Framing artwork cheaply

I don't pay a small fortune for someone to frame my artwork for me because with the money I save I can buy more art material. I often buy unwanted frames from the charity shops and, as well as these below, I bought three giant hardwood frames for less than £20, complete with glass, mats, and backing boards. They are so big that I have them up on a wall, yet devoid of paintings, just so that they are out of my way. 😆

Frames from charity shop

Most charity shop frames don't have the mats (mounts) that I want so I have learned to cut my own using a Logan mat cutter. I buy mostly Daler Rowney Studland mountboards - but they aren't cheap so I cut carefully! If I don't like the finish of the frame, I paint it with Annie Sloan chalk paint, finishing off with the matte lacquer.

Some mountboards might have an inner core that is black. I have found that by using a pen with a brush/felt tip I can carefully run around the angle of the cut mat to make it look like it has a black core. 

My idea, when framing, (and another reason I don't want to spend a fortune on having my paintings framed professionally) is that I might want to change the paintings now and then so I use special 'spring retaining' clips at the back of frames that facilitate ease of removal of glass, painting, mount, and backboard; I simply loosen the screw and rotate the clip out of the way.

Frame Spring Clips

For the cords at the back, I use a system that I found on YouTube. 

I also buy custom-made self-assembly frames for some of my work. I get mine from Jacksons. All I have to do is tap some pegs into the corner and voila, the job is done. Of course, I also have to buy backing board, mount, and glass. 

Sometimes, I have to be flexible. I bought some paintings by Shirley Trevena and I have so many frames waiting to be filled I decided to frame them in charity shop frames already in my possession. I think they look absolutely fine. You will note the mounts have been cut wider at the top and bottom than at the sides. The frames have been painted with Annie Sloan 'graphite' chalk paint. 

On the Jackson's webpage there is a place to upload your paintings into a frame to see what it looks like. That is very useful, whether buying a frame or not. 

All things mentioned above have links in the External Links page which can be found on the Homepage.