So, you have spent hours choosing a new piece of wall art for your home, but you have purchased an unframed piece and now you need to frame it. Where do you start?
Wall Art Frame Sizes
It is much easier to find a ready-made frame if your artwork fits a standard size frame, but a lot of the time, especially with original art, the artist creates work in response to something without considering framing.
Mounts/Mats
One way of overcoming non-standard sized wall art, is to custom mount it.
You do not need an exact size frame to fit your artwork. All you need to do is to purchase a standard frame larger than your painting and then have a mount cut to fit the frame, with a mount opening window cut to a size to showcase your art.
Any framing store or quality picture framer will be able to cut a mount for you.
Standard Frame Sizes (inches)
| FRAME SIZE | MOUNT/MAT OPENING | IMAGE SIZE |
| 8 X 10 | 4.5 X 6.5 | 5 X 4 |
| 11 X 14 | 4.5 X 9.5 | 8 X 10 |
| 16 X 20 | 10.5 X 13.5 | 11 X 14 |
| 20 X 24 | 15.5 X 19.5 | 16 X 20 |
| 24 X 36 | 19.5 X 29.5 | 20 X30 |
| 30 X 40 | 21.5 X 31.5 | 22 X 32 |
Example of a custom mount
Wall Art Prints
The easiest way to purchase your prints, is to choose a frame at the point of purchase. This way you can obtain a visual on what the piece looks like with a mount and a frame in a colour scheme that compliments the artwork.
Original Paintings & Limited Edition Prints
If you have invested in original painting, or a limited edition print, then it is likely that you have invested more financially. To show your artwork off to it’s very best, I would recommend using the services of a professional framer.
You will have as much pleasure choosing your framing profiles, mount styles and colours to compliment your artwork as purchasing the artwork itself. In addition, the work can be mounted and glazed using quality lightfast materials to help protect your piece.
Style
Frames come in various styles from ornate to sleek and contemporary. Consider your home decor along with the style of painting when choosing a frame. If you are not sure, I would recommend choosing a no fuss flat frame in either black, white or a natural wood.
This will allow your artwork to shine.
Great info Jackie, thank you…I will refer to it when framing real time. I am finding the virtual mounts and edges useful for the time being but let’s hope when all this is over we will all be exhibiting again.