How to Choose the Right Wood Frame 

Choosing just the right frame for your piece of artwork or photo is like any other choice you might make in life.  Much of it is personal taste just as picking furniture, clothes, or dinnerware.  The idea is to choose the wood frame that will draw attention and enhance the contents within it.  Depending on what you are framing, it may take some thought in what style of frame will best fit the picture or artwork along with the width and color.  Here are some basic tips to keep in mind when shopping for that perfect wood frame.

Frame Width 

For a photo, a narrow frame works great and for a portrait or a larger painting a wider frame works well.  If the contents will have a mat that too can determine the width of the frame.  For example, if you want a wide mat such as 2" around your picture then a narrower frame would make sense.  A wide frame on the other hand can act as a replacement for the need of a mat if the picture will warrant it.

Frame Color

Selecting a color for your frame can be somewhat tricky.  The wrong color can pull away from a beautiful art piece just as much as the right color can make plain artwork into a masterpiece.  As an example a picture with lots of light and dark brown tones will require your decision as to which you want to pull more from the picture, the lights or the darks.  Take a picture that has varying rich greens throughout might look good in either a mid-tone or dark-tone brown but probably not a light or natural color.  A black and white picture will usually look best in a dark if not black frame.

 Something else to look at is the area where the frame will be displayed.  This is especially good if it's difficult to determine a color from the picture or artwork being framed however keep in mind the frame color is more for the content of the frame than  its surroundings.  What is the theme of the room and what colors are being used there? You want a frame that will accent the room and its décor as well as compliment the contents of the frame.  For example if the walls of the room are light in color you wouldn’t want to use a light colored frame, instead a mid tone color might give a better contrast depending on the color of the furnishings of that room.  The idea is to quietly draw the eye to the frame and its contents not to hide it or draw too much attention.

Matting

Matting, just like the frame is something used to aid in complimenting the contents of the frame as well as the frame itself.  It can also act as a barrier to quiet or buffer the picture from the frame in the case of a picture that is really busy right up to the edge.  As well the mat can also be used to better create a visionary pull of the eye to the center of the frame.  Used properly a mat can impact a photo or picture within the frame greatly, but there needs to be a happy balance between the mat and the frame.  Often, if the media being framed allows, a mat can be skipped by utilizing an extra wide frame.  Or another idea is to replace a mat with a contrasting liner already built into the frame.

Glass

Glass is used to help protect the contents of a frame, but not everything is meant to have glass in front of it.  Typically you will not find glass in front of canvas artwork or tiles.  However, a sentimental photograph, giclee print, or an expensive or rare poster is best to have glass in the frame to protect it.  There are all types of different glass available  that serve various purposes so depending on your requirements will determine the type of glass needed.  When using glass though, it's important to use at most a hidden mat or spacers to keep the media off the glass to prevent ruining the media.

All Things Considered

Determine how you want to frame the picture, artwork or item.  Do you want to hang it on a wall or will the picture look better sitting on a desk, shelf, or mantle?  Are you thinking of matting the content if that's appropriate?  Is glass something wanted or required?  Measure the picture or artwork and understand the affects of having it framed.  With most pictures, photos and artwork there is a 1/2" loss in the viewing area in order for the frame to securely hold it.   In the case of tile artwork the loss of a quarter inch on each edge could take away from the art.  In which case the frame will require special consideration to fit the tile.  Maybe color samples are needed to insure the proper frame color.

There are so many types of frames for an endless number of things that can be framed.  There are the obvious things such as pictures, photos, posters, tiles, and canvas art that can be framed.  Then there are other items like t-shirts, postcards, calendars, tin signs, memorabilia's, certificates, diploma's, puzzles, stamp or coin collections.  If you have a bare wall just look around your house and you can probably find at least one thing by putting it into a frame you can turn it into a work of art.

Finally

You can find lots of advice out there on how to pick a frame and a lot of it is good stuff however, much of it suggests using pre-formed molding that uses modern techniques with the end result of pressed fiber, plastic, metal or ceramic.  Why not dare to be different by selecting a non-traditional frame that is hand crafted using joinery methods that do not require the use of unfriendly metals to keep the frame fastened together?  Choose a lasting solid wood frame for your life's treasures!

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