So, you’ve an framed piece of art that you want to make look slightly different. There’s nothing wrong with an unframed work of art as long as the canvas isn’t stapled into the sides. You need though to paint the outside edges so you don’t see lines of white. Painting the outside edges of the canvas the wall colour can look good.

You could try and find an old frame that fits your piece of art, but you’ve decided to have an unfinished wood frame made to suit your canvas. The ACF canvases are very precise in their measurements, so we know that the frames will fit your canvas well. Frames come with fixings.

You’re not overly impressed with an unfinished frame. They can look good at times though. It depends on the situation. How about painting the frame in the colour of the main background. In this case, we painted the canvas with black gesso. We then used the same black gesso to paint the frame a plain colour. It could have been another colour.

It does look really nice with a background painted frame to it. We needed to do more though. How about carrying the painting over onto the frame in some way? Use the same colours and style on the frame as used in the art. The inside lip of the frame can also give the art more ‘depth’ to give it a slighly 3D effect overall.

Then to finish off; embelish the frame in some way. I used a gold pen to highlight the raised ridge along the outside of the frame and added a bright red painted, wooden butterfly in the top left. You, or your customer could have finished it in any way you wanted. If it went slightly wrong, then the frame could be rubbed down slightly and repainted.

No final finished image here yet, but there will be one. An ACF canvas with oak floating frame (deep edge or thin edge) is ideal for an ‘add-on’ frame. You could’ve given a customer the option of buying an ‘add-on’ frame to further enhance their purchase of your art, and your profitability.

The artwork shown above was a 40cm x 60cm canvas. This unfinished wood frame is made by a UK company called Mainline Mouldings. It is 55mm wide and 22mm deep. The frame would list at about £35.00 + delivery and packaging. Discounts are available for artists and bulk purchases. There are alternative different picture frame combinations.