The Washington Post - 05.09.2019

7

DC

the washington post

.

thursday, september

5

,

2019

BY JENNIFER BARGER

Washington Consumers’

Checkbook

Your diploma from Big Bucks
University. That giant photo from
your wedding (a reminder that
you’ll never be that dressed-up
again). A beautiful thrift-store oil
painting surrounded by regretta-
ble plastic molding. Most of us
have many items we would like to
frame and display, but the bother
of taking them to a shop, finding
supplies to do it ourselves or
paying a fortune to professionals
means our stuff remains off the
walls.
Here’s how to get help. Plenty
of shops have staff members who
provide expert advice, take care of
your precious belongings and
don’t charge high prices. And if
you want to frame something
yourself, online businesses offer
products and instructions.
If someone else is doing the
work, you’ll want a skilled pro
who offers sage advice. Staff
members at the best shops will
spend time with you exploring
framing options (single or double
mat? Metal or wood frame? Plexi-
glass or real glass?) and eventual-
ly give you a fine-looking final
product.
Until Oct. 10, Checkbook is of-
fering free access to its ratings of
area framing shops to Washing-
ton Post readers via this link:
checkbook.org/washingtonpost/
framing. Checkbook surveyed its
own and Consumer Reports sub-
scribers, plus other randomly se-
lected individuals. You’ll notice
big shop-to-shop differences for
customer satisfaction and prices.
You can hire a local shop to do
your framing, ship your stuff to an
Internet-based outfit, or do some
or all the work yourself.
DIY options are usually the
cheapest. You can buy inexpen-
sive pre-made frames at stores
such as Ta rget, Pottery Barn and
Ikea, and they often look pretty
good. “I do kid artwork walls for
some of my clients, and cheaper
frames like this are a great op-
tion,” says Allison Marvin, an art
consultant whose Sightline firm
helps people buy and mount art.
If you have odd-size art or want
customized frames and mats, sev-
eral websites allow you to enter
measurements and shop from
hundreds of frames — plus buy
custom-cut mats, glass or plexi-
glass fronts, and more. The store
ships your products, and you as-
semble everything. In our experi-
ence, this is a relatively simple but
not totally goof-proof transac-
tion. Precise measuring is crucial.
Plus plexiglass panels from online
vendors can have a lot of fuzz
that’s a pain to remove, and posi-
tioning art onto pre-cut mats is

harrowingly tedious. If you’re us-

ing a mat, buy linen mounting

tape ($10-$15 at art stores or

online) to affix art to the mat.

If you want a full-service

frame-up, local stores or full-

-service Internet-based compa-

nies can help. Online services

such as Framebridge.com,

PictureFrames.com and

SimplyFramed.com ship you

tubes or flat mailers so you can

send your artwork to them; they

then frame the item and mail it

back. If you’ve got a digital photo

or print, the process is simpler:

Email it to the company, which

sizes it, prints it and sends you a

framed version a few weeks later.

Simply Framed in particular of-

fers a wide variety of suggestions

tailored to specific sorts of art and

artifacts — a.k.a. a groovy plexi-

box (also known as a shadowbox)

for a textile or a gilded wooden

frame for a fancy oil painting.

Why stick with a local shop? It’s

easier to discuss your project in

person, plus shipping your pre-

cious 1974 Rolling Stones poster

or your kid’s drawing means it

might get lost. This recently hap-

pened to me, though the company

refunded my money and paid for

the waylaid print.

Checkbook’s undercover shop-

pers asked a sampling of local

framing shops and six online out-

lets for prices to frame two differ-

ent pieces. For the larger piece,

prices from local shops ranged

from $111 to more than $350; for

the smaller piece, prices ranged

from $55 to more than $250.

Hobby Lobby offered the lowest

overall prices — beating even

most online services. But don’t

assume big chains always charge

lower prices than smaller outfits.

For example, for the two pieces we

shopped, the average prices at t he

Michaels stores we surveyed were

only about 12 percent lower than

the average for all surveyed

stores. We also found that prices

can vary substantially from loca-

tion to location for the big chains.

And the Web-based stores con-

sistently offered low prices.

FrameItEasy.com’s prices were

$61 for the smaller piece and $78

for the larger one (though re-

member, the final assembly is on

you). Framebridge.com was the

cheapest full-service Internet op-

tion: Its prices were $85 and $145.

