How to Frame a Painting
Framing Oils, Acrylics and Canvas Prints is Easy with Right Hardware
Jun 8, 2009
When framing a painting or print on stretched canvas, there is no glass to clean or worry about breaking. With the right picture frame, some inexpensive hardware and a few household tools, framing a stretched canvas is an easy DIY project.
Frames for Paintings
Custom and ready made wood frames are the best frames for paintings on canvas. Metal frames, which require sliding artwork into a recessed channel in the frame, are often too shallow to accommodate canvas stretcher bars. And sliding a canvas into a metal frame may scratch the paint.
There are a few different types of hardware that can be used to hold a painting in a frame, and all of them are available from framing suppliers. The depth of both the frame rabbet and the canvas stretcher bars will determine which method should be used. Many ready made frames will be shallower than stretcher bars, meaning the painting will stick out of the back of the frame a bit. If this is the case, offset clips or canvas clips will be needed to install the painting.
In addition to offset clips or canvas clips, a screwdriver, an awl (or hammer and nail) for making screw holes, a tape measure or ruler, and appropriate picture hanging hardware are also needed to properly install a painting in a frame. Adhering foam, felt or cork pads to the back of a frame to keep framing hardware from scratching walls is also helpful.
Framing with Offset Clips
Offset clips are bent metal pieces. One side attaches to the back of the frame with a screw and the other holds the canvas in the frame. Using one offset clip on each side of a frame is enough to secure a small painting, but larger paintings and warped canvases may need two clips, or more, per side.
A disadvantage to offset clips, however, is that they need to be the correct size to fit securely. Offset clips are available in a range of depths, from 1/8" to 1 1/4". With the canvas in the frame, measuring the distance between the back of the frame and the back of the stretcher bars is the best way to determine which size to buy.
Framing with Canvas Clips
Metal canvas clips are also made from bent pieces of metal. One end slides into the allowance between the frame and the canvas and the other end wraps around the stretcher bar. Tension holds the canvas in the frame. Metal canvas clips are useful for installing a painting in a frame temporarily for an art show, because no tools are needed and they are easily removable. Just like offset clips, about four to eight canvas clips are needed depending on the size of the canvas.
But canvas clips can be problematic; they must be the same width as the canvas stretcher bars in order to work.. Warped stretcher bars also make metal canvas clips more difficult to use. Wood stretcher bars and wood frames can also expand and contract over time, easing the tension that holds the painting in the frame, another reason why canvas clips are better for temporary framing than for long term display
Other Ways to Frame a Painting
Both offset clips and canvas clips work well for framing a painting that sticks out of the back of a frame. If the stretcher bars are the same depth as the frame, turn buttons can be used to hold it in place. Turn buttons are often used to hold the backs on small photo frames; larger versions of this type of hardware can be used to hold smaller canvases in a frame.
Regardless of the framing method used, framing a painting on canvas is a relatively quick and inexpensive process. Whether consulting a professional or doing picture framing at home, being familiar with common standard frame dimensions is another great way to save money on framing art.
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