Framing ideas:

When to use strong colour mounts

Strong colour mounts are not commonly used by themselves as they tend to over shadow the art, drawing attention away from the image being framed. However, when used with black line drawings or etchings on a white background they can focus the attention onto your artwork, such as the map we have used as an example. The strong contrast against the white background illuminates the map and intensifies the black lines.

Mount colours such as Maroon from our Pink and Red range, Damascus green from our Green Range or Baghdad Brown from our Brown range all work well. For a classic look we chose frame c36, a traditional black with gold, from our Black Frame Collection. As a guide we recommend a mount width of 7 to 10 cm but your choice will depend on the size of your artwork.

Shades of White and Pale Colour Mounts

White mounts exaggerate highly colourful images such as the Campbell’s soup tin in our example below. We used a Snow White mount from our White Mount Range and frame c26, Square White, Silk Matt Finish from our White Frame Collection to give a striking contemporary look.

A light blue mount, Light blue or Tudor Ice from our Blue Mount Range, in the children’s picture below draws out the light blue tones of the image. Pair this with a natural frame such as our hand finished flat oak frame in our Natural Range for a contemporary but classic look.

A classic choice of mount colour is our White Solid Core acid free or Ivory Powder both from our White and Cream range. These are extremely popular as they compliment so many images. If in doubt choose simple classic mount colours.

Double mounts

Some images benefit from a strong colour edge but can be swamped if the whole width of the mount is a strong colour. A double mount can be very effective in this situation. A 5mm or 8mm inner mount using a strong colour paired with a pale or white mount outer mount of 70 to 100mm gives you a strong inner edge.

Contrasting Themes

In our framed print of the British Isles the strong graphic style of the image is complimented by the natural and uneven grain on the natural wood frame.

The way we have framed this image makes you linger on the graphic v natural combination. We used a hand finished flat oak c243-09 frame from our Natural Frame Collection.

Watercolours

In the example below we have used a traditional shaped frame with an olive green finish, c209-02, from our hand finished range together with a classic White Solid Core mount. Our hand finishes are a subtle way of pulling out/highlighting a colour in your artwork. For example, in the watercolour below, the subtle olive green hand finish highlights the natural tree green.