Custom Framing Perspectives

by Leah Karol. Posted on January 27, 2017

There are many choices available today in framing materials for creating beautiful custom frames. Frames have traditionally been made from wood, and we have over three thousand beautiful options for wood frames including top-of-the line European moldings. We also offer many intriguing opportunities for creating a unique frame with leather, acrylic, steel or aluminum. All of these high-quality frames are a good investment that will help protect your artwork for years to come.

HANDMADE LEATHER

Distinctive handcrafted leather covered frames have beauty, character, and durability. Our high-quality leather wrapped frames are made of fine Peruvian material from House of Mercier and crafted by expert leatherworkers who have been trained in the horse saddle manufacturing business. The leather of each of the frame is hand tooled with designs that enhance the unique qualities of the leather in each piece.

leather custom frames

“Our people used to work in the saddle business, providing to the horseman the well-known El Caballo Paso saddles. Each hide has been carefully chosen. We look for the right quality and age that will allow the proper tooling, texture and finishing. Every piece is handmade by our expert craftsman who use special tools to create the beautiful patterns developed exclusively for House of Mercier.

The hand tooling is an ancient technique used in Peru for more than 500 years. House of Mercier uses only high quality products for the mounting and the finishing. Long legacies of the technique and experience have been handed down over generations to produce these quality products.

All of the accessories or ornaments as buttons, stitching, and hand tooling, are planned to show the authenticity of the leather in each piece. Completely unique. The House of Mercier Line is developed by our own designers and craftsmanship. The materials that we use are carefully chosen to achieve a quality end product” (Raul Mercier).

ACRYLIC

Handcrafted, seamless, high-grade acrylic custom frames from Prisma are both beautiful and versatile. These frames can have a contemporary or retro look and compliment both traditional and modern settings. Color, shape and pattern can be combined for original frame creations in clear or sanded finishes.

acrylic custom frames Part art and part science, Prisma Frames combine engineering ingenuity with a passion for great picture frame design. Bella Moulding, the parent company to Prisma, is proud to offer designs that spill outside the limits of traditional picture framing. Bella Moulding is a national distributor of distinctly creative and beautiful picture frame moulding.

Filling a unique niche for extraordinary framing, Prisma Frames are highly sought after in galleries and frame shops from coast to coast. Prisma Frames find a home in any residential or commercial design-driven environment.

Choose from nine shapes with subtle curves or clean lines. Sharp or rounded corners can be combined with convex or concave exteriors. There are 46 vibrant colors to choose from and 19 artistic options for continuous, repeating patterns.

STEEL

Welded steel frames range in finish from sleek and sophisticated to rough and industrial.

steel custom frames

Each shape can be left raw, showing off the original mill scale and character of the steel itself, or ground to a fine finish and then tinted in one of several beautiful finish colors. The finishes we apply to our welded steel frames contain UV protective components and form a durable coating that will protect the metal from corrosion and oxidation.

Whether you are seeking an urban, industrial feel for an artist’s loft or a clean, contemporary look for a gallery space, our welded steel frames make an indelible impression.

Custom Framing Guide for Art and Photos

by Leah Karol. Posted on May 9, 2016

Need to custom-frame some artwork but feel overwhelmed by all the choices? You’re not alone. Selecting a frame can be overpowering for many people. Aside from the different colors and finishes, you’ve got to consider scale, the design of the piece and whether to use a mat or two — or three. Conservation, acidity, and UV- and infrared-blocking capabilities come into the mix too. This is an excellent, concise custom framing guide for art and photos. It covers mat materials and scale, frame selection, framing trends, types of glass and offers good general guidelines for framing. It even has a section on ‘going frameless’ for paintings on a canvas stretched over wood stretcher bars and giclee prints. The product information and detail is accurate and comprehensive, and it’s easily understandable for anyone not involved in the industry. It can help you get in the right frame of mind to make educated choices.

Your Guide to Custom Framing Photos and Art

Get the lowdown on framing materials, methods and more! From Karen Egly-Thompson, a former interior designer turned interiors writer with degrees in art and interior design

. Custom Framing Guide for art and photos

Environmentally Friendly Sustainable Framing

by Carolyn Horton. Posted on November 4, 2014

Environmentally Friendly Sustainable Framing

Frame properly the first time. Increase longevity by utilizing uv-filtered glass/plexi, acid-free backing and mat boards and archival mounting methods.

Reframe using original framing components. Reuse art, backing, mat board, glass/acrylic and frame when possible.

Specify mouldings made of salvaged materials. Reclaimed woods from flooring and cabinetry and recycled metals from ceiling and siding offer an industrial look while also benefiting the environment.

Frame with antique frames. Antique frames offer character that may be potentially desirable. They can also be restored and refinished to look new.

Select mouldings made with easily renewable resources like bamboo. Bamboo is the fastest growing plant and doesn’t require replanting, fertilizers or insecticides.

Choose mouldings made by companies that practice forest stewardship and reforestation. Some manufacturers reuse and/or recycle excesses. Wood shavings are sent to animal farms for bedding. Larger pieces are sent to paper mills and steam-generating power plants to produce electricity and heat.

Specify mouldings with water-based stains. Unfortunately most finishes are achieved with the use of oils or chemical solvents. However, progress is being made with greater demand for environmentally friendly products.

Select mouldings made by manufacturers that use recycled packing materials. Look to companies that insist on recycled and/or biodegradable packing materials.

Choose mouldings that are regionally available. Decrease your energy consumption by selecting from manufacturers that have a regionally located distribution center.

How much is that doggie framing in the window? Art! Art!

by Karen Clanton. Posted on July 19, 2014

Truck Queen by Craig Gallaway

We often hear that a client doesn’t want to spend a lot of money to frame what they’ve just brought in for us to assist them with framing. The reality is that is true of most everyone and for most everything that comes through our doors. Another reality is we don’t want our clients to spend more than they want or need to either. What we do want is for the piece to look great, the client to be thrilled with the results but also confident their hard earned dollars were well spent.

Please keep in mind there is more to the cost of custom framing than the money you’ll spend. Our first objective is for each piece to look it’s best so we design first and foremost for the art or object itself. Some of the things we take into account are if the client has a vision of how they want it to look when it’s done, or where it will hang, or how large or small it needs to be when finished. One of the most important things to consider is that once you frame something it will likely stay that way for 10, 15, 20 years or even longer in some cases, so with that in mind we encourage everyone to consider the long term rewards not just the short term up front costs. This is why we use better materials on the front end. We want to create a better, safer environment for preservation for the long run. Knowing that we see a lot of damage from poor materials being used; we try to avoid that by suggesting conservation mats, UV protectant glass and proper mounting techniques to suit what is being framed.

Fall Dogs by Jane Marshall

Another thing to consider about framing is that the cost of the artwork doesn’t make a difference if the same materials are being used and that goes for the frame, glass, mats, mounting technique or anything else within the framing. If it’s the same size and the same components are being used it will cost the same if you spent $2 or $20,000 on the art. Framing doesn’t discriminate a steal or an investment.

The main thing is to love the framed piece once you get it where it will be enjoyed by you or whomever is lucky enough to have a uniquely, custom-made creation.