I’ve been asked by several clients about framing their precious artwork once they’ve received it. Well, you have 2 options – one, go to a professional framer – there are lots of great ones around town, or two, buy a ready made frame. I do a bit of both with my own personal artwork, and am a big fan of Ikea frames for their simplicity, (and price, cos lets face it – I’d generally rather spend my hard earned $$$’s on the gorgeous artwork inside!!).

The important thing to remember, and a professional framer will do this for you, is to make sure there’s space between your print and the glass to allow it to breathe. Yes, breathe, like a real living thing! Expecially in the climate we have here in Abu Dhabi, which varies between hot, humid, dry, cooler, dusty, hot again, aircon on, aircon off…. etc etc,  your pictures are really subjected to extremes. Because of the climate extremes prints from 8 x 10 inches in size are mounted, which helps to stop them from warping, and just gives them greater longevity.

Sometimes the mounted print won’t be the exact same size as the frame and so you may need to cut the print slightlyat home. Here are some easy steps to show you how – as demonstrated on a storyboard I had printed for my hubby as a Christmas gift from the girls. The frame is a fairly standard Ikea one.

First of all make sure you have a cutting mat, or a piece of heavy duty cardboard underneath. Then take a metal ruler and cut with a craft knife. This should cut all the way through the foam mount too.

Then make sure you use something as a spacer to allow that breathing space. For this one I cut a very thin rectangle from the mat mount that came with the frame – it meant that there was equal amounts of space between the glass and the print all the way around.

I then inserted that into the frame, making sure it was thin enough that it wouldn’t be seen from the outside.

And voila, finished product – breathing, mounted, ensurint it stays looking as good as possible for as long as possible – and ready to hang on the wall for Daddy to show off his girls at work!

Hope that helps – but let me know if you have any more questions about mounting and framing, Kirsty x

PS I am super paranoid about finger prints so I do all of this whilst wearing white cotton gloves 😉 – and yes, I wear them when packaging up customer orders too – cute look huh?!!!