You have the perfect art of photo printed and it’s time to select a nice frame for it. But how picture frames are measured is sometimes a mystery to many that leads to errors, lost money and frustration.
In order for the frame to sit well, without unnecessary effort and without gaps, you need to correctly measure the picture. Follow these instructions to avoid mistakes and get the best results.
The items you need to decide on the measurement of your painting and frame are simple. You probably already have them around the house. You will need:
To choose the right size for the picture frame, you need to take measurements of the canvas. Armed with a ruler (tape measure), measure the length, width of the visible area. The visible part of the picture can sink 3-5 mm inside the frame on each side. The framing should look like one piece with the canvas.
Step 1
We place our subject on a smooth and clean surface.
Step 2
We measure in inches or centimeters from end to end and note first the height and then the width. We measure once more and verify.
Step 3
If our subject has a white border and we do not want it to appear in our frame, then we do not include it in the measurement we make.
Step 4
The frame and the mat size always “hide” an issue from the measurement we make. Calculate that 3/8 in perimeter will be covered by the frame.
Step 5
If you are measuring in centimeters, keep your measurement up to one decimal, for example, 50.2 cm.
If your painting is already stretched onto a stretcher, lay it on a flat, clean surface and take 2 measurements of the height and 2 measurements of the width. You need to measure on both sides up and down, right and left. Sometimes the 2 measurements are not the same and that may cause the picture not to fit in the frame you chose.
If the picture has irregularities, deflections, or protrusions, then measure them as well. Of the selected dimensions, you need to take the largest width and largest height. These numbers will be used as the inner frame size.
Like in this lovely 8×10 picture frame the size of the photo you can fit inside is 8×10. That means that the inside of the frame measurements are 8×10. The visible photo will be a little smaller ( 7 1/2 x 9 1/2) as the frame border will always hide a bit of the art of print. The final dimension of the frame will depend on how thick the border is.
This indicates not the size of the frame itself, but the photo that is suitable for it. Depending on the availability of the mat and the thickness of the baguette, the frame can be much larger – this must be taken into account if you choose decor for a limited area.
For example, the size of the border indicates the size of the canvas to which it fits best. The frame itself, based on the mat and thickness, may be larger than the picture.
When buying, you need to look not at the mortise window, but the dimensions indicated on the marking. The cut-in window, as a rule, is slightly less than the parameters of the picture. A small part around the edges of the painting will be covered.
The standard sizes of photo frames are considered to be those that correspond to the parameters of printed photos. That is, the photo should fit into a standard photo frame without cropping or additional fitting.
The most common standardized sizes are:
The dimensions of the borders for paintings can be indicated in centimeters and inches (4×6, 5×7, 8×10, 9×12, 11×14, 12×16, 16×20).
In the second case, it is more difficult to understand which parameter corresponds to a particular canvas. It is also not easy to choose frames of round, square, oval, complex shapes.
ATTENTION! If the difference between the minimum and maximum measurements exceeds 1/4 inch (5 mm), then gaps may remain during the installation of the frame! In this case, we recommend ordering a frame kit with a new stretcher and re-tensioning the painting. This will eliminate the curvature and achieve the best fit between the frame and the painting.
Replacing the subframe is also recommended in the following cases:
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