Firstly, framing is a lot easier than you may think! Once you've done it once, you'll see how simple and quick it really is.
We sell 8x10 inch and A4 sizes of all our designs to suit buyers worldwide. For those unfamiliar with A4 it is a common international paper size comparable to 8x10 inch. No matter which size you select the actual laser cut wood and printed elements of the design are identical in size. A4 is slightly longer than 8x10" so the design will simply have a little more white space around the edge.
You can of course use any frame which is sized for our artwork, but to try and keep things simple, we usually use IKEA frames for our product photos. We do this because the same frames can be found no matter where you live on the planet! Specifically we tend to use the black RODALM frame from IKEA, its simple design suits our artwork - but that's not to say they won't look great in other frames!
If you order our artwork in 8x10 size then you will want to buy the 12x16" RODALM frame, with the mat left in it will fit our 8x10 sized artwork perfectly.
If you order our artwork in A4 size then you will want to buy the 30x40 cm RODALM frame, with the mat left in it will fit our A4 sized artwork perfectly.
Your purchasing options may be different depending on where you live and your country's IKEA stores. For example, North American stores offer the 12x16" size, while European stores offer the 30x40 cm size.
So now let's assume you've got your frame.
The steps outlined below are for the RODALM frame mentioned above, but they should be similar for all frames from anywhere!
We recommend you do this on a clean flat and level surface - mainly because it just makes it a hell of a lot easier than trying to do it on your lap or on a lumpy duvet!
First thing you need to do is prize up the metal clips holding the wood backboard in place. You can either use your fingernail (careful!) or something like a flat-edged screwdriver or a butter knife. Once they are all bent 90 degrees up you can lift out the wooden backboard.
Underneath this is the mat (the border which goes around the picture). Lift this out and set it aside.
Underneath the mat is the glass (or Plexiglas) and then under that is a removable spacer which allow you to have the glass at either the very front or slightly further back in the frame. Because our artwork is 3D you want to have the glass at the front and the spacer behind.
Remove the spacer and now put the Plexiglas in first - make sure to carefully remove the thin protective film from both sides of the Plexiglas first! Now put that spacer back in. You're basically swapping these two layers around.
Now you can take the artwork and carefully line it up with the opening in the mat, the mat opening is usually a 1/4 inch (3 - 4 mm) smaller than the artwork, allowing you a little bit of wiggle room on all sides. Once you have it lined up evenly all around the edge you can add a few strips of tape (any tape will do, clear cellotape or white masking tape) around the edge making sure it is stuck to both the back of the artwork and the mat.
Once you have the artwork stuck to the matting. We usually do each corner and one in the middle of each edge. You can put the matting with the attached artwork in the frame behind the Plexiglas and spacer.
Now you can put the wood backboard back in and fold the metal clips back down. Make sure you put it in so the picture hanging brackets are aligned correctly so it will hang on the picture hook the right way up!
That's it!
Now you just need to get a hook in the wall...
