Framing Posters Inexpensively

[In_Winnipeg]

Go to Value Village, or a Salvation Army Thrift Shop, or someplace like that where they sell stuff cheap and look in the pictures for a frame that can be reused – I have found this to be the cheapest way.

Garage Sales are possible places to check too, but it may take longer.

Before long, you will have written down all the dimensions on a piece of paper and will be carrying around a small tape measure – don’t worry, that’s okay, because you’ll save a mint.

[be_bright]

Astro and In Winnipeg beat me to suggesting thrift stores.

I was at a sizable Goodwill a few weeks ago and spotted some surprisingly nice posters/paintings/frames in the back. They stack them rather crudely but most of them were in really nice condition. I spotted tons of large frames and framed posters as well.

What’s your idea of “inexpensive”?

[Anaamika]

Michael’s is NOT cheap. I priced out an oddly shaped (rectangular, but larger than most of the pieces there) silk thing…50 % off was $170. A. C. Moore, a little more. I am not spending $200 on something I got for free, nice as it is. I would be willing to pay $50 or $60, no more.

The thrift store idea is great. I’ll try that.

[be_bright]

There’s nothing quite like finding something really great in a thrift store, especially brand-name/department store items. I primarily shop at thrift stores for clothing, so when I find something from H&M or even Target mixed in the bunch I think, “Hah, see, your clothes aren’t worth that much.”

I also recently bought a jumbo ceramic red mug (the kind made for holding soup, I think) for $1.99–from Nordstrom. Retail price was probably at least $15. For a freaking mug!

But anyway…I digress.

[Shot_From_Guns]

@digs

Did you toss your Sunday Milw. Journal?

I don’t have a subscription, but we get it at the office. One of my coworkers is a coupon nut, so we let her take all the ads. I’ll see if she still has this week’s.

If not, check their web site, but you might need to ask a neighbor for their paper… good way to meet old ladies in yo’ hood.

I don’t have old ladies. I live in a building full of fucking yuppies.

God dammit, I am young and urban and professional but someone please shoot me in the head if I turned into one of these douches.

and be sure to measure your posters. They have a lot of pre-made frames.

Did. Didn’t find anything that worked at Target, but a craft store might have a wider selection.

Andrew Bird posters, cool.

Indeed!

@FoieGrasIsEvil

Let’s frame Dio.

I think he does a pretty good job his own self.

@Ann_Hedonia

I think they were a little over $100 each but the price conscious shopper could do much better.

Yeah, at that price I’d just get them custom-framed locally.

@Mr_Downtown

You put the (clean) glass on a table, lay the poster face down, then the backing. Now slide the frame sections onto the edges and use the L-shaped brackets (you put in a stack of two that are forced apart by the setscrew) to join the corners. Slide in your hanging hardware before putting the last section in place. Finally, push in the little spring clips to force the backing-poster-glass sandwich to the front of the frame.

Exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

As mentioned, you can get these at Michael’s, but only one variety, in black or gold, and only certain dimensions.

Black’s fine–not looking for anything fancy, just serviceable.

@In_Winnipeg

Go to Value Village, or a Salvation Army Thrift Shop, or someplace like that where they sell stuff cheap and look in the pictures for a frame that can be reused

I’ve thought about, too, but they’re just such odd sizes, and I’d prefer frames that at least coordinate stylistically, since they’ll be right next to each other. Also, I don’t have a car (or drive at all), which makes shopping around fairly unfeasible.

Before long, you will have written down all the dimensions on a piece of paper and will be carrying around a small tape measure

Beat you there. When I went to look for cheap frames at Target, I’d already measured everything and brought those measurements and a tape measure with me.

@be_bright

What’s your idea of “inexpensive”?

I’d like to spend no more than $50 per poster. $25 would be ideal, but I’m sure that’s massively unrealistic. The item I just had custom framed was, eh, probably 8-10" by 15" or 16", and the whole framing job (including all the matting and whatnot) ran $100. I’m willing to pay that for a decent piece of art, but not for posters I got as gifts, however nice of posters they are.

[Shot_From_Guns]

Actually, now that I think about it, part of the price on the art framing was the whole matting thing. So maybe I should call for a quote on the posters, assuming I wasn’t going to need them matted at all… Hrm…

And since I think I’ve neglected to say it, **THANK YOU **to everyone who’s responded with ideas, suggestions, and explanations so far. You guys are awesome.

[Shot_From_Guns]

Update…

So, after all of your help, I’m probably just going to have them custom-framed anyway. I was at the framing place yesterday to pick up the piece I had framed and just for S’s and G’s brought along measurements for the four posters to get a quote. After some literally back-of-the-envelope calculations, the owner came up with what I think is an eminently reasonable number. I could probably do it a bit cheaper myself, but the quality would be a lot lower, and I’d just get them reframed at some point in the future, anyway.

For anybody in the Milwaukee area, I’d like to highly recommend South Shore Framing in Bay View (right by Honeypie, the Hi-Fi Cafe, and Rush Mor Records). The owner is incredibly friendly and accomodating, including when your request is, “I want to do this as cheaply as possible.” She’s also got a great eye and has a lot of excellent suggestions and ideas for how best to mat and frame your pieces.