How to frame a picture properly — the complete guide
A frame is not decoration. It is protection for the work over decades, and at the same time a decision about how the work will look in your space. Here is what I go through with every client who walks in holding a picture.
Start with the work, not the frame
The first question I ask is not „what frame do you like?“. It is „what are you framing?“. An oil on canvas is framed differently from a watercolour, a watercolour differently from a photograph, and a photograph differently from an exhibition poster. Material, thickness, surface finish — all of it changes what the right answer is.
With an expensive original we are solving protection. With a print from an online shop we are mostly solving how good it looks. Between those lies a whole range — and only then do we choose the frame.
The moulding — how not to overpower the picture
A rule that works: the quieter the work, the quieter the frame. A delicate print in pale tones gets lost in a wide gilt profile. A strong oil painting, on the other hand, carries heavy wood without difficulty.
In the workshop I keep over a thousand profiles from Larson-Juhl, Wohlleb and other European makers. Not because I love every one of them — because every work deserves exactly what it needs, not whatever happens to be in stock.
The mat — more than a decorative border
A mat does two jobs: it separates the work from the frame optically, and it physically holds the work off the glass. The second matters more. When paper touches glass, moisture condenses on it, and after a few years the condensation starts printing itself into the work.
For originals, always acid-free. For prints there is room for compromise, but the price difference is not big enough to be worth saving on. Mat width is usually 5–10 cm — more space means more dignity.
Glazing — compromise or investment
Three real options: ordinary polystyrene glazing, anti-reflective polystyrene glazing, museum glass (Artglass AR70, Tru Vue).
Ordinary glass: cheap, reflective. Anti-reflective: kills reflections cheaply, but does nothing about UV. Museum: expensive, but it protects against both UV and reflections, and you look through it as though through air. For anyone with an original or a work of sentimental value I recommend museum glass. On a stock-photo print it is a waste.
Mounting — what decides how it looks in ten years
Mounting is the trade word for how the work is fixed inside the frame. Tapes, archival corners, acid-free board at the back, a dehumidifier sachet, the hanging system. All of it decides whether in ten years the work looks the same or carries stains from acid, condensation and UV.
Every commission that passes through my workshop comes with a mounting certificate — a sheet stating what I used and the condition the work was in when I took it. For insurers, for inheritance, and for your own peace of mind.
When you can do it yourself and when to call
An off-the-shelf frame for a poster in the hallway you will manage without trouble. But the moment you are holding something that means more to you than decoration — an original, a gift, a signed print, a child's drawing you want to keep — it is worth asking.
A consultation at my workshop is free. I set aside 30–60 minutes, we go through the work, discuss materials, look at samples. Then I send you a quote and you decide calmly at home. No pressure, no limited-time offers.
Marek Homolka
Third-generation framer · RDH Rámy, Přísečná
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