DIY Custom Framing—No Power Tools Required!

Hey all! Mandi right here. Customized framing is so nice for that oddly-sized piece of paintings 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 eager to have framed, however reasonably than saving up for a customized job, I believed I’d simply take a day to border them myself!

I designed three completely different kinds of canvas frames with three completely different mounting strategies, they usually’re all tremendous easy to construct.

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

So when you’re a little bit leery of wielding an influence drill, router, or chop noticed, don’t fear! You don’t want ’em. This low-fuss methodology will get the job finished.

Provides:
–numerous items of wooden
–wooden glue
–ending nails or wire brads (dimension is determined by depth of wooden)
-paint or wooden stain
–sandpaper

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

To start, you’ll have to resolve which type of mount you need in 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 possibly can carry your artwork with you to the lumber yard (or simply dimensions when you’re shy about toting round your artwork) and take a look at stacking collectively completely different items of wooden, sq. dowels, and molding to get the look you need.

Try my body profiles under to get concepts in your personal body, and if you’d like extra element in yours, don’t be shy about including molding too!

Mounting Strategies

A recessed mount is a conventional framing method 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 typically utilized in canvas framing to offer 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 may see extra continuously on bigger items of canvas artwork is the flush mount, the place the body is just connected 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 simplest body to make, in my view, and I feel it seems to be good with bigger items of paintings.

Step One: To start, I bought two 8′ lengthy items of cedar 1x2s, frivolously 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: Slightly than measuring the sting of my body and transferring these measurements to the lumber, I simply laid my 1×2 in opposition to the body and marked the size of the canvas immediately onto the lumber.

Step Three: I lower every of my items of lumber a bit longer than I wanted, in case I made a mistake and lower 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 chopping to the precise 45-degree angle that you simply want.

It’s fairly useful, although it does take extra elbow grease than an electrical miter noticed. After making the lower, you could wish to frivolously sand down the corners in case you 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, lower them down appropriately.

When the items are lower to the appropriate size and the dry match reveals a pleasant match, loosen the band clamp across the free 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 while you clamp the body collectively, so make sure to have a rag useful 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 additional energy.

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

*When utilizing a band clamp on tender wooden, make sure to use a chunk of scrap wooden as a buffer between the clamp and the wooden so the clamp doesn’t go away an imprint on the wooden.

Recessed Mount Body

The normal recessed mount body makes use of a rabbet, or inset, for the artwork to sit down 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 paintings, versus the flush mount body which is constructed immediately onto the canvas stretcher.

The supplies you’ll want to construct this explicit 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 aim to have two tones of stain in my completed body and determined it will be finest to stain first.

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

Step One: Glue collectively the 1/2×3″ exterior 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. You should definitely wipe away any seeping glue with a moist 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, as a way to create a lip which is able to overlap your artwork.

Unfold the glue along with your fingers to restrict glue seepage. Then clamp collectively and permit the glue to treatment.

Step Three: Measure the dimensions of your paintings and add about 1/8″ buffer house/error house.

Step 4: Lower your lengths of wooden with the miter field noticed in response to the measurements from step three. I wish to err on the aspect of longer than essential, as a result of you possibly can at all times lower off greater than you want! Lay the parallel boards in opposition to one another to verify they’re the identical size.

Step 5: Organize a dry match with the band clamp and your canvas. Be certain every thing matches collectively comparatively snugly. If the canvas is just too free in there, you could have to shave a bit off the lengths of the body items.

After the match is good, unfold some wooden glue along 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 offer the piece extra stability. I selected to solely nail on two parallel body items as a substitute of onto all 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 go away an area between the sting of the canvas and the perimeters of the body.

They supply dimensionality to the framed piece and are a good way to point out off gallery wrapped edges of canvas artwork. I personally thought this float mount body can be nice to offer a extra substantial really feel to a skinny, inexpensive 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 vivid white for the surface of the body and a darkish stain to emphasise the float house 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, however it was exceptionally troublesome to later connect the canvas to such a slender house, 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 paintings in your body, add about 1/4″ to create the float house 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 will have to put your paintings into the body, ensuring the gaps are even throughout it. I had a troublesome time getting the gaps to remain at the same time as 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 house 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 house.

It was a little bit 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 a little bit extra ornate by combining molding kinds.

These kits are actually useful when attempting to hold photos they usually make some actually cool devices like this that can assist you dangle issues extra simply.

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

P.S. On the lookout for extra wall artwork DIYs?