Thank you for not being perky

Have you ever gone to a framing shop thinking eagerly and excitedly about how nice your art will look hanging up on your wall? have you gone in, picked out a nice mat, a gorgeous frame only to have them tell you it will cost 300$ to fucking put it all together?

well, I have and I must admit I have been suckered into it in the past and probably will be again.

but only think! there is a cheaper way! here’s how:

buy a frame at a thrift store – cost: 50 cents – 3.00
glass at frame shop – cost: about 5 bucks probably to have them cut you one of the right size
nice piece of textured art paper from art store: cost: 3.00
glazing points: cost: like 3.00 at hardware store
piece of art from whereever.

step one: buy your crappy frame at a thrift shop.

step two: go get a piece of glass that fits from your local frame shop. or if, like me, you have some old glass hanging around and glass cutters – cut your own piece of glass to size.

step three:get your nice piece of art paper. it will be fairly big, you will need a ruler, a pencil and an exacto knife.
you could buy two or even three different colors of paper to make a cool matting effect if you want.
cut the outside dimensions and then you need to cut a hole for the art work.

general rules for this are:
a. leave 2-4 inchs on each side
b. the bottom is generally left slightly larger than the top margin. so your magins might end up being 2 inchs on the left and right and top and 2 1/2 inchs on the bottom. there is some handy formula for doing that.. i had some nice hand out that i got in high school i have it stowed away somewhere…
use pencil to lightly mark the back of the paper and try to make nice clean cuts with the exacto knife.

step four:
use some tape to stick your art to the mat. since this is a ghetto workshop i am not going to talk or care about being archival and all that good shit. there are lots of ways to tape your art up… but whatever, just tape it and quit whining. i use special art tape that i have laying around, you can use whatever is sticky tho.
so, tape your art to the mat obviously making sure that the tape doesn show anywhere. i usually then take the square i cut out for the hoile and tape it to the back as well. then i often get a some other nice stiff piece of art paper and tape it to the back for more stability.

step five:
cut some cardboard to size to fit in as a backing. any card board will do!

step six:
get your glazing points and a one of those grout spatulas. use one point to each side in the middle of each side. use the spatula to wedge the points in nice and tight. the points are pointy and should go in fairly easily. frame woods are usually fairly nice and soft, if you can’t get the points in then your frame is an extra huge piece of crap. sucks to be you.

step seven:
decide on what hanging technique is best for you. in this case i used nailless hangers that i bought in the framing shop, cost: about 3.00 for four.
with these you just need a hammer and a ruler. measure to the center of the top of your frame (make sure you have the top side!) and then hammer in your hanger thingy.

alternatly to be even more ghetto, you could just get some tiny tiny nails, nail them to the inner side of your frame and then use from wire or string tied to the them.

and you’re done!

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