Book review: Framing mixed media art

If you’re like me, you often end up with a piece that is hard to imagine framed in a traditional style. Even so, I think that the basic principles of how to choose a good frame are the best place to start when making your choices. Here are three sources of info that I think you will find very very helpful: a book, a blog, and a commercial site.

Frame It!
by Tonia Davenport

This book is brilliant! Because Tonia works with media that aren’t always perfectly flat, she has come up with scads of great ideas for framing the same. There is also a wealth of good basic information on mat cutting and traditional frames.

How to Match the Correct Frame to Your Art, a blog post by Dan at The Empty Easel. Dan talks about how to choose a frame that will match the style of the work. Although his focus is on paintings, the basic information certainly holds for mixed media. He is also another advocate of thinking iit through to determine whether a frame is even the best choice at all!

Lastly, how would you like to get an idea of what it will all look like before you buy the materials? Check out ImageKind. Although you’re limited to traditional styles of frames with this site, it’s still a great resource for getting an idea of what different color combos and styles will do to your piece…because you can upload a file to the site and build a virtual frame around it! Pretty cool, huh?

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