Framing a Pastel Painting with Spacers

'Magical Memories'         6x6           pastel             ©Karen Margulis
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 Framing is not my favorite part of painting. In fact I only frame paintings when I absolutely have to. I store my finished paintings in boxes, flat with glassine paper in between layers. I sell paintings unframed and ship them packaged in foam core and glassine sandwiches. I do know how to frame but I'd rather spend my time painting!

I do get a lot of questions about framing so today I decided to take apart an old painting that I had professionally framed so I could share how it was done. This is a 6x6 pastel. It was framed with spacers and museum glass. The framer made a neat little package that pops into the frame. Have a closer look:

This is the 'package' taken out of the frame.

This is the framing method used when you don't want to have a mat. The painting is not right up against the glass but it is held away from the glass by the use of EconoSpace Spacers. The spacers are thin plastic strips with a sticky side. The spacers can be cut and attached to the edge of the glass using the peel and stick strip on the spacer.  Visit the FrameTek website for more information and turtorials on spacers.

Here you can see the top layer glass, the black spacer and the backing cardboard

The painting is now ready for the frame. If the painting is already mounted and rigid it is placed on top of the spacers facing the glass. If the painting is not mounted it can be attached to acid free foamcore using hinged tape. This painting was done on a rigid board so it was ready to go.

In this case the frame was deep so it needed some more backing  material so it would be flush to the frame edge. The framer added a piece of cardboard to add the necessary thickness. I would use acid free materials instead of cardboard.

Here is another view of the package of glass, spacer, painting and cardboard backing.

Tape holds all the layers together

Once all of the layers of this sandwich are together the framer used clear tape to secure the layers together. Tape was used on all four corners. Notice that the tape edge does not go past the edge of the spacer. You don't want the tape to show.

Here is a picture of the glass with the black spacers attached.

This little package is now ready to be put into the frame. The tape holds the layers securely and the painting is not touching the glass! To finish the framing job the package can be secured into the frame with points and a point driver. I prefer to use offset clips which are small metal clips that are screwed to the frame. See them here on Blicks.   I like to add backing paper to the back of the frame to add a finishing touch.

Note that Tru Vue Museum Glass was used. This is my preferred glass. I don't care for non glare glass which has a slight hazy look. Museum glass is clear but looks almost invisible. It is amazing!

I was very interested to see how my commissions would be framed. They were unveiled on Sunday at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton. They are big at 30x40 each. They used a thin wood frame with a wide linen liner. I like how they were framed!