How We Frame and Glaze Our Artwork

At Collier & Dobson we publish and distribute Fine Art prints and Original Paintings and Drawings. An obsession with excellent colour reproduction has earned us a strong reputation for quality printing, and is appreciated by both our artists and our customers.

We also mount, frame and glaze these pieces to bespoke standards, in-house, at our workshops in Fordingbridge to ensure the highest levels of quality control and customer satisfaction. 

 

How We Frame Our Artwork

What we frame the artwork in is determined by the piece itself. The moulding, colour and finish is carefully selected by the team to complement the look and feel of each artwork.

The printed media also plays a part in influencing the framing process. For example, canvas prints are either stretched onto bars or bonded to board prior to being framed. 

Before framing, paper prints are either bonded to board, or mounted with bespoke mounts cut using our state of the art equipment. Mounting a print or painting creates space between the image and the frame, making the piece itself the focal point - this is particularly effective with smaller pieces.
Paper or canvas prints which have been bonded to board will be ‘close-framed’. This means that the piece is framed right to the edge of the image itself, with no border. This creates a striking and dramatic effect - ideal for larger pieces.

Once mounted or bonded to board, our limited edition prints are framed using high quality pre-finished mouldings, which we source from a small selection of trusted suppliers.

These pre-finished lengths of moulding are individually measured and cut against each piece, then skilfully assembled by hand, by our accomplished in-house framers, using a range of professional framing tools and equipment.

Higher value items, like large scale artist's proof canvases and original paintings will usually be completed with a hand finished frame.

With an almost infinite combination of possible profiles, finishes and colours - and requiring a skilled hand to achieve - hand finished framing gives a unique character to a print or original painting

Our skilled framers will first select a suitable frame profile, which is cut and joined to make a bare wood frame. This frame is then finished using a combination of traditional and contemporary techniques and materials.

Depending on the finish chosen, a frame may take many days to complete as component layers are built up to achieve the desired result.

The result is a completely bespoke frame made to uniquely complement the print or original painting. To this end, no two hand finished frames are ever exactly the same.

Canvas prints - and originals - which have been stretched onto bars are framed using what is known as a tray frame. The artwork sits inside a tray frame with a small gap between the edge of the canvas and the frame. The front of the frame is level with the surface of the print or original rather than the frame covering the front edge of the print as is more typical. This allows the frame to provide a border for the image without encroaching or dominating it.

How We Glaze Our Artwork

Our canvas prints are supplied varnished, and it is therefore not necessary for them to be glazed.

Our paper prints will be glazed using either float glass, Artscreen, or ARTglass.

Float glass, is a standard picture framing glass, and is used by the majority of picture framers, and is therefore an ideal choice when framing most limited edition prints.

We fit our larger scale paper prints with a speciality glazing product called Artscreen - a 2mm acrylic alternative to glass which offers excellent image clarity, weight reduction, and additional safety when hanging on the wall.

All of our limited edition prints come with the option of being fitted with ARTglass - a premium glazing option, which offers reduced reflection and improved clarity. It is superior to other 'non-reflective' glass - which can have a cloudy or dull appearance - due to its use of a high-tech film (rather than an etched surface), which ensures excellent clarity and vibrancy of the glazed work. 

The example pictured here is an unmodified scan of a print framed with standard glass in the right half, and ARTglass in the left half of the frame - demonstrating how ARTglass improves clarity. From certain viewing angles it can even appear that the glass is invisible. 

All of our glazed original paintings are fitted with ARTglass as standard.