the question is not ‘what do I need to start picture framing’ but rather ‘what’s the minimum I need to start picture framing’? The answer may surprise you. To start picture framing you don’t actually need a lot, in terms of equipment. What you will need is a little knowhow. Unfortunately the knowhow is the hard bit. Let me explain:
What equipment do I need to start picture framing?
At its most basic, picture framing involves; cutting a mount to its overall (outer) size and cutting a window aperture in it; cutting four pieces of frame moulding to the correct size for the mount; joining the moulding together; cutting glass and backing board to size; securing the frame components into the cut frame; sealing the back of the frame with tape; and finally fitting hanging fittings and hanging chord. That might seem like a lot of skills to acquire, and if you want to do it all yourself, you will also need a good deal of equipment. Especially if you want to do a good job. However, the process of starting up in picture framing can be much simpler, and the initial investment much less, because many picture framing suppliers will do a lot of the leg work for you by providing cut to size window mounts, glazing and backing board. Even picture frame moulding is available on chop (cut to size). Having said that, you will still need have to be able to assemble the frame, clean the glazing, insert and secure the mount, artwork and backing board, seal the frame and fit the hanging fitting and cord. Which is where the knowhow comes in.
How to order cut to size picture framing materials.
If you order all of your framing materials pre-cut, the most complicated aspect will be getting the measurements right, including mount overlap and material expansion allowances, and joining the frame. Let’s cover each of those one at a time:
Correctly sizing a picture frame window mount.
In most cases, for example on an A4 piece of artwork, mount overlap is approximately 5mm both vertically and horizontally. To clarify, that’s 2.5mm on each edge. This should be increased on larger images and pieces on thinner paper and decreased on very small images.
Correct sizing for picture framing mounts, glass and backing board.
It is important to understand that the materials within a picture frame should not fit snugly and that space should be allowed for potential expansion. The recommendations of the Fine Art Trade Guild are that board products e.g. mount, undermount and backingboard should be 1mm to 3mm smaller than the frame and that glass should be 1mm to 2mm smaller than the frame. The logic behind this being that mountboards etc. will expand more readily, due to temperature and humidity changes, than glass will. Therefore, when you order your materials cut to size the internal frame moulding size needs to be bigger than outer glass and board size. Suppliers make this easy by providing a tick box, when ordering cut to size (chop) frame moulding, that tells them whether you are ordering the ‘exact’ internal size of the picture frame moulding you require or the ‘glass’ size. If you select the ‘glass’ size option they will automatically allow a few extra millimetres for expansion.
Joining picture frame moulding without an underpinner.
Normally, joining pieces of cut frame moulding properly, requires an underpinner. This inserts V shaped wedges (or V-nails) in to the corners of the underside of a frame, where two pieces of a frame moulding join. Along with glue, these hold the frame corners together. There are lots of different types of underpinner available, from DIY frame joiners, which start at around £275 inc VAT, to frame joining robots which are marginally more expensive at between £100,000 and £200,000. Of course, the option you choose will depend on your intentions and your budget: Are you framing for fun or thinking of setting up a framing business? However, even this decision can be delayed, because there’s one more thing that will make your life easier and mean you have to invest a little less while you’re deciding if framing is for you. Some of the suppliers that offer a frame chop service also offer ‘routing’. If a frame is routed small holes are cut into the underside of corners of the frame moulding. These holes mean that the frame can be joined by putting the sections of the frame together and inserting hard plastic inserts (also supplied) into the holes. Along with a thin layer of wood glue, and with the assistance of a band clamp, these can hold a frame together very well. Frame routing is an option used by many professional framers.
Assembling the pieces of a picture frame.
Now we’ve covered how to cut and join a picture frame without any machinery, you still need to be able to clean the glazing, insert and secure the mount, artwork and backing board, seal the frame and fit the hanging fittings and cord. At face value some of this is fairly obvious and easily worked out from looking at and taking apart other frames. For example fitting hanging fittings, like D-rings, only involves screwing them into place around a third of the way down the back of the frame. However, that doesn’t help when the frame moulding is too narrow for fittings like D-rings. The other issue is that aspects such as how to attach the artwork to the mount are less easily discovered, simply because it is, sadly, rare to find a framed example where this has been done properly. Taping artwork to a window mount along the top edge or around all four sides really isn’t the answer and will cause the artwork to cockle & buckle (wrinkle). My blog ‘How to mount art & photography will tell you the right way to mount art on paper. But it doesn’t cover every scenario. Nor will it tell you when you’re making mistakes. The only things that will do that are a great deal of research, trial and error or a good hands on framing course. I can recommend one!
By all means, start off by yourself. If you’re just framing for fun, trial and error might be part of the enjoyment and I hopefully the information here will help make that process a little easier. However, if you do decide you want to start picture framing for a living have a look at our Novice Picture Framing Training Course and make that learning process a whole lot easier.