How To Make A French Mat For A Picture Frame

How to make a picture frame.

How to make a french mat for a picture frame.

Mats are used in framing photographs and artwork to center the focus of the picture and give it a sense of spatial depth. Beginning with a turquoise mat add 1 2 foam board on top and end with the addition of a white mat on top of the foam board. French mats continued to be popular into the 20th century. In this video i show you how i did a custom frame and mats for some artwork.

It drives me caaa razy. It started as several sheets of paper of different sizes piled up in order to protect the painting. Now it is used to give depth to the mount or image. The addition of a sleek well cut mat can greatly enhance the look of any framed picture but having a mat cut and frame made commercially can sometimes cost more than the picture itself.

Here the image is cut apart each section mounted on 1 4 foam. Of course you also need art or photos you ll put in the frame and the tape is for taping the art inside the frame if you don t have another way to hold it in. Https youtu be 0ibr 7n5rem xii print by mike m. French matting looks like a series of frames drawn around the mount.

Picture frames mat board ruler cutting mat exacto knife pencil tape or hardware for holding the art in the frame. The english mats created at this time were similar to those from france but at times the english mats were dark with opaque lines a style which worked well in dark interiors and in contrast with the maple and gold frames that were popular. Traditional french matting is an embellishment technique used in the past mostly for engravings and botanicals. Carol duvall host of hgtv s the carol duvall show shares her discoveries about matting and framing artwork.

Especially when the mat doesn t match the bright white of the frame.