Personalizing A Mat for A Picture Frame

Series Summary

Four pieces of identical wood or metal connected to form a rectangle. Doesn't sound like a particularly exciting staging ground for your work of art does it? Why not add excitement to your picture or photo by building your own custom frame. Our expert framer will show you how to spice up your walls with with the charming frames in this free craft series.

Debbie Reeves will show you how create the perfect display environment for your art work. She discusses matting and how to cut the perfect mat for your frame. She also tells you how to cut and trace out a jun design that is right for the image you are framing. You will learn how to preserve the images you treasure in these craft lesson videos from Expert Village.

Video Transcript

"On behalf of Expert Village, I'm Debbie and this is Woody, and we're here to tell you about personalizing your picture framing. I'd like to talk to you about personalizing your matting. This picture is a watercolor of a Navajo singer, and he's singing. What we wanted to do with this matting is show movement. With each of these little designs, when you look at it, it just makes you want to sing. Nineteen years ago Susan, who is one of our master mat cutters (she's been with us for over twenty years) won a first place ribbon in a framing contest. What this does for it is that it has the rich color; this is an heirloom that's going to last for generations. It's already lasted twenty year, and it looks as good today as the day that it won its award. Framing is not just, "well let's find a simple frame." Let's make this a one of a kind. When people walk into your house that's the first thing that they're going to look at, and they're going to say, wow, that is really beautiful. This design is hand drawn. On the back of the mat, every single little tiny cut is all hand drawn on the back. This is one that you cannot duplicate; I cannot make a pattern of it. If you were to tell Susan to make another one exactly like it, she couldn't do it. You just could not duplicate this. When you do hand designing of the matting, it's a one of a kind thing; you're the only one who has this particular mat."