How to Make Professional Quality Picture Frames

this video is sponsored by expressvpn hey everyone 
michael alm here so this week i'm going back into   frame making last week we made the picture frame 
sled right here and this week i wanted to talk   about the basics i was realizing that i've made 
four videos on frame making already on my channel   but i've never made one about making a basic 
picture frame and this is the style that i'm   gonna be talking about this style i like to call 
the gallery frame this is what you're gonna see in   a lot of art galleries this is my bread and butter 
when i'm working with clients i make this all the   time the other thing that i wanted to cover is 
how to properly measure your artwork for a frame   this is something that is often overlooked and 
it's an incredibly important step i've made these   worksheets available for you guys whenever i make 
a picture frame i will fill this entire form out   just to make sure that i don't get confused on the 
measurements because oftentimes when i'm making   picture frames i'm making like 10 or 15 of them 
and this keeps all those measurements straight   i'm going to go through all the details so 
stick around and i'll show you how it's done   before i start measuring the artwork to 
fit into the frame i like to choose what   mount i want for that art piece a mount is just 
basically how the artwork fits into the frame   there's three main categories of this there's the 
matted where you put a matte board surround on the   piece of artwork there's the float mount where 
it floats in the middle of a matte board backer   and then there is the flush mount which is where 
the art piece actually fits inside of the frame   just note that if you're going to 
do a flush mount you'll lose about a   quarter inch on all sides of the art piece so make 
sure that the art piece is appropriate for that   next step is to start measuring the artwork 
and for that i've got this worksheet which   is available for free on my website so make sure 
you download that it makes it a lot easier these   are the art pieces that we're going to be framing 
and the first one is this little six inch by six   inch piece by zoe keller i've got a section up 
there for the title and then you can fill out the   basic art size the visible area is exactly what 
it sounds like it's the area that will be seen   and so for a matted piece you would have 
the mat covering the piece of artwork   now i'm going to be float mounting this piece so i 
don't need to worry about that the visible area is   going to be exactly the same size as the art piece 
because you're going to see the entire art piece   so now i can move down to the mounting section the 
mounting section you just choose one of the three   categories and then you transfer your math down 
below so six inches by six inches from the visible   area category and then you add in your reveal 
this is however much exposure you want on all four   sides i do the four sides individually because 
sometimes you want a little extra weight at the   bottom so you just add those numbers together get 
eight and a half by eight and a half and then i   can transfer that down to the framing area so when 
it comes to the frame internal dimensions the id   you want a little extra space in there you 
want a little bit of wiggle room so that   um so that it doesn't bind inside of the frame 
i like to add either a 16th or an eighth inch   and and then i can continue down the worksheet 
the rest of the framing area is just basically   what you're going to put inside of the frame 
whether you're going to use plexiglass or glass   spacers what kind of mat you're going to use 
and we're going to get into the details of all   those parts in a little bit the main thing 
in this section is you're establishing the   minimum depth of the frame so that you don't make 
a frame that's too shallow to hold the artwork   and then i like to draw a little profile 
in the bottom right hand corner so that   i have a quick reference guide for all 
the measurements when i go to mill it up all right that's one down and i'm gonna do 
a couple more real quick just so that you   guys can see how how simple this really is 
so for this piece it's seven by five inches   there's a little bit of depth to 
it there's an eighth of an inch   and then it's going to be a flush mount which 
for flush mount i still say the visible size   is the same seven inches by five inches circle 
that seven inches by five inches there's no reveal   on it so it's again seven inches by five inches 
flush mounts really the easiest to measure for   and then the frame id i add that eighth of an inch 
so that i have a little bit extra slack in there   and then i go down the rest of the sheet fill out 
all the different parts and stuff and draw out my   frame profile that's it it's pretty quick i think 
each piece takes about five minutes to measure out   just so we've got all the bases covered i'm going 
to quickly go over what it's like to measure out   a matted piece and so this one's already matted 
obviously but i can show you how it was measured   so i did the basic art size which is the actual 
outside area then i determine what of that artwork   i want to be seen and then that becomes the 
visible area from that visible area i decide   on my reveal the matting of this is consistently 
two inches on each side and on the top but on the   bottom they've added a little bit of extra weight 
which is another three eighths so it's two inches   two and three eighths then another two inches 
two inches and then you add all those numbers   up and you get your outside dimension take 
that outside dimension once again add an   eighth to it and then fill out the rest of the 
form like you did before it's it's super easy   so now that everything is measured i can 
remove the artwork from the room which   i like to do because i don't want to damage 
