Matting and framing a photo is EXPENSIVE!

[beastcivic]

[rant]

Getting an irregularly shaped photo matted and framed is rediculously expensive (because I couldn't get a standard 'in store' frame to fit this picture).

With a 50% discount (just an FYI that Michael's is having a 50% off framing sale right now for the entire week), framing a 12"x18" picture (3 mats, basic frame and glass) ran over $75! That would normally cost over $150!!!!!! That's totally insane.

Each mat (the cheap ones) are $11, the 'suede' look one was $18 (on sale). That means the frame was over $30 (on sale).

I need to get into framing and making my own mats.

[/rant]

[dome]

[rant]

Getting an irregularly shaped photo matted and framed is rediculously expensive (because I couldn't get a standard 'in store' frame to fit this picture).

With a 50% discount (just an FYI that Michael's is having a 50% off framing sale right now for the entire week), framing a 12"x18" picture (3 mats, basic frame and glass) ran over $75! That would normally cost over $150!!!!!! That's totally insane.

Each mat (the cheap ones) are $11, the 'suede' look one was $18 (on sale). That means the frame was over $30 (on sale).

I need to get into framing and making my own mats.

[/rant]

matting is pretty easy. The hardest part is just getting the measurements perfect, but once you get the right tools you'll be set. It's also a lot easier if you have 2 people with you.

Just practice on some spare matitng and you'll have the technique down pretty soon.

[beastcivic]

But the color mats I got I won't have a huge stock pile of, unfortunately. If I wanted to cut jst plain white, that would be easy.

My girlfriend might be able to get me some free matting equipment from her mom, who doesn't use it anymore. That'll help out a little bit. But I wanted this picture to look really nice, since it is a present for my girlfriend. I had to foot the bill for the good stuff.

[Verdugo]

Yeah, I have an 15x10 I need to get framed...kinda scared about how much it'll cost

[Wrinkleboi]

i bought a charcoal landscape while i was in beijing that is about 18x42 and i went to michaels with my half price coupon ready to bite the bullet for $100 or so for a single mat and a simple frame... it was over $300 and that was half price. i was pretty sad but i declined to have it framed. this thing is really nice and should definitely be on my wall but for now its rolled up .
bryan

[beastcivic]

Yeah, I have an 15x10 I need to get framed...kinda scared about how much it'll cost

Go to Michael's this week, it's at least 50% off, 60% if you do two pieces and 70% if you do three or more.

That'll at least cut down on some of your cost.

[beastcivic]

i bought a charcoal landscape while i was in beijing that is about 18x42 and i went to michaels with my half price coupon ready to bite the bullet for $100 or so for a single mat and a simple frame... it was over $300 and that was half price. i was pretty sad but i declined to have it framed. this thing is really nice and should definitely be on my wall but for now its rolled up .
bryan

That sucks, but it'll definitely be pricey due to its size (the 42" dimention is huge). $300 is crazy.

At that point, just get a canvas board and tack a frame boarder to it with the picture and a piece of glass on the picture, on top of the canvas. It'll be cheaper.

I found a place online that'll do it cheaper (around $50 for the picture I'm having framed) but that didn't include shipping.

Its such a rip off!

[MasiveMunkey]

What does "matted" mean?

[cbr600f3]

Hell yeah its expensive. I needed a picture matted, mounted in a frame 8X10 if I recall correctly and it was over $100.00

Granted it will look nicer and more professional than anything I could come up with but jeez.

[TurbeauxREX]

Who is the Michael and why don't you have him arrested? j/k
Damn, that's outrageous. Have you tried a local camera store? I had a 24 x 36 print made (color corrected, etc) mounted, matted & framed for $250. Basic black aluminum frame and double matt.

A typical 16 x 20 usually runs me ~$40 at a local crafts/frame shop. Is Michael's the only thing around in your area? Shop around. It sounds like their savings really aren't.

Peace,

Curtis

[Wrinkleboi]

look what i got today!! ordered some 20x30 prints and they arrived today... they look great. all of them were shot on film then scanned except the car photo which was taken with my D70. everything was cropped a bit i'm sure, and the only thing having issues at 20x30 was the car print from the D70 . i'm sure it would look fine in a 16x20 though and thats pretty good. for comparison i put in some 8x10 prints matted in 11x14 frames. normally you'd think they are a pretty good size that way, but not next to these beautifully monsterous prints.
anyways, framing... i've found that the largest standard sized frames and standard size matboard is 30x40 which means you need to stay under those dimensions before your prices will skyrocket. I am going to wait for a sale at Michaels and pick up some of the nicer 24"x36" frames there for $35-$50 each after 50% off, get some matboard for about $15 a sheet, and take it to a woman I know who will cut it for $5 a sheet. that is my plan for the 3 black and white prints, which will end up in my room. the pig is destined to be framed and hung somewhere, just not sure yet. the car photo was a friends car and basically a test to see how my digital prints look thta size, so i'll probably just give it to him.

[beastcivic]

What does "matted" mean?

"Matted" means the photo has a border around it, sometimes colored, sometimes not. But it isn't just a printed border on the picutre, it is actually a thick board (1/16" to 1/4" thick) that sits on top of the picture's edge, between the picture and the glass. The board is called a 'mat'.

Hope that explains it. If not, let me know and I'll try to explain it better.

[beastcivic]

Who is the Michael and why don't you have him arrested? j/k
Damn, that's outrageous. Have you tried a local camera store? I had a 24 x 36 print made (color corrected, etc) mounted, matted & framed for $250. Basic black aluminum frame and double matt.

A typical 16 x 20 usually runs me ~$40 at a local crafts/frame shop. Is Michael's the only thing around in your area? Shop around. It sounds like their savings really aren't.

Peace,

Curtis

I will have to look around because it definitely isn't cheap. I hope there are other options out there, but Michael's has a fairly large selection of mat colors and textures and frames, if I really wanted something different. But another option would be nice because I cannot afford to keep framing pictures at this cost.

And it would have been cheaper if it had a normal size ratio, but this is a 12x18", the frame size wasn't one they offered in stock, which bumped up the price. Unless I wanted a larger border around the top and bottom of the shot, which I didn't.

I have to be careful now to allow for space on the wide side of my picture to crop off, to allow it to fit into a standard size frame, which would save me a lot of trouble.

[beastcivic]

Bringing this back from the dead...

Turns out the guy didn't ring up the frame in my initial cost. (And kind of a good thing too, the color/type we chose didn't look that good on the final product.) So we picked a dark brown frame (made from real wood, not pressboard, so that hikes up the cost).

So after getting 60% off the frame (for our troubles and because we tried to order it when it was 50% off) the total came to $55 on sale! So now this whole thing is costing me $140, I paid less than 10% of the total cost for the picture itself. This is nuts. I don't think I'm ever framing and matting anything 'custom' again unless I win big in the Mega Millions or something.

Hopefully I'll have the total finished product by this weekend and can post up a shot of it in the frame. See if you guys think it's worth $140. LOL (would have been $5 shy of $300 at full cost....framers get way too much for cutting, shaping and staining wood.)