Choosing a frame

Float frames for canvas, mounts and glazing for paper, and when to leave a piece unframed.

Framing a picture makes three decisions at once: how to protect the surface, how to sit the piece in its room, and how to let the eye rest on the image rather than on the join. A framer can be paid to make all three at the same visit; a little preparation before that visit saves everybody time and money.

Canvas paintings ask a different question from works on paper. A stretched canvas is a finished object: the tacking edge is either painted around, waxed, or the sides carry a continuation of the composition. A frame is optional. What is offered most often is a float frame (also called a tray frame): a plain hardwood or painted-metal strip that runs around the canvas with a small gap between the frame and the picture edge, so the canvas appears to float inside the frame. This protects the corners of the stretcher, gives the piece a defined edge on a busy wall, and adds nothing to the composition. A painted or gilded traditional frame is a stronger statement and is right for some rooms and some pictures; ask the framer to hold each option up to the piece before you commit.

Works on paper are always framed. Paper is fragile: it flexes, it takes on moisture from a room, it acid-burns from a raw wood backing. A framed work on paper wants three things: an acid-free window mount that keeps the paper away from the glass; a solid rigid backing board (Foamex or archival card, not cardboard); and museum-grade glazing that filters ultraviolet light. The mount is the widest thing on the finished piece; make it generous, five to eight centimetres around a small work, seven to ten around a large one, and pick a colour that is warm-neutral (a soft ivory) rather than a stark bright white. The frame moulding sits on top of the mount and, on a work on paper, should be quieter than either the mount or the picture. A pencil-thin natural oak, a matt black, or a low-profile painted moulding are three shapes that go with almost anything.

Frame colour is a wall question, not a picture question. On a warm off-white wall, pale oak, soft walnut and a matt black all sit well; a bright cool white frame will not. On a stronger colour, take a swatch of the paint with you to the framer. The rule is that a frame slightly darker than the wall recedes and lets the picture come forward; a frame lighter than the wall stands out and reads as a decoration on the wall. Almost every mistake in framing is a colour mistake; a good framer will hold two options up to the picture and to the paint swatch, and the answer is usually visible.

Glass or acrylic is the last decision. For anything that hangs above a stair, above head height, above a small child’s height, or in a room where it might be knocked, ask for acrylic (Perspex, Plexiglas) in place of glass; it is lighter, it does not shatter, and modern museum-grade acrylic is anti-reflective and UV-filtering. For a frame that sits at eye level in a calm room, ordinary museum-grade glass is beautiful and less prone to scratching over time. Never ask for standard picture glass on a work you plan to keep for decades; it does nothing about ultraviolet light and its reflections make the image hard to read from an angle.

Two moments deserve a professional framer rather than a DIY off-the-shelf kit. The first is a work on paper of any significant size or value: the mount, the hinge (small archival paper tabs, not sticky tape), and the glazing are technical, and getting them right the first time protects the work for decades. The second is any painting over about 90 centimetres on the long side, where the sheer weight of a moulding and the geometry of the corners are beyond a home cutter. For a small canvas that is a good fit for a plain float frame, an off-the-shelf ready-made frame from a specialist is often fine, provided you check the depth of the frame matches the depth of the canvas stretcher.

A last note on when not to frame at all. A ceramic mask, a small relief, a study drawing that is meant to be held, a working sketch you love; these are not always framed pieces. A study can live in a wooden portfolio and be brought out for company. A mask hangs directly on the wall. Framing an object because framing is what is done to art is the wrong reason to do it. Framing to protect a piece that needs protection, or to settle a piece into the room where you live, are the two reasons that hold.

Michael, for the studio