Category: Art

February 10, 2020

Frame Matting Basics

When it comes to framing a photo or artwork that you created, frame matting plays an important role. Frame matting is responsible for providing that extra “pop” to your artwork or photo, without losing focus of the work itself. At Frame USA, we offer not only a variety of colors, but we also offer a range of mat corner cuts and various grades of matboard. When trying to determine what size matboard you should order, think of how much matting you want to be shown. Typically this is about 2 inches on each side of your piece. However, this reveal can be as narrow, or as wide, as you’d prefer! Another thing that you need to remember when matting your artwork is that in order for your image to not fall through, there is a slight overlap of the mat and printed piece.. This will usually deduct about ¼ inch from each side. Or if there are some markings that you’d like to cover, we can make any custom opening to do so! This is done so your artwork will sit securely behind the mat.

Carefully choosing the right frame and mat to go along with your artwork adds more character, and can really help the whole frame pop!

Without frame matting

with frame matting

January 16, 2020

Our Different Kind Of DIY Frame

When you hear the term DIY frame you probably think of constructing a frame or repurposing a frame. But what if we told you that we have a different kind of DIY frame? One that is all about you breaking out your crafting skills and getting real artsy? Our Decorate-It Picture Frame Series is perfect for all kinds of decorating, and can even be a fun project for children!

What are Decorate-It Frames?

Decorate-It frames are unfinished, unpainted wood. This makes it super easy to paint on, glue on, wood burn, or use anything that you might want to on them. They also come in 3 different widths so depending on what you want to try, you can choose which one works best for you!

How can I use them as a DIY Frame?

Some of the most common ways to decorate these frames is painting, staining, doodling on them, using stickers, or gluing interesting objects to the frame. You and your children have the opportunity to paint these frames in any way that you would like. You can paint colored blocks, floral borders, or even splatter paint.

Another artist take on these frames is doodling or drawing onto the wood. A unique drawing of random shapes and figures is going to look awesome anywhere that it ends up. You can use it to frame photographs of friends or family. Or you can use it to frame something simple and make the frame itself the focal point. Either way, you can’t go wrong and you are sure to love what you made! One of our personal favorites is gluing objects to the frame. Such as sticks found on a spiritual hike or all the corks that you and friends saved from wine night. This gives the frame an eye catching 3D look that looks great framing a photo or even hanging empty.

Whether you want a DIY frame for you or your children, the Decorate-It Picture Frame Series is going to be perfect for you! Your kids will love using it for their craft project! And you will have a blast transforming this unfinished picture frame into a masterpiece to display!

But don’t forget to send us photos of your picture frames displayed for all to see!

January 8, 2020

Custom Framing Online — Holiday Memories Edition

The build up to the holiday season is always so exciting. Once New Years passes and you get to that first week back on a normal schedule… that excitement is gone. In this technology filled world sometimes its hard to keep the memories alive. Sure, you probably take hundreds of photos to remember the events. Those photos probably are also shared on social media or through online photo albums, but ultimately, they are forgotten about until you stumble across them a few years later. What if there was a way to keep that excitement alive? Custom Framing is the answer!

Custom Framing Online

We know what you might be thinking,

“I would love to be able to get my holiday photographs custom framed, but finding a shop that won’t cost a fortune and give me a high-quality finished piece is hard!”

We’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be hard. There is a way for you to get a custom framed piece without ever leaving your couch. Our Design a Frame feature was built with this particular predicament in mind, it specializes in Custom Framing Online. It takes you through each level of custom framing that you would go through at a framing shop, from the comfort of your home.

Picture/ Image

The first Design a Frame step is ultimately what prompted you to get a custom framed piece in the first place. In other words, The Photo! We give you the option to either upload a photo and have it printed or just order the frame and mat for an already printed photo. Your first step in the process is to enter in the image size. This can be the actual size of the image or your desired size of the image if you are having us print it. If you are having us print your image for you, the easiest way to determine the actual size of the image is to print it out on regular copy paper and measure it with a ruler or tape measure.

Once you have the image measured you will input that size into Design a Frame. If you are having us print your picture for you upload that image into Design A Frame. The orientation of your photo will determine which measurement goes in which box. For instance, this particular image measured at 5.75 wide by 11 inches tall. The length measurement is where you will put the height of your image and the width is the width.

The best part about using our Design A Frame feature is that you only need to know two measurements—the measurement of the image you are framing and how wide you want the mat to be. The custom frame size is automatically formulated from those two measurements. Design a Frame defaults to a black frame with a standard 1” smooth white matte. The next step is for you to decide if you want to keep the default frame or choose a different option.