it at all i'll then take all of those sheets   that i created and i'll condense them down into 
like one super sheet where all the information   that i need for milling is on there i'm gonna be 
using three different species of wood on these   frames i'm gonna be using white oak ash and walnut 
and i'm gonna cut them down to appropriate sizes   so that i'm not dealing with super long lengths 
because these really aren't that big of frames all right when starting the milling process you 
really are just looking at the outside of the   profile so i'm going to cut them to height and 
to width and batch out hopefully more than i need   with those all milled to size i can start 
thinking about the rabbit and for that i   like to use these setup bars from rockler 
super handy have they come in all sorts of   different sizes the standard for a rabbit on 
a frame is a quarter inch by a quarter inch i move all the frame parts back over to the 
table saw and set them up so that they're   milled in the right direction this is your chance 
to choose what side of the frame is shown on top   and sometimes there's a knot in the middle 
of a board or something like that and   you want to hide that either 
on the inside or on the bottom to complete the rabbet i can raise the table saw 
blade up to height and then trim out the excess   i have two different width frames that i need 
to mill up and in order to do that i shift   the table saw blade over and start milling 
those other sections while those are being   milled let's talk about this week's sponsor 
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expressvpn.comfab again that's expressvpn.comfab   alright so that is your basic picture frame 
profile and for most of these i'm just going   to leave them as is they're great for a couple 
of them the ones that i made a little bit wider   i'm actually going to use the router table 
on them and add a bit of a decorative edge i've made this profile frame many times in 
my shop and i really like it a lot it's super   simple i just use a 3 8 diameter round nose bit 
set into my my router lift so it's it's just   peeking over the edge of the top of 
the table so you get the full radius   then i set the fence so it's right in the 
middle of that bit so you're only getting   half of the bit exposed and that creates a nice 
little bead on that front edge of the frame with all the frame parts made i can 
stack them with the appropriate sheets   and bring those over to the table saw now on the 
worksheet you're going to be looking for frame id   that's the interior dimension of the frame and 
that's what you're going to set the shuttle on   the jig too once the shuttle's set you 
can just start cutting out those parts once you have the first size cut you can ship the 
shuttle over to the next size and then cut that as   well the beauty of this system is that now it's 
pretty mindless you're just copying the things   that you have on the sheets and as long as you get 
those dimensions right it should come out perfect after a brief break to enjoy the rainstorm i 
was ready to glue up all the frame sections   i used the blue tape method and as someone 
pointed out in the notes last time you   don't actually have to use blue tape 
for this but this is a super handy trick   to securing your frames 
without a whole bunch of clamps with the frames all glued up it's time to add 
splines splining is a way of reinforcing a miter   it's uh basically cutting through the miter 
that you just glued up the miter itself is not   inherently that strong because it's basically 
an end grain to end grain glue up but it is uh   it's really easy to cut splines into it and i just 
have this super simple spline jig i don't really   have a video on it there's a bunch of different 
designs for spline jigs but if you guys would   like to see me make a video on how to make this 
spine jig let me know in the comments down below   for the thinner frames i like to just 
add one spline for this taller frame   i think it looks better and 
it's a lot stronger with two so now that we have the holes cut for 
the splines we need to cut the splines   themselves and for that i'm going to be using 
this thin rib jig from rockler this thing's   super handy and it makes it a lot safer to 
cut really thin strips on your table saw the way that this jig works is it 
basically acts as a marker so that you know   where to lock down the fence of your table 
saw every time so it's cutting an eighth inch   on the left-hand side of the blade away from 
the fence as opposed to in towards the fence   so you see here i cut the first strip 
out and then i can move the board back   adjust the fence to that mark 
and then i can cut a second strip   the fit that you're looking for is tight but 
not super tight if it's too tight it'll end up   swelling when you put glue on it and you won't 
be able to get it completely seated in the joint i don't know why but i find splining 
really meditative i did this a ton   when i worked at the frame shop and it's 
still something that i really really enjoy there's a bunch of different 
ways to trim splines you can   use a router table you can use a 
bandsaw i like to use a pole saw   this takes a little bit of practice but by the 
time you've done four or five of them you'll   definitely get the hang of it the main thing 
is you don't want to cut into the frame and   so you can cheat outward a little bit and leave a 
little bit of excess out there to sand away later   as you probably guessed the next step is sanding 
and i like to hand sand these smaller frames they   have a tendency to get distorted if you use a 
palm sander some people are adept enough to use   the palm sander on this stuff i definitely am not 
so i like to hand sand i use a bunch of different   sanding blocks and stuff to just get into all the 
