Must I buy a frame for art/poster?
August 18th, 2008
Brett C asked:
It seems like when I am looking at posters or art on AllPosters.com, it costs a lot of money to frame the picture whereas just the print is relatively cheap! Why is this? It it just that wood frames are expensive? Or do they charge money for putting the picture in the frame?!
It seems like when I am looking at posters or art on AllPosters.com, it costs a lot of money to frame the picture whereas just the print is relatively cheap! Why is this? It it just that wood frames are expensive? Or do they charge money for putting the picture in the frame?!
the frame itself is usually what’s expensive as they are often custom made for the piece. You can just buy the print if you don’t mind not having a frame or get it framed yourself after you get it- which would probably be marginally cheaper. Try your local hobby store for framing.
Yes frames are very expensive. Try going to a frame shop and it’s even worse. The best deal I’ve found is frames by mail.com
I have framed many poster type prints and yes it gets to be expensive. First you must consider the type of mounting you will be doing, the type of glass and of course the framing, (metal or wood). The framer will base his cost of materials plus about 35% to the wholesaler and cost plus 100% to the retail customer.
If your poster print is inexpensive choose a lesser value frame and dry mounting for the mounting process without matting. That too is an additional cost to consider. You must remember that the framer is charging for labor on top of everything.
Your heavy ornate wood frames will cost you much more that the simple thin wood frame and of course in metals just the plain painted metal frames are less expensive that the shiny, brassy or florentine finnish ones.