Materials and what they

mean

The types and quality of ma-

terials you choose when framing

also matter.

Mats: In g eneral, a good bricks-

and-mortar or online framer

should use acid- and lignin-free

mats, meaning they’re cut from

alkaline paper boards with no

acids that can damage your art-

work. It’s probably more impor-

tant to check this when buying

online or picking up an inexpen-

sive pre-made frame; most pro

framers use only acid-free materi-

als.

Why invest in a mat? “It creates

air between the glazing and the

artwork,” says Mark Klostermey-

er of the Professional Picture

Framers Association. “The mat

absorbs and dispels moisture,

which can condense on your art

and even sometimes cause mold.”

Mats, whether single, double, or

even placed behind the art

(known as “floating”), also en-

hance the appearance of pieces

ranging from a vintage postcard

to a Rembrandt etching. With the

floating styles, framers use spac-

ers to create distance between the

mat, the artwork and the frame

itself.

At a good frame shop, staffers

should show you a range of mat

colors, placing them up against

your artwork to see what looks

best. White or eggshell tones tend

to let the art, not a trendy mat

color, shine. Pros will also suggest

mat widths. In g eneral, they range

from 1½ inches to more than four

inches. “Or a wider, larger mat,

like a snapshot in a 10-inch-deep

mat, can make things feel more

modern and significant,” s ays de-

signer Nate Berkus, a creative

adviser for Framebridge. Double

mats, while more expensive, can

be used to further accent colors in

the piece, usually via a top mat in

a neutral hue (white, black) and

an inner mat in another shade

that draws out a color in the art.

Most online services let you

upload an image of your artwork

for this process, meaning you can

play around with mat colors and

sizes.

For some photos and posters,

you might not want a mat. This

can save you some money, and in

the case of a large graphic image,

such as a movie poster, might be

the best option. “You almost don’t

need a frame, since many posters

have printed borders,” Berkus

says. And newer framing tech-

niques make it safer. “It used to be

that forgoing a mat meant smash-

ing the work up against the glass,

which could damage it,” Marvin

says. “But now framers use spac-

ers to keep the piece away from

the glass, and it can look very

modern and also not hurt the art.”

Frames: No, you don’t have to

keep all the frames in your house

(or even on one wall) the same

style and color. Thanks to the

gallery wall trend and the increas-

ing variation in home decor, a

mishmash of materials and styles

denotes a collection amassed over

time. In general, metal or plastic

composites are cheaper; wood

can cost hundreds of dollars.

Choosing a frame style is large-

ly a personal matter, but it should

cue off the art, if possible. “A

lighter-feeling piece, like a deli-

cate work on paper, might just get

a slim frame, whereas a chunky

abstract painting probably needs

a frame with more heft,” Marvin

says.

Glass vs. plexiglass vs. noth-

ing: The surface of an oil or acryl-

ic painting is durable, so you’ll

probably want to frame it without

glass or plexiglass to show off the

artist’s brushwork But a watercol-

or needs a mat (to protect it from

smudging and wrinkling) and a

glass or plexiglass front to protect

it from dust, sunlight and little

fingers. A clear front also helps

keep a work from warping and,

frankly, helps it look important.

Glass used to be standard, but it’s

heavy and can break. “Many of my

colleagues in San Francisco won’t

even use it, because of earth-

quakes,” Klostermeyer says.

Both glass and plexi may filter

out UV rays and reduce reflective

glare. And there’s a wide array of

glazing for both, ranging from

simple SUV to what pros call

“museum glass” that blocks out

nearly all light and glare.

For our money and trouble,

plexiglass is the way to go. It’s

more expensive than glass and

more prone to scratches, but it’s

not fragile and a lot lighter, mak-

ing it easier to hang.

[email protected]

Wa shington Consumers’ Checkbook

magazine and Checkbook.org is a

nonprofit organization with a mission

to help consumers get the best

service and lowest prices. It is

supported by consumers and takes

no money from the service providers

it evaluates. You can access all of

Checkbook’s ratings and advice free

of charge until Oct. 10 at

checkbook.org/washingtonpost/

framing.

There are lots of ways to frame photos. Here are the best deals.

Home

FRAMEBRIDGE

A gallery wall by Framebridge. The full-service Internet-based company will ship you tubes or flat

mailers so you can send your artwork to them; then they’ll frame it and send it back.