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Saturday, August 03, 2013

Framing 101....My Favorite Frame



'Into the Tall Grass'             5x7         oil on panel              ©Karen Margulis
$100 Paypal click here

I admit it. I dislike framing. I don't have the patience needed to do a good job especially with framing pastels.  But lately I have been asked a lot of questions about framing so I'd like to share more details about my framing.  Let me say that I rarely frame my paintings. I sell most of my work online and they are sold unframed. I have two galleries that like to do their own framing which I love. The only time I frame is for shows.  So I really am not an expert on framing. But there are some things I do that work well for me.

I have some favorite frames that  I use.  Since I don't frame much I don't go to our area wholesale places. If I want a really nice frame at a good price I will order from kingofframe.com.  They have some great frames with some for $30.

But when I just need a few decent looking frames at a reasonable price I order some Plein Air frames from Jerry's Artarama. A 5x7 is just $10.59 when on super sale. Combine that with a free shipping coupon and you have a great deal.

Black plein air frame

Here is some information about the frames from the website:

  • Solid, 3" wide moulding with raised edge
  • 1/2" rabbet depth allows for glass, one mat and 1/8" backing board
  • 1/4" offset clips needed for 3/4" canvas fitting
  • 4 beautiful finishes: Gold Leaf, Silver Leaf, Black and Mahogany!
  • Sturdy gessoed wood construction 
  • Comes supplied with D-ring hanging hardware and screws
  • Available individually or in bulk packs!
  • Perfect for framing anything from traditional paintings to modern prints!
'Golden Grass'        5x7   oil on panel
$100 paypal


Gold plein air frame
 I like to keep a few of these frames in both black and gold in the studio. I can pop a painting into a frame to evaluate it.  A frame can really help you decide if the painting is finished. I use them for my classes to show students how great their paintings can look in a frame. We call them the 'Magic Frames'.

How I frame:  For oils it is so easy....just pop the painting in and finish the framing process. For pastels I don't use mats. I sometimes use spacers or sometimes frame right up to the glass making sure that the sandwich of painting, glass and backing are secure and can't move around. I use Tru Vue Museum glass which is worth the extra cost. When I am just putting a pastel into a frame to evaluate it I don't use any glass...it's just temporary. 


5 comments:

Gloria j Zucaro said...

Hi Karen, I have been looking for museum glass. Hobby Lobby has glass but won't let me just buy the glass from them. They want to do the whole framing process which cost me about $50.00 the last time I did it. That means if I enter a show I have to charge too much because of the cost of framing and the comission. Were do you get your Tru View glass? Thanks, Gloria

Karen said...

Hi Gloria, I've gotten tru vue glass cut to size at Hobby Lobby. Maybe they have changed their policy? I also got it cut at Aarron Brothers which has gone out of business near me.

Jo P. said...

Karen, I went "Wow!" when I saw this painting. Love the strokes. When I visit a museum or gallery, I always take my glasses off (being very nearsighted) so I can get as close as possible to see all the strokes. Very interested in your oil painting. You have inspired me to actually think of taking oil painting classes at the community college where I took water color classes, something I had never had a desire to try until I saw your oil painting efforts.

Robert Sloan said...

Thank you for showing this. These frames rock. I like that style for small paintings, it works well to see the 3" wide molding around it and both the gold and the black work well with your high chroma style. I use a lot of strong color too and might get a few of these someday.

I usually work in similar sizes and this is great. Especially when they're available in bulk. I used to get more into framing when I lived in Chicago and did shows rather than sold online, always had to mat or frame for the shows. I liked it but I don't have the physical energy to keep up with the sort of fancy mat cutting I used to do.

I'd get cheap frames at thrift shops, fix them up, then cut layered mats with interesting designs. I'd pick colors and design the mats and then draw or paint something that fit the mat to see how it'd look in a final form. I'd have several sitting around at a time and lay them over what I was doing to see what fit them.

It came out cool but I found out galleries wanted only white mats so that was off-putting. My colored multi-layer ones were art in themselves and livened up quite a few pen and ink drawings.

Kikiblanca said...

Great information! I also bought a lot of the gold Jerry's Artarama frames on sale. They look great!