Transcripts
1. Introduction to framing and matting: Hey there, my name
is Macy Clark. I'm an illustrator based set
of Louisville, kentucky. And in today's class, I'm going to share with you some basic framing techniques
so that you are able to frame your artwork and prints and make them look
like a professional did it. Now, this is a beginner class. There are supplies that
if you're interested in kind of framing artwork that
you might want to invest in. So I am just going to
share the supplies that I use to frame my own work. In this class, we are using pre-made frames
and pre-cut mats. These are things
that you can buy at a craft store, art supply store. And you can even
repurpose frames that you find at the thrift store
or goodwill as well. So for our class project, I'm going to walk you
through framing a print. I have an eight by ten print that I am going to share
with you how we are going to Matt and frame and finish our final piece of framed
artwork for this class. Again, this is a beginner class, but I'm going to share with you the tools that framers use. But again, if you are just a
hobbyist and interested in framing your own artwork or
prints that you've collected. Then this is the class for you. I am so excited to get started and I hope
to see you in class.
2. Matting our artwork: Okay, so let's go ahead
and talk about all of the things you'll
need for this class. First, we're gonna go over
the supplies and things that you'll need to Matt and
frame your artwork. The first thing you'll need is your piece of art
or your art print. You are going to need a mat or matt that will
fit your frame. So what I did is I got a
frame from the art store. And the opening of this
frame is an 11 by 14. My print is an eight by ten, so I bought a separate matte
to fit into the frame that is an overall size
of unleavened by 14 with an opening
size of eight by ten. Now you might have a, you might find a frame that has a matte included and
that's totally fine. I just for the style, I liked that frame and
I got a map separately. Then you are going to
want to have a piece of foam core that is cut to the same size as your as
the opening of your frame. So I just measure
this and so the mat, the exterior of the mat and the foam core are
all the same size. Now I do want to preface this. This is not for framing. This class is not
to teach you how to frame priceless works of art. Now if you have something
that is one of a kind and can absolutely
not be damaged, I would advise not to use that piece of art
for this class. This is for people
who are interested in stepping up their art store, craft store frames and
framing their own artwork. And just kinda giving
it a little bit more of an elevated look. So this is kind of in-between
just opening up the frame, slapping the art print in there, and taking it to
the frame store, we're kind of in the middle. I'm going to share with you
some professional tools and supplies that we'll need. But again, please do not do, do not frame anything
or use anything in this class that is
priceless family heirloom. This is just an art
print of one of my watercolors that
I have printed out. So if it gets damaged, it's not a huge, huge deal. Okay, so before we get started, I wanted to share with you
two different tapes and adhesives that you will use
in the framing process. Again, there's a little
bit of investment when it comes to these
tapes and equipment. But if you are interested
in framing several pieces, then it might be worth
the investment for you. The first thing is we have
this FOMO plast P90 tape. Now this is a pretty big
investment. I'll link it. All supplies and tools that I've used are all linked
in the class notes. But this is the tape
that we're going to use to actually secure the artwork or the print to our substrate, to
the backing board. But again, this is
a very large role, so it's going to last
you a long time. Then we also have an
adhesive tape gun. This is a super quick and
easy way to lay down tape. It's going to be a really
useful tool again, if you are interested in framing several pieces for clients or for yourself
around your home. So I am going to line up where my print is going to be
located on my backing board. Once I'm happy with
the location of my print inside of my mat, you want to make sure your
hands are very clean and the work surface that you're
working on his very clean. Once I'm satisfied with where
that print is going to go. So that looks good. It is, there's no kind of edge peeking out from around the mat. So I'm happy with that. I'm going to carefully
pick up my mat. I'm going to set it aside. And I'm going to use a
little bit of my tape. So as I pull this, it's going to pull
out like that. So I'm gonna go ahead
and get four strips. About one inch in length. And what I'm gonna do
is in terms of framing, we want to make sure that everything that we
do is reversible. This is a special paper tape that can be taken
off of our work. So if we wanted to change
this in the future, that is totally possible. So what we wanna do is we
want to apply or tape with as little surface as
possible to our artwork. So what I'm gonna do is I'm
taking my piece of tape. I am going to slide
it underneath that. So the sticky side is up. It's on the back of my
artwork or my print. And then I'm taking
another piece of the tape and I am going
to tape it across. The sticky side is going to
be stuck to the foam core. But that first piece of tape, that vertical piece of tape
is the sticky side is up, so it's hanging on the back of that piece of artwork
and then it's secured by that piece
of tape over top. So I'm gonna do the
same thing over here. And what that does
is that allows our artwork Tang and it's not, it's not stuck to the
back of the foam core. It is just hanging
that is going to allow the art to breathe. And I'm going to just
double-check that the artwork is still
in the correct spot. So that looks good. Next, what I'm gonna do
is I do not want my mat to be secured to the
actual art print. I want them to be adherent, to be adhered to the
foam backing board. So that is where my adhesive
gun comes in to play. I am going to create
a tape border all the way around
this foam core. Alright, so my tape
is all the way around the border
of the foam core. And then again,
since my mat board and the foam core are
all the same size, I'm just going to line
up the edges and make sure again with clean hands, I'm just going to smooth out
that border of the frame. So now we have our art
adhered to the backbone core, and then we have our mat adhered to the back
of the foam core. Next up. We are going to place
it in the frame.
