DIY Customized Framing—No Energy Instruments Required!

Hey all! Mandi right here. Customized framing is so nice for that oddly-sized piece of art work or a deep canvas, however man, oh man, is it ever costly!

I’ve a couple of canvases round my home that I’ve been desirous to have framed, however fairly than saving up for a customized job, I believed I’d simply take a day to border them myself!

I designed three totally different types of canvas frames with three totally different mounting strategies, and so they’re all tremendous easy to construct.

All you want are varied items of wooden and the instruments proven under, and guess what? None of them are energy instruments!

So in the event you’re just a little leery of wielding an influence drill, router, or chop noticed, don’t fear! You don’t want ’em. This low-fuss technique will get the job completed.

Provides:
–varied items of wooden
–wooden glue
–ending nails or wire brads (dimension relies on depth of wooden)
-paint or wooden stain
–sandpaper

Instruments:
–miter field noticed
–band clamp
–varied clamps
-hammer
-tape measure
-pencil
-paint brush or rags

To start, you’ll must determine which fashion of mount you need to your body and the way thick and detailed the body will probably be. For a wider, chunkier body, you’ll want spacer wooden for between the canvas stretcher and the sting of your body.

You’ll be able to deliver your artwork with you to the lumber yard (or simply dimensions in the event you’re shy about toting round your artwork) and check out stacking collectively totally different items of wooden, sq. dowels, and molding to get the look you need.

Take a look at my body profiles under to get concepts to your personal body, and in order for you extra element in yours, don’t be shy about including molding too!

Mounting Methods

A recessed mount is a conventional framing approach the place the artwork sits behind the body and the very fringe of the artwork is roofed by the lip of the body.

A float mount, essentially the most troublesome to construct, is usually utilized in canvas framing to present much more dimension to the piece by creating an ornamental hole between the canvas’s edge and the body’s edge. 

One thing that you simply would possibly see extra continuously on bigger items of canvas artwork is the flush mount, the place the body is solely hooked up to the sting of the canvas stretcher, with no lip on the entrance or again.

Flush Mount Body

The flush mount body I designed is mounted comparatively flush with the floor of the canvas and is nailed on to the sting of the canvas stretcher, with out assembling the body first.

It’s the best body to make, in my view, and I believe it appears to be like good with bigger items of art work.

Step One: To start, I bought two 8′ lengthy items of cedar 1x2s, flippantly sanded them, after which stained them with my very own grey combine of those three stains pictured above: Rustoleum Driftwood, Rustoleum Willow, and Minwax Golden Oak.

Step Two: Relatively than measuring the sting of my body and transferring these measurements to the lumber, I simply laid my 1×2 towards the body and marked the size of the canvas straight onto the lumber.

Step Three: I reduce every of my items of lumber a bit longer than I wanted, in case I made a mistake and reduce them too quick.

To chop the items, use a miter field noticed, which clamps the lumber into place and has guides that guarantee you might be slicing to the precise 45-degree angle that you simply want.

It’s fairly helpful, although it does take extra elbow grease than an electrical miter noticed. After making the reduce, you might need to flippantly sand down the corners you probably have any splintering.

Step 4: Utilizing a band clamp* or a ratchet strap, do a dry match of the body to verify it matches. If any items are too lengthy, reduce them down appropriately.

When the items are reduce to the correct size and the dry match exhibits a pleasant match, loosen the band clamp across the unfastened items of the body and dab paint into the corners the place the items meet.

Use your finger to unfold the glue round a bit earlier than clamping once more. Some glue will ooze out if you clamp the body collectively, so you’ll want to have a rag helpful to wipe away any glue instantly.

Step 5: Use ending nails or wire brads to connect the body to the canvas stretcher, ensuring to additionally drive nails by means of the mitered joints within the nook, giving the wooden glue some further energy.

Wooden glue isn’t very sturdy when utilized to finish grains of wooden, so the nails are a obligatory step except you employ a stronger adhesive like Gorilla Glue.

*When utilizing a band clamp on smooth wooden, you’ll want to use a chunk of scrap wooden as a buffer between the clamp and the wooden so the clamp doesn’t depart an imprint on the wooden.

Recessed Mount Body

The normal recessed mount body makes use of a rabbet, or inset, for the artwork to take a seat nestled in behind the body. It hides a small border of the artwork, which works out properly if the perimeters of your canvas aren’t completed.

This body is assembled previous to attaching the art work, versus the flush mount body which is constructed straight onto the canvas stretcher.