Frame

You have the options to filter by Metal, Poster or Wood Frames. If you have a specific color in mind you can also choose a color filter that will give you all the frames that have an option within that color family.

Mat

Once you have the perfect frame selected you will move on to your mat selection. We offer Standard, Premium, Black Core, Acid Free, and Suede mats in a number of different colors. During this part of the process you have to enter in how wide you want the mat and decide if you want to add a second or third mat as well as how much of them you want to be revealed. The default is 0.25”.

Glazing/Backing

Once your mat colors are selected you will move on to the fourth and final step in the online custom framing process: Glazing and Backing. The particular glazing options offered are determined by the size of your overall frame. The three options available are Glass, Styrene, or Acrylic. Glass is only offered on frames that are 11×14 and smaller. The three backing options are white foam core, black foam core and the default Cardboard. Once you have decided between them you are ready to add it to your cart and finalize your order!

Finished Masterpiece

You have now successfully made it through the online custom framing process. The next step is to find the perfect place for your finished masterpiece. Your new piece will serve as a constant reminder of your precious holiday memories whether sitting on a shelf or hanging on the wall.

BONUS:

We have a Design A Frame sale going on RIGHT NOW. Use the coupon code MEMORIES for 15% off your order until January 9 , 2020 at 11:59 PM EST.

December 16, 2019

Frame USA’s Gift Guide, Part 3

The clock is ticking, but you are almost there! You are almost completely done with your holiday shopping. To check off the rest of your list, Frame USA’s Gift Guide has a few more wonderful gift ideas that your recipients are bound to adore!

In-Laws

It’s sometimes difficult to find the right gift that you know your in-laws will adore. But we have a great idea, whether you are extremely close with them or still trying to get there. Our Barnwood Tray is a unique, and classy, piece that they will most definitely appreciate! You can buy it with a mirror to make it more decorative, or you can get more personal and add a family photograph that can be seen by all!

New Parents

Help honor the new parents in your circle, and focus on their adorable new baby! Our Baby’s First Year Collage Frame and My First Year Frame are excellent gifts for parents that just had a new child, or their kid just turned a year old. These frames are a precious way to document the newborn’s first year, month to month. Both of these frames have twelve same-size openings, and one separate opening for another photograph. As an extra bonus, our Baby’s First Year Collage lets you engrave the baby’s name on the top of the mat. How cute?!

Teachers

Teachers can be tricky because you don’t always know them extremely well, but you know they deserve something truly special. Gift your children’s teacher a framed, high-quality print that they can hang in their room! We can even help with our Colori Medium or Large Picture Frame. These frames are simple, yet trendy, with all of their colorful options. You can try and match the teacher’s room or match your print. But what better way to say thank you to those that help raise your children?

Now that you have the full Frame USA’s Gift Guide, you are ready to go and start wrapping these affordable frames that are also high quality and make for fabulous home decor! We have shown you custom and personal gifts for your family, friends, and all those people that impact your lives on the daily! There is no doubt that this holiday season is sure to be special!

Happy Holidays from our family, here at Frame USA, to yours!

December 10, 2019

Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide, Part 2

Now that you already have some of your shopping done, using our Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide Part 1, you can move on to the next people on your list! Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide Part 2 is here to show you some more wonderful, custom gifts that your friends and family are sure to love!

Spouse / Significant Other

What could be a better gift than memories, for your other half? If you have a ton of movie tickets, postcards, photo booth photos, or other types of souvenirs sitting around, then you finally have a way to organize and showcase them! With the help of our Shadowbox Frames, you can create the perfect box stuffed full with all of your amazing memories. They are the perfect frame to display items because they are deeper than a normal frame, and can hold wider objects.

Friends

Sometimes shopping for all your friends isn’t as easy as you might think. Either you have too many complicated ideas or you are just drawing a blank on what would be their perfect gift. Don’t worry. We have a fabulous idea that you can personalize to each friend, and they’ll love it! Use one of our stylish Poster Frames to frame a poster that fits your friend’s interests! You can find art posters, educational posters, inspirational posters, TV / movie posters, and so many more at our Posterservice website. Once you have picked out a poster, or a few, that your friend would appreciate, you have to get a poster frame that’ll make it more modern and sophisticated. All your friends will love their gifts and leave with a smile!

