Finishing and Framing
Our Guest Artist today is Tracey Thompson who has several galleries interested in her work and offered to share some tips on finishing and framing with us.
So, you have created your latest pictorial masterpiece and now you have to decide how you wish to display it. Here are a few options that I have tried, I am sure there are more.
Canvas
Deep or shallow edge canvases are very useful and can be used in a number of ways. One suggestion is to make the piece big enough to stretch right over the sides and onto the back, then staple gun the edges of the felt to the wooden structure. Here is my 8×8 canvas example.
Then to tidy up the back I cut a piece of calico to size, ironed a neat hem and sewed it carefully to the back covering all the ugly staples, then added a D ring for hanging.
Another way to use canvas for displaying your work is simply to stick strips of double sided sticky tape onto the canvas and press your work onto the tape, this is useful if you want an organic look rather than a straight edge.
The last canvas tip I have is to again use tape to stick your piece to the canvas but this time, the work is slightly bigger than the canvas, so this creates the illusion that your art is ‘floating’ just off the wall.
Framing
Obviously your pieces can be framed, including a mount and glass. This is how I finish my pieces, choosing the correct colour mount to compliment the work, and using white wooden frames.
Another way of framing is to tape the piece to a complimentary coloured mount board and display it organically within the frame.
The last method I want to show you is a backing for a wall hanging. Once the piece is finished, size a piece of calico for the back similar to the canvas above, and sew as before. Then machine sew a strip of velcro (the fuzzy part) to the top of the work. Cut a slim baton and to this the loop section of the velcro is glued, and a D ring screwed midway for hanging.
The piece now has options available to yourself or the customer. It can be hung as it is, using the D ring, or the baton can be taken off and the piece can be framed organically or with a mount as desired.
I hope that has given you a few ideas as to how you can show your work to its best advantage.
Thanks Tracey for these great framing tips!