A simple guide to measuring your photo
This simple guide will enable you to measure your artwork to fit your picture frames correctly every time. We take care of all the calculations for you. All you have to consider is the size of your picture.
Measuring a picture for a Frame & Mount
In short – Measure what you wish to see, The mount and frame will expand around the size you tell us. (We do allow 2.5mm overlap per side so your picture doesn‘t fall through the hole in the mount.
A quick video showing how we measure a picture for a frame with a picture mount.
A picture mount is the card insert that surrounds your artwork in the frame. The mount window opening is cut according to the size of the artwork you want to see in the frame. The frame and mount expand around the size of your picture.
To measure your artwork, first lay it flat on a table and measure its width and height in millimetres excluding any white borders. Please note we will cut the window opening 2.5mm per side smaller than the size you tell us. This stop it falling through the mount opening, and means you can tape the artwork to the back of the mount with ease.
Sometimes your picture or photo will have a small white border. If you don’t want to see this in the frame so don’t include this in your measurements.
Measuring for Frame only (Without Picture Mount)
In Short – Measure the size of the whole picture including any white
borders.
A quick video on measuring your picture for a frame without a mount
In this case, you need to measure your artwork including any white border. ie: the full size of your photo from the outer edge to outer edge. (Fig 1 and 2) You can, of course, trim the border prior to measuring.
A useful tip – the “internal frame lip†in the frame designed to house your photo will cover up approximately 6 to 8 mm (Fig3&4)
Please note: we will make the internal size of your frame, 2mm bigger than you tell us so it will fit in the frame with ease.
Measuring for a Multi Aperture Frame
Lay the pieces of artwork on a table in the order you want them. Measure the width and height of each, minus any white border around the images. Ie What you wish to see.
We will cut the mount apertures 2.5mm smaller per side to allow for some overlap. This stops your picture falling through the mount.
Enter each of these measurements into our Multi-frame designer.
You can edit the mount border sizes and picture spacing. WE take care of all other calculations for you.
Measuring for a replacment frame when you allready have a mounted picture
In short – Measure the external size of your mount
You already have a picture in a mount and are looking to swap your frame.
In this instance you need to measure the width and height of your mount from the external edge to external edge, making sure you keep your ruler or tape measure horizontal. We make your picture frame larger, by 2 mm. This is to ensure a perfect fit every time.
Measuring for Mounts only (You already have a Frame)
In this instance, you have two sets of measurements to take.
1) The internal size of your frame
2) The size of your artwork
Measuring your artwork & Frame
To measure your artwork. lay it flat on a table and measure its width and height in millimetres.
Please note we will cut the opening 2.5mm smaller per side you tell us automatically to allow sufficient overlap stopping your picture falling through the opening window.
You can adjust this if you require by adding 5mm to the width and 5mm to the height.(Fig 1 & 2).
Measuring your frame
To measure the frame, lay it down on a flat surface face down. Remove any backing board, mounts and pictures. You will see the frame has a rebate your mounts and backing and glazing will fit on to.
Measure the width and height of the internal size of the frame in mm (Fig 3 & 4).
You now have all the measurements to calculate your border sizes.
1) Take the width of the artwork from the width of the frame and divide by 2. This will give you your left and right border sizes.
2) Do the same for the height to give the top and bottom border sizes.
Should I Choose a Frame with a Mount
Artwork will nearly always look better in a frame with a mount. The reason is simple. It offsets the artwork from the frame and visually proportions the artwork in the frame. It also transforms an inexpensive piece into something expensive. In our experience, people often make the mistake of thinking their artwork already has a white border, so there is no need for a mount. Mounts give an opulent depth to appearance that white borders cannot. See our gallery for some
Choosing Mount Border Sizes
The picture mount border sizes refer to the width of the card insert surrounding your art offsetting it from the actual picture frame. The min border size we cut is 25mm but we do recommend at 50mm. You can change each border left right top and bottom. Professionals often add a 10% to 15 % weighting to the bottom border this works best on landscape artwork. They will also sometimes use 10 to 15% narrower side borders for portrait apertures. In terms of maximums you can go as large as you like. You often see small pieces of art in large mounted frames in upmarket galleries. These do create a stunning centre piece in any room..
Choosing Mount Colours
Mount colours are a personal choice and the right mount is different for everyone, the best way to decide is to experiment with our online Picture frames designer. Even better if you can upload an image of your artwork so you can see what it looks like.
As a rule of thumb you should not pick a colour lighter or darker than the lightest or darkest colours in your artwork, this will ensure the mounts don’t over power the art. Double mounts gives you the opportunity to use the bottom mount as the darkest colour and the top mount as the lightest colour. This will ensure success.
