How Do You Make Picture Frames?

With a little effort and skill you can easily make photo frames at home itself. It might be a tricky job but not an impossible one. For making your own photo frames you would need certain materials such as Safety glasses, Table saw, Four boards, Belt clamp, Wood, glue, small nails or dowels. If you do not want a wooden frame then you can also use other materials like aluminium or brass.

Choose the wood required for the frame and cut it a little bigger than the size you want it to be. Remember to wear the eye gear to protect your eyes while using the table saw. Cut a slot in the wood pieces to hold the artwork and the glass. Then make a 45 degree cut on each of the board to make the frame in the shape of a square or a rectangle and then cut out the eight corners. Then assemble the pieces in the shape of the required frame and attach them with glue. Use the belt clamp to hold the frame together until the glue dries up. If the frame is very large then use nails and dowels to reinforce the glue after it is entirely dried up.

The trickiest part of making your own picture frame is getting a consistent, straight line for the frame.   Framing material used by frame shops comes pre-shaped with a lip which holds in the glass and artwork.  Standard practice in the framing industry is to cut the inside of the frame to be 1/8" larger in each dimension than the final outside size of your mat and glass.  So, for example, if your mat and glass is 8" x 10", you will want the inside dimensions of your frame to measure about 8-1/8" x 10-1/8".  This gives room for the materials in the frame to expand with temperature and moisture changes.

To determine how much length of framing material you will need for a frame, you can use the following formula:
Length needed =
   (2 x outside width of your mat/glass)
+ (2 x outside height of your mat/glass)
+ (8 x width of your framing material)*

*The last portion of the formula accounts for the extra material you will need to go from the inside section of the frame out to the outside edge at a 45-degree angle.

So, to make a frame for an 8" x 10" mat from a piece of material that is 1" wide, you would need:
(2 x 8") + (2 x 10") + (8 x 1") = 44", or a little less than 4 feet of frame material (assuming there are no flaws or special design elements that need to be taken into account).

When placing items in the frame, be sure your artwork does not touch the glass.  Use a matboard with an opening cut into it or specially designed spacers to separate the art from the glass.  Otherwise, moisture in the frame may cause the art to stick to the glass and it may become damaged if you later try to remove it.