Framing Your Art for Dummies

matting and framing artwork

The local newspaper (remember those?) has a daily column composed of short gripes and other comments from the readership; a section called "Let it Out." Not long ago, someone complained about employers requiring a college education, saying that there are "plenty of talented people who haven't gone to college." That's certainly true, although perhaps those employers are looking for something other than "talent." Whatever, today's DotD nominee has lots of college education, but Adam Cloe Ph.D./M.D. still lacked the "talent" to tell people, "How to Frame Art Yourself"¹ at OurPastimes.com.

Right up front. we agree with Cloe that "framing... the picture can be expensive" – that's demonstrably true. Unfortunately, if you try to save a few bucks by following Adam's published directions, you're gonna end up wasting some of your hard-earned cash.

Of course, the easiest way to save money on frames is to wait until the local frame-it-yourself shop has a 50% off sale and go in then. Otherwise, you're going to be left with Adam's instructions to,

"Select your frame... Measure the art you want to frame... make your frame slightly larger than your mounting board..." Those are pretty confusing instructions: does he mean to select the framing materials? Then he should say so! We suspect that's the case, because later on – after telling people to pick a "mounting board" for the art, Cloe's explanation for sizing and assembling the frame is, "Make your frame. You should make your frame slightly larger than your mounting board, and large enough so that it won't cover up the artwork. You can either use a pre-made frame or construct one from wood or other materials. Glue the frame materials together."

Whoa, Nelly, but that's... well, that's not how you size a frame. And when it comes to measuring the frame, you really need to account for the rabbet that holds the mounted, matted artwork; otherwise the frame will be too small.

Adam apparently doesn't know about matting artwork and photographs, a step that creates a space between the glass and the display piece to protect it from condensation, among other problems. Then again, Cloe doesn't even mention glass!
Suffice it to say, we sure as heck hope that the good doctor finds someone else to frame his Dumbass of the Day award.

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   ehow.com/how_4867713_frame-art-yourself.html

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