So, you have a piece of personalised wall art and you want to hang it on your wall. What sort of frame should you get? How do you go about choosing what will look best?
Framing a picture is an art. There's no right or wrong frame for a particular picture and a lot of it is about personal taste. But there are obvious practical constraints, like:
picture size (you need to get a frame that fits the picture)
frame availability (you can't choose a frame that isn't available)
frame style (there can be a lot to choose from!)
For any picture framing decision there are only three essential things to consider:
the personalised artwork
the frame
where are you going to hang your personalised wall art?
It's the combination of the artwork, the frame and where it's hanging that determines whether a framed picture looks 'right' in its setting.
Let's get on with it...
1. The Personalised Artwork
Personalised art is different from traditional art.
Personalised art often emphasises text whereas traditional art is more about the image. Personalised art often exists to communicate a specific message to a specific person whereas traditional art may be more about the artists vision.
Size - Most personalised art is relatively small (A4 is the most popular size we sell). A small sized piece of art is in danger of being swamped if it's displayed inside a large, ornate frame.
Colour - Think about the colours in your artwork. If your artwork is pastel yellows, pinks and greys, then a big neon-green frame will overwhelm it! It's often said that you should frame a piece of art by choosing a frame whose colour matches a colour from the artwork.
Style - Bear in mind that personalised art has a message, so anything that takes the focus away from the message (e.g. an overly fancy picture frame) might not be a good idea. We're not fans of mirrored picture frames for personalised art because they're extremely distracting when you're looking at the art.
2. The Frame
When choosing a frame, it's very tempting to think about it in relation to the artwork only - look at the picture and find a frame that goes well with it. Job done! Or is it? The frame you choose has more than one job to do:
frames separate the art from it's immediate surroundings (a frame forms a physical barrier that stops the viewers's eye from being distracted).
frames are the means by which an artwork is incorporated into a room.
frames can subtly extend the artwork (by extending the colour or style of the art).
Colour - Since the frame separates the art from the room, a frame colour that is identical to the wall on which it hangs means that it can get 'lost'. If you have grey walls, by all means get a grey frame, but make sure it's a(n obviously) different shade of grey. The more contrast there is between wall colour and frame colour, the more your frame will 'pop' (e.g. a black frame on a white wall). But don't be afraid of colour too, especially if your artwork has strong colours - you can really draw attention to a colourful artwork with a bold, colourful frame.
Style - Narrow frame or wide frame? Plain and simple or ornate and detailed? With a mount (a card border within the frame) or without?Ultimately, it's your choice and your taste. For personalised art we favour something fairly plain and simple as we think a frame that's too ornate or decorated detracts from the message in the artwork.
3. Where Are You Going To Hang Your Personalised Wall Art?
The place in your house where you're going to hang the artwork can affect what kind of frame is best. Why?
Size - Wherever you hang your picture, there needs to be enough space (I hope this is obvious!). If you're hanging a single picture on a single wall and you're going to make it a bit of a feature of the room, then you have the flexibility to choose a larger frame if you want. If you're displaying the picture half way up the stairs, you'll be a bit more pushed for space.
Colour - What colour is the room where you're going to hang your personalised art? Do you want it to stand out or blend in? Do you want to draw attention to it or let people discover it?
Style - What's your decor style? Minimalist and modern? Traditional and homely? Cluttered and clumsy? You can choose a frame to compliment the style or to clash with it.
One thing to remember with all wall art is that you can move it from room to room and you can move it into another frame. It doesn't always have to stay in the same place. This one reason why so many people love wall art and why it's been such a popular way of decorating people's homes for centuries (check out other reasons why wall art is such a popular form of home decor here).
4. If You've Managed To Read This Far...
...you're all ready to choose a frame for your picture.
You've thought about the art, you've thought about the frame and you've thought about where it's going to hang. And you know that whatever decisions you make now, they don't have to last forever: you can change the room a picture hangs in and you can change the frame at a later date too.
Right at the beginning of this article I said that 'framing a picture is an art'. And it is.
And just like art, it all comes down to personal taste in the end.
What's YOUR taste?
What's YOUR style?
Go now...and frame!
5. Buying Framed Personalised Prints As A Gift
If you're buying a framed personalised print as a gift, you obviously don't necessarily know where it's ultimately going to hang, so it's a bit harder to choose the perfect frame. In this case we suggest you choose a simple, plain black or white frame because these frames look great in most settings and they show off the artwork with minimal distractions.