3. Framing 1: Okay, so we have our art print
adhered to our foam core, and then we have our mat also
adhere to the foam core. So now we are ready to
insert this into our frame. And I'm going to show you how we are going to finish the back. So it's super professional
and clean looking. So again, I am just using a
frame from the craft store. I'm going to go ahead
and take my backing out. Now, if your frame has
these little tabs, I like to just use a
flat head screwdriver to open these up just
to save your fingers because it can start
to hurt after awhile. Alright, so I'm gonna
take out that sheet. We don't need it. And I am going to go ahead and clean the inside of the glass. Because once we're done Framing, we can't really get back into our frame picture without kinda taking the
whole thing apart. So I'm gonna go ahead and
make sure that the inside is clean and free of dust
and any little particles. Alright, so I have cleaned the inside of the
glass of my frame. We can always clean
the outside of the class after we
have assembled. And Matt, I just think it's really important to
get that inside of the glass really clear
and really free of dust. So I'm gonna go ahead and
place my board into my frame. And it's so nice that
everything kinda sticks together in one unit. And I'm gonna flip
it over and make sure that it looks good. This is a great time to spot any little particles
that might have gotten in-between your
mat and your frame. So I am pleased with that. I do not see any duster,
any little things. So what I'm gonna do
is I don't even need that backing board that
came with my frame. I am just going to use those tabs to secure
my foam core down. So one more check before we put our brown paper on the back. So if you have any
little dust or particles that you
want to get out, this is the perfect
time to do that. Before we put on our brown paper on the back and screw
in our hardware.
4. Framing 2: So I'm going to turn over, turn my frame over. What I'm gonna do
is I'm going to use some brown paper for
the back so it hides and protects all of this
from dust or anything. To protect our art
print in our frame. I'm just using some
brown paper again. It's just going to
finish everything, it's going to seal everything. And the way that
I'm going to apply that I'm going to use
my adhesive gun here. And I'm going to get as close to the edge as I can
with this adhesive. Now that all four sides
has a layer of exclusive. I'm gonna take my brown paper. And I like to start at
one side and the smooth, that top edge down. And then work my way moving
across all four sides. And then I'm going to
flip over my frame. And I'm going a cutting
mat underneath. And I'm going to take an exact dough knife,
blade very carefully. And I am going to just trim that brown paper using the
edge of the frame as my guide. You might just want to do one to two cuts just to make sure
that it is a clean cut. And I'm just going to do
that on all four sides. Alright, the back
looks nice and clean. The next and last
thing we need to do is attach our hardware. Okay, so now we are
going to attach the hardware on the
back of our frame. I typically make sure you're hanging your hardware
going the right direction. So this is the top. This is the top of my
frame, this is the bottom. What I typically like to do
is I like to use D rings. Again, I'll link all of
these in the class notes. It's a good idea to
hang your D rings on the side rails of your frame rather than
your top of the frame. Because over time, if this
is hanging for a long time, That's a lot of
pressure and weight to put on that top
rail of your frame. If you put it on the side
rails of your frame, then you're gonna get
a lot more support. And it's not putting
so much stress on that top part of the frame. I like to do it about
in that top third or a quarter of our frame
to attach the hardware. So I'm just going
to use a ruler. And I'm going to make a dot in the middle of my ArrayList. For 4.5. We want to make sure that
we're drilling are holes in the middle of the rail. We don't want to
get it too close to the interior or the
outside of the frame. So I did it about a third of
the way down from the top. So this is the top of my frame
and about third way down. So I want to drill a couple of sort of pilot holes
for our hardware. I like to put
something underneath my frame just so that
nothing gets scratched. You could put a cutting mat, you could put a towel
down just so that it is safe and secure. So I'm going to drill a
little pilot hole there. And then I'm going
to attach my D ring. And I'm just going to
screw in my hardware. Alright, my D rings are
secure and time for our wire. I'm just going to use some
picture hanging wire. My frame is not
particularly heavy. It's just an 11 by 14 frame. There's nothing
heavy inside of it. So just standard picture hanging wire will do
with your director. Now we don't want this
wire to be super, super tight between
these D ring. We want our wire. We want our wire to
be halfway between the top of our D ring and
the top of the frame. So I'm going to secure the
first part of the wire. I'm just going to tie that. And then I'm going to wrap
the remaining length of the wire around like that. And then we want the sort of hanging point to
be about halfway. So I'm going to hold
my finger down. So we don't want the wire to
show when we hang our piece, but we also don't want
it super, super tight. So I think that
looks about right. I'm just holding it
with one finger just to anchor where that looks good. Here the wire is. And then I'm just going
to trim the extra wire. And then I'm going to wrap the remaining tail
around are hanging wire. So it goes like that. Then the final touch, which I love and I
feel like will really give your framed
pieces that finishing final professional
touch is to get these little rubber
bumpers that you will place in the bottom corner, bottom corners of your piece. This is going to
make it look super professional and give it
that finishing final piece.
Maizie Clarke, Charming watercolor illustrations