Niece / Nephew

If you are looking for a great gift for your niece or nephew, look no further! Our T-Shirt Frame is the perfect option! You can frame your niece’s old dance t-shirts that don’t fit her anymore, but she just can’t seem to throw away. Or you can frame your nephew’s favorite team jersey. This gift is personal and fun, and there is not a chance that they won’t be excited unwrapping it!

You can’t top these creative and personal gifts, can you? I didn’t think so! These custom frames are super fun, and look great hanging on your walls! So continue enjoying all your holiday shopping, and make sure you keep updated for when Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide Part 3 comes along. We will make sure that everybody has a check mark on your list!

December 2, 2019

Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide, Part 1

It is that time of the year again! Where half your friends and family send out their Christmas lists and the other half give you zero hints as to what they would like this year. So what are you supposed to do? What do you get them? Well you’re in luck because we can help give you some awesome gift ideas for everybody on your shopping list! Our Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide will glide you right into the holidays!

Mom and Dad

If there is one thing that parents love, it is their children. And they enjoy showing them off! If you really want to give them something they’ll smile about and truly love, consider gifting them one of our Specialty School Years frames. These frames make it super easy to showcase your school photos from every year, and witness the transformation from year to year.

Your Children

Whether it is your four-year old’s finger paintings or your high schooler’s landscape drawing, everybody appreciates some praise and encouragement. Framing your kid’s masterpieces make priceless gifts! They are an amazing way to let them know that you support and love their work. A perfect frame for this would be our Architect Picture Frames because they are thinner and have a simpler design that won’t take away from the piece being framed. They also come in a variety of colors so you can easily compliment your child’s creation!

Brothers and Sisters

Does your sibling have a favorite artist or album? Do you two have an album or song that bonds you together? Well then our Frame an Album series is the perfect gift for them! You can choose between our black and natural frames to compliment the record cover or artwork. It’s a great way to honor their favorites or the connection you both share!

Now that you have Frame USA’s Framing Gift Guide, you can begin your shopping! But make sure to come back for part 2 and part 3 of the gift guide, to finish off ALL of your shopping!

October 31, 2019

Calling All Artists – We Want To License Your Work!

You first met our Licensing Director, Angela, in our previous blog post all about the licensing process. As mentioned in that post, each week she pulls images to be voted on for new posters. While Angela has gotten some really amazing posters (talking about you Catzilla VS Robot), there are bound to be countless of images and artists that were missed, passed over, or never even found. That’s why we’re here, we’re on the lookout for new posters!

Are you an artist with super awesome artwork?

Have your friends, family, customers and/or yourself ever used the following words to describe your art:

Unique, edgy, enticing, artsy, exciting, relevant, current, top selling, old school cool, energetic, fresh, cultish, pop culture, ground breaking, timeless, striking

Do you have a piece of artwork that you’re just dying to get out to the masses? Are you just waiting on your big break?

If any or all of these fit you as an artist, Let’s talk.

Details

There are a few things we wanted to put out there, and set straight before you think we’re just sending out licensing contracts to any and every artist we come across. We’re a small company so we have to be pretty selective in what we choose. The marketing team and CEO sees and signs off on every single one of our publishing titles. The only images that get the seal of approval are those that we feel our customer base will sell and hang on their walls. There are a handful of images each week, that while we love as individuals, we just don’t see our customers wanting them, so ultimately we pass on them. So if we decide to pass on your artwork, it doesn’t mean that it is a bad piece, it just means it’s not the right fit, DON’T GIVE UP!

One of the other common issues that leads to the team passing on an image, is the proportions. The majority of our posters are 24×36. If we get a piece that we can’t make work those proportions, no matter how much we love we have to pass on it for posters. We chose that size of poster because it is a standard size frame that people would be able to buy! If you’re curious about the type of posters we choose to publish, all of our publishing titles are marked with a on Posterservice.com.

The Best Part

Finally, once your image gets picked and you agree to allow us to license the image, Angela will negotiate a fair advance, (money paid upfront) and a royalty rate, (percentage of each poster sale that the artist receives). A simple licensing agreement is made for the image, and once that is signed, we’re in business!

All of our posters are printed using a local printer. The reason that we use a local printer is so that we can control and sign off on the final print of the poster. We spent this time choosing the images that we think will do awesome, we want to be able to make sure that translates to the printed piece.

If all of this sounds like a dream come true to you, then send Angela an email at [email protected] We look forward to doing business with you.