little areas of the frame i'm also very cautious   about the corners of the frame i don't want 
to cross over that grain with this is 120 grit   it's just really hard to get those grit lines out 
and so it's better to be cautious on the front end   than have to repair on the back end all the frames 
that get a water-based finish i will raise the   grain between each grit of sandpaper i just use 
a wet rag for this it pulls that grain up so that   when i introduce the water-based finish later 
the grain isn't going to raise in that finish all right so all the frames are 
sanded up and they're ready for   finish if you want to learn more about 
woodworking finishes i've done a complete video   outlining all the finishes that i use in my 
shop and i'll leave a link for that right here   for dark frames i really like to use an oil-based 
finish this is armor seal and i've had a lot   of success with it it looks great on walnut 
it really brings out the depth of that wood for the small black ink drawing 
i thought it would be fun to use   a black ink finish this is india ink and it is 
really really black it's great for darkening   all sorts of different types of wood i really 
like it on open grain woods like walnuts and oaks   the main thing is to make sure you get it fully 
saturated so it gets into the depths of the pores   after that i apply a coat of general finishes 
armor seal and it's ready to hang up to dry   for the remaining frames i want them 
to stay nice and light in color so   i'm using a water-based polyurethane this is 
the same stuff that i use on my pattern plywood   i like it a lot it doesn't darken anything 
it doesn't yellow it's it's a great finish   after applying three coats to every 
frame i was ready to fit and for this   i'm just using plexiglass i like 
plexiglass more than glass because   it doesn't shatter it's easy to work 
with and you can cut it on a table saw   when it comes to fitting frames the main 
thing that you want to keep in mind is   what is archival and what isn't archival just 
means that it doesn't contain acids and it won't   damage the piece over time you've probably seen 
a piece that is yellowed from the backer or the   mat board itself has yellowed just make sure that 
whatever is coming into contact with the artwork   is archival you can use cardboard backers but as 
long as there's a piece of mat board in between   that is archival you should be good i'm mounting 
this piece to a piece of archival foam core   and i'm using a linen hinge tape i will 
post links down below to all these materials   the main thing with the linen hinge tape is it 
is archival and it is water soluble so it can be   removed from the artwork later on down the line if 
necessary you apply the hinge tape by folding over   one side you put the broad side down to your 
backer and the smaller side to the art piece   this stuff works like a stamp you basically just 
apply a little bit of water and stick it down   one thing that i don't think i'm going to have 
time for in this video is talking about cutting   mats but i will show you how to apply a piece to 
a mat you basically just add two pieces of that   hinge tape across the top and you want to make 
sure that it it's only hinged on the top this   goes for all of these you want to make sure that 
there's room for expansion and contraction because   if you put it on all four corners there's a 
good chance that it'll buckle in the center when using plexiglas it always has this static 
charge which is so annoying when you're in a   wood shop and all it wants to do is attract 
sawdust there are cleaning products out there   that de-status size and clean the surface of 
the plexiglas it's really essential to use   a plexiglass cleaner with plexiglass because a 
lot of other cleaners will scratch the surface   spacers so these are spacers and these are the 
professional kind these are the ones that you   will find in a professional frame shop you 
can buy them online but if you don't want to   pick these up they're a little bit on the pricey 
side you can always use scrap pieces of wood with   double-sided tape on the back of it or you can 
even use that archival foam core scraps from that   there's a lot of ways to work around this the 
nice thing about the professional stuff is it   already has a sticky back on it and it's already 
cut to size the reason you use a spacer is to make   sure that the artwork doesn't come in contact with 
the plexiglas certain types of pieces will be more   inherent to stick to the plexiglass or the glass 
and sometimes it'll even cause mildew or mold   so you want to make sure that you have a nice air 
gap in between the artwork and whatever glazing   you're using if you have a mat around your 
piece of artwork you don't need a spacer that   is basically functioning as a spacer spacers tend 
to be used more for float mounts or flush mounts with the frame prepped and everything ready 
to go i can pop the artwork into the frame   and then i use this little point shooter to 
shoot points into the inside of the frame   this is another thing that is especially 
tool they're not super expensive i'll post   a link down below you can get away with with 
nails there are press in things but really   the point shooter if you're gonna do more 
than a couple frames it's worth investing in all right so there you go that is the basics 
of making picture frames if you've got any   questions feel free to ask them in the comments 
down below again you can pick up the worksheet on   my website i've got links down below as well 
as links to all artists that i featured here   big thank you to my patreon supporters you 
guys are awesome the patreon continues to grow   i'm super appreciative you give me 
a lot of motivation to keep making   videos every single month thanks so much 
and i'll catch you in the next one bye

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