Should you sell your prints framed or Unframed?

By Michael Armstrong
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Should you sell your prints framed or unframed?  A few years ago, I was confronted with the wonderful problem of having several people determined to buy one of my artworks during an opening night celebration. I had the dilemma of having to disappoint everyone except the eventual owner of the artwork. First world problem I know , but that was the moment I started to explore the creation of prints. Prints now constitute almost half my cash flow and are an integral component to my art business. I’ll save discussion for the process of print creation for another day. Today’s blog post is discussing the pros and cons of framing my prints for sale.
 
For many years I sold my prints unframed. Sealed and protected in plastic with a card backing to prevent damage from bending or folding in the post. They were neatly and professionally packaged but I still had concerns that I was missing out on sales; especially face to face sales from visitors to my studio. The quality of my prints is exceptional, the price reasonable so I wondered where the final resistance was coming from. As an artist I’m familiar with the process of framing and I often buy unframed artworks, prints and photographs from young artists when I travel. I like the idea of framing these works myself and I’m not intimidated at all about the process. I wondered if my view was perhaps biased when people exclaimed how much they liked a print but still hesitated at the purchase. Is this wavering a hesitation at the prospect of framing? The unknown costs? The unknown process?
 
It was in response to this uncertainty that I decided to frame some of my prints. I thought it wouldn’t do any harm to have a range of my prints dressed up in a nice frame ready to hang on a wall. The decision made, I investigated options to proceed. I’ve often been disappointed with the quality of framing, for that reason I started manufacturing my own frames from raw materials. I even machined my own timber. The resulting frames were beautiful, and I felt a perfect match for my original works. The amount of labour and materials was extensive and added $300 to the cost of an original artwork but given the price of an original work I felt the investment was reasonable. $300 is not reasonable for a print though. 
 
The Frame Depot produce a range pre-made frames that found I could buy in bulk for a reasonable price (https://framedepot.com.au ). They had comparable designs to my handmade hardwood frames without the labour and materials cost. I had previously purchased a mat cutter for framing my original works and found the process straight forward and cost effective. I purchase my mat and foam materials for framing from Foam Boards Australia (https://www.foamboards.com.au). This combination, including my labour costs, allowed me to produce a range of framed prints for the reasonable price range of $120 - $140 depending on print sizes (A4-A3). This is exceedingly good value and the resulting prints in my opinion look fabulous. The thought now of presenting my prints to customers in any other format seems ridiculous and the argument redundant. 
 
I continue to offer unframed prints for sale for those that would like the pleasure or discount from framing them themselves. I have adjusted the way I display my prints, moving away from displays of plastic wrapped prints to framed, hung and lit prints to display them at their best.
 
If you’re interested in learning more about framing, the following YouTube video shows you how I go about framing my prints with the materials described above.

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​The artwork in this video is Michel, a painting I completed from life in 2005 and only recently was able to borrow back from its owner to have a scan completed for print production. I’ve elaborated on the process of measuring up a mat for cutting below.
 
Measuring Up:
To further understand the detailed steps for measuring up the viewing window for an artwork to fit a frame please follow the following steps: 
 

1. Determine what the outside dimensions are for your mat and foam board by measuring the cavity in the frame. Frame Depot write these dimensions on the front of their frames for ease of use. In the video this dimension is 40cm x 50cm.
2. Cut pieces of mat and 5mm foam board to the dimensions of 40cm x 50cm. I source my mat and foam board from https://www.foamboards.com.au
3. Measure the artwork to determine how much you want visible through the viewing window in the mat board. For some works this is the outside edge of the canvas the artwork is on, for others it will include the white space around the drawing. In this example it was 24cm wide by 29cm high.
4. Subtract the viewing window from the outside dimensions of the foam/mat board and halve it to give you the distance from each edge:
   1. 40 – 24 = 16    /2 = 8cm
   2. 50 – 29 = 21   /2 = 10.5cm
5. Use these dimensions to draw your viewing window on the back of the mat board
6. Cut along these dimensions with the bevelled cutter

 
If you’re interested in supporting this blog please consider buying a Mike Armstrong print which can be found at his online shop:
 
https://traderspace.io/en/spaces/mike-armstrong-art
 
 
Author: Mike Armstrong