October 25, 2019

How Image Licensing Works

In addition to being really big fans of Frames, we also love us some art. We have a whole sister company, Posterservice, that is dedicated to providing the world with killer posters. We have a whole new venture that is in the works dedicated to providing great art on demand (Stay tuned for more information on this). So how in the world do we find and get these pieces? We sat down with Angela Aronow, Licensing Director for Posterservice to get the low down of how those images come to be.

General Image Licensing: How the Process Works

We love to license great art for posters, to keep our line diverse and fresh. The categories that have really started to rise in popularity in the past couple of years are Humor and Art. We licensed over half of the titles listed in our newest category on Posterservice.com. A few of the newest titles our Decay Skull, Alice in Wonderland, Beer Art History and Military Alphabet.

The licensing process starts with lots of images. The images that we gather are based on theme, art style, artist or whatever is trending in our lives. Our marketing team reviews these images each week, and decides which ones would be great additions to our poster line. The ultimate goal in this process is that the selected posters are ones that people want to hang on their walls. If a poster sells out within the first two years of us signing the title, it is considered a success. As long as their is demand for a poster, we will continue to produce the title. For those posters that continually fly off the shelves, we will reach back out to the artist and license their other pieces! For example, three artists that have done extremely well are Ralph Steadman, Marc Allante and Leonid Afremov.

Chosen Posters

After the selected art has been chosen, we talk with the artist or licensing agent about the images, and if there are any others we should also consider. As a result of the artist agreeing to let us license their work, an advance and royalty rate are negotiated and agreed upon by both parties. Advances are dollars paid upfront to the artist in order to license the image from them. The royalty is the percentage the artist gets paid from each poster sale, paid out quarterly. A simple licensing agreement is then signed by both parties to seal the deal.

Credit lines get added to the poster image, both for our company and for the artist. Once the proof is approved, we send the hi-res file to our printer, who prints a whole pallet of posters for us! These are then delivered to our warehouse. The final step in our licensing process is to make sure everyone knows about our new great posters!

If you or someone you know is an artist and may be interested in having their artwork produced into posters, contact Angela Aronow at [email protected]

September 13, 2019

Textured Photography for Sale by Jai Johnson

With the launch of Art and Canvas, you will have the opportunity to purchase Textured Photography by Jai Johnson.

Jai Johnson is a photographic artist that creates art that goes beyond the typical photography. Johnson paints on the original photographs to add hand painted textures and backgrounds, making textured photography. She also will sometimes use a variety of computer software to edit the art even further.

Jai Johnson’s passion for creating started when she was only five years old. She made a painting of pumpkins, and it ended up getting featured on a popular television show called “Romper Room”. She was ecstatic that the hostess said her name.

Johnson now lives in Tennessee, and spends most of her time outdoors in nature. She enjoys taking it all in, and capturing life’s most serene and peaceful moments. She says that this can range from the landscape and flowers to the birds and wildlife. Her favorite subjects often have fur and feathers, but rural country scenes and simple moments also capture her eye. When Johnson is not in nature, she is most likely in her studio working on her pieces. She enjoys adding paint to her photographs because she wants the image to move beyond the realm of one specific medium. She believes that this makes her work have its own unique style to it.

If you need a textured photography print by Jai Johnson today, please contact us at 1-800-666-7654 or e-mail us at [email protected].

September 6, 2019

Land and Seascape Paintings for Sale by Anthony Casay

Anthony Casay is a brilliant painter of land and seascapes, but that is not all that he has been. Throughout his life, Casay was an actor, director, producer, and musician, all on top of being an artist.

Anthony Casay moved to Mexico City, with his family, at the age of 8. After living there for one year, Casay began starring in Les Miserables as a child actor. On the side, he would paint and even won several painting competitions, in the local exhibits. When he was 13 years old, Casay won first prize in a national competition with his Mural of the Execution of Mexican Leaders by French Soldiers. At the age of 17, Casay began to host, direct, and produce TV programs for children. He would use his designs and drawings as tools for learning and entertaining in these shows. It wasn’t long before he started playing drums for rock and roll bands, and even became a backup musician for Bill Haley and The Comets. Casay eventually started his own music group that toured around Central and South America.

Although busy, Anthony Casay still found the time to graduate with a degree in Diplomatic and Political Science. Casay was appointed as Mexican Consul to the city of Los Angeles, California, upon graduating. During this time, he continued painting and began to paint more and more. Casay was also inventive with his painting, and he developed his own glazing solution. This allowed the oil to flow across the canvas with the same ease that watercolors would. People began to praise his seascapes, and his work began to rapidly sell across the United States. Casay started shifting away from the political world, and into being a professional artist.