The supplies you could construct this specific body are as follows:

-outside edge piece: 1/2×3″ lumber
-middle piece: 1/2×2″ lumber
-inside edge piece: 1/2″ lumber
-top edge piece: 3/8×2″ lumber

I began with stained wooden, as a result of it was my purpose to have two tones of stain in my completed body and determined it could be greatest to stain first.

The stain didn’t take in very properly on the pine I used, although, so it may not have mattered. You’ll be able to stain your body earlier than or after assembling it.

Step One: Glue collectively the 1/2×3″ outdoors piece with the center and inside edge piece as listed within the provides above and proven within the above proper picture. You’ll want to make use of clamps to carry collectively the wooden because the glue dries. Make sure you wipe away any seeping glue with a humid material earlier than it dries.

Step Two: After the sting and backside items have dried, connect the highest piece, which ought to be a bit wider than the wooden stacked under it, with the intention to create a lip which is able to overlap your artwork.

Unfold the glue together with your fingers to restrict glue seepage. Then clamp collectively and permit the glue to remedy.

Step Three: Measure the scale of your art work and add about 1/8″ buffer area/error area.

Step 4: Minimize your lengths of wooden with the miter field noticed in line with the measurements from step three. I wish to err on the aspect of longer than obligatory, as a result of you’ll be able to all the time reduce off greater than you want! Lay the parallel boards towards one another to verify they’re the identical size.

Step 5: Organize a dry match with the band clamp and your canvas. Ensure that every little thing matches collectively comparatively snugly. If the canvas is just too unfastened in there, you might must shave a bit off the lengths of the body items.

After the match is excellent, unfold some wooden glue together with your finger onto the perimeters of the body items and match collectively the joints with the band clamp, wiping away any extra glue earlier than it dries.

Step Six: Whereas the body is clamped and the glue is drying, drive ending nails into the joints of the body to present the piece extra stability. I selected to solely nail on two parallel body items as a substitute of onto both sides.

Flip the body over and connect the canvas from the again by driving longer nails by means of the canvas stretchers and into the body.

Float Mount Body

I personally assume float mount frames look essentially the most skilled, however perhaps that’s as a result of it was essentially the most finicky of my frames to make, so I used to be essentially the most pleased with this one! Float mounts depart an area between the sting of the canvas and the edges of the body.

They supply dimensionality to the framed piece and are a good way to indicate off gallery wrapped edges of canvas artwork. I personally thought this float mount body could be nice to present a extra substantial really feel to a skinny, cheaper canvas piece.

For my float body, I used the next wooden:

-1/2×2″ lumber painted white
-1/2″ sq. dowel stained darkish (although I counsel utilizing a 1/2×1″ piece of lumber as a substitute)

I selected to begin with already-painted aspect items to save lots of me the difficulty of trimming in with paint and stain with an assembler body. I selected a shiny white for the skin of the body and a darkish stain to emphasise the float area between the canvas and the body.

Step One: Glue the underside piece of the body to the aspect piece and clamp into place. Be sure to wipe away the surplus glue earlier than it dries!

I used a 1/2″ sq. dowel for this, but it surely was exceptionally troublesome to later connect the canvas to such a slender area, so if I had been to return in time, I would choose a 1/2×1″ piece of lumber as a substitute.

Observe Steps 3-5 of the recessed mount body above, however as a substitute of including 1/8″ to the dimension of the art work to your body, add about 1/4″ to create the float area within the body.

Step Six: As an alternative of nailing the body collectively, you’ll safe it by nailing it to the canvas stretcher from behind. That is the difficult half! You’ll need to put your art work into the body, ensuring the gaps are even throughout it. I had a troublesome time getting the gaps to remain whilst I used to be clamping it into place.

As soon as it’s clamped into place correctly, flip over the body and drive nails by means of the again piece of the body and into the canvas stretcher.

Be sure to don’t miss the stretcher and drive your nails into the float area as a substitute! I needed to drive my nails in at an angle as a result of my 1/2″ sq. dowel left me hardly any area.

It was just a little troublesome attaching the canvas to that little dowel in my float body, however I really like the outcomes! Such a good-looking body prepared for show!

I’m actually happy with the outcomes of my customized framing jobs and will certainly be DIY framing extra sooner or later! Subsequent I’d attempt one thing just a little extra ornate by combining molding types.

These kits are actually helpful when attempting to hold photos and so they make some actually cool devices like this that will help you hold issues extra simply.

Consider the all the chances. Completely satisfied framing! xo Mandi

P.S. Searching for extra wall artwork DIYs?