Thrifty Strategy- Frame art yourself

As I've mentioned before, my husband has become quite good at framing posters and photos. Most of the art in our house has been framed by him, and he has also done some framing for other people. The project you see below is a wedding picture of his sister and her husband. My husband framed it for them as a gift.

There is an initial investment in a mat cutter, saw, biscuit joiner, point gun, etc, but it has more than re-paid itself. The cost to get a piece of art this size framed at Michael's or another store is easily over $200.



1. Gluing two pieces of molding together to create the desired frame thickness




2. Cutting the long pieces into the individual sides of the frame











3. Side view of the molding after being cut






4. Using biscuit joining tool to cut slots in each side



5. See how the biscuit fits into the two pieces

6. After the two sides are glued together, sanding edges smooth

7. Staining the completed frame

8. The mat cutter

9. Measuring the width of the mat

10. Cutting the mat

11. Putting it together

12. Attaching the backer (foamcore) with point gun

13. Rolling brown paper over the back and taping in place

14. Attaching the hardware to hang the frame

And the final product- A double-matted (orange inside, cream outside) custom-framed piece of art! He usually uses plexiglass instead of glass, but for this one ended up using glass.