Anthea McGibbon,Staff Reporter 
Using a mitre box to make the angle perfect.
Amateur artists face major challenges as they struggle to rise to financial freedom. With over 20 years' experience in the art industry, Ewan McAnuff offers framing solutions to make your paintings picture perfect. Here are some cost-effective tips on making a good fist of framing your own art.
McAnuff believes that collectors should be given the opportunity to choose their own frames when buying paintings directly from the artist. Your own style and home décor should play a big part in your choices.
Two low-budget methods often applied by artists are strip framing and wrap framing. According to McAnuff, these methods are even seen in renowned art galleries.
STRIP FRAMING
The final look of strip framing before painting.
Aside from its cost cushion, strip framing also makes artwork stand out in the final presentation.
While some persons 'butt up' the strips of wood, McAnuff chooses to cut his strips at an angle using a mitre box. He prefers a 90-degree angle for cutting at angles after measuring the strips to match the length of each side of the painting.
The strips are then used to frame in around the stretcher on which canvas has been stretched and painted on.
For vertical paintings, apply the bottom and top strips first. Then align the other two sides, always ensuring that the strips flush along the outer edges of the canvas, while being able to be attached to the already placed strips at the angles.
Fasten the strips where they join at angles, which can be better achieved with a staple gun using 1/4-inch staples). The strip can then be painted, sprayed or left with its original hue.
GALLERY WRAP
The canvas should be stretched right round to the back for the gallery-wrap method.
In this method, the stretcher should be wrapped before the paint is applied.
The stretcher is usually made two inches thick from top to bottom.
Enough canvas should be used to wrap thoroughly around the stretcher. Therefore, no wood should be visible upon completion. Similar to stretching, the canvas should now be extended to wrap all the way round to cover the entire wooden frame.
With a staple gun, the centre of the longer sides of the stretcher should be secured first, followed by the centre of the short sides of the frame.
Using a staple gun to fasten the wrap.
Afterwards, the corners should be securely fastened, by stretching one 45-degree section at a time, before securing it in the middle.
Unlike stretching, where the staples are driven at the side of the frame, wrapping requires that the fastening agents are instead put at the back of the stretcher, thus being hidden from the viewer after the finished product is mounted. As with the strip-frame method, paint can be applied to the sides of the portrait for an effective finish.
Some frame shops also offer strip framing and make gallery wrap stretcher, if you're unable to do it yourself.
GOLDEN LINKS:
http://studiochalkboard.evansville.edu/p-stripframe.html
http://painting.about.com/cs/paintingknowhow/qt/tipsF2.html
