Learning to Frame

I've been stitching for years and years and shelling out loads of money on framing my pieces. My goal is to learn to frame myself to cut down on the cost. However, there are a lot of steps in the process and I'm not ready to do them all at once. But this year we have ventured further than ever before.

The process is different depending on what you are framing, but since we are doing stitching, the first step is stretching and pinning. We got tips from the internet and some friends. We purchased rust free pins and acid free foam core and we went to work pinning. It was actually pretty easy. 

We pinned all our witch stitching and then some other things. For the art show, we pinned stuff and hung it without frames and we even stretched and pinned Tricia's piece.

That was a good first step for us. We then took the witches in and ordered glass, mats, and frames for them. I'm not quite ready to build my own frames, mainly because I'm not sure where to buy frame materials. The stitching store we love, easily orders the three together and they come to the perfect size. But yes...still pricey.

When those things arrived, it was our turn again. Gotta clean the glass first. I actually think this is the hardest step. It is really hard to get everything off the glass and not touch it with your fingers and have to start all over again.

Next, we bought this cool new tool called a Point gun. It shoots the little points into the frame that keep your artwork trapped inside. We double matted the witches, so they rose just a touch past the frame. So it was a little tricky to press down and get the point well embedded. We each took a few practice points, but after that...we nailed it.

Look how great. Held in there by itself.

But the back was still unfinished. Just a few more steps. We taped our brown paper to the table to keep it in one place.

Then we added adhesive to the back. It took us a while to find the right stuff, but I'm really happy with the GlueGlider Pro that we got. It was easy to apply and held really well. 

Then you simply flip your frame onto the paper and press down making sure the adhesive sticks. (No measuring and hoping you cut the paper to the right size.) When it is pressed nicely, you flip it back over and trim the extra paper off. 

The next step took the most faith the first time I did it. Remember, I got most of these tips online, and people didn't always agree in their methods. So the first time I sprayed the paper backing, I thought I might have ruined it.

Fear not, just add heat. I heard from one guy you can just set it to dry, maybe by a radiator, but I like the hair dryer method much more. And it is very satisfying watching the wrinkles disappear.

Check out the back of that frame. It is tight! Now to drill some holes and add the hooks and wire.

Tyler was best with the power tools. At one point, on my second frame, I wanted to look as confident as he did, so I tried to look experienced and casual and I drilled RIGHT THROUGH MY FRAME. Oh, and INTO THE TABLE. Genius. I didn't let it bother me. We just got out some wood putty and I painted it black when it was patched. You really have to look for it. No harm done, unless you count the table. :(

After you add hooks, get your wire and twist it like so. We added some rubber bumpers on the bottom as well.

And there you have it. Four witches up on the wall just in time for Halloween. 

I'm so impressed with us. I feel very confident about the steps we did. There are still a few more we need to figure out, but I count this as a complete success. Here are Minerva, Electra, Raven, and Ana. You can look for the hole on Electra (the orange one) but I don't think you'll find it. I can't see it in the picture.

Here's a close up of the beads. I'd like to thank my mom for teaching me to stitch. It has brought a lot of joy to my life. I think June would say the same thing.