Framing Red, White, Blue prints

ang13

Grumbler in Training
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Posts
13
Loc
Massachusetts
Any suggestions on MATTING AND FRAMING photos/prints that have primarily red, white, blue colors tones in them??

I'm thinking just basic whites/blacks for matting with a black frame. Anyone have other suggestions that might appeal to customers?
 
YES!!

Thank you for the chance to scream about white/black mats with black frames!! :eek: I frame for a couple of commercial photographers and that's all they wanted to put on their photos. I have shown them some alternatives to the black/white tradition and they love the look!

The same should work for that much color also since red/white/blue mats would be overkill in my opinion. I use the LJ Ferrosa line of fillets and moulding for black/white photos. The look of Ferrosa "Iron" is much classier that straight black and it is dark enough to look good with b/w or color. I would suggest some mat combination in either lt. gray/dk. gray or lt. blue gray/dk. blue gray or maybe an off-white and dk. gray or blue gray. Artique, Crescent, and Bainbridge all have a good selection of these colors to choose from.

I just finished a couple of large college football photos of Joe Bruner (he played in the NFL a few years ago but I am at a loss for which team at the moment)and I used a combination of 575252 Ferrosa Pewter along with an Artique 4125 oversize pewter mat on top of a Crescent 81576 oversize Dark Gray mat. I placed a Ferrosa 145252 Pewter fillet in the opening of the top mat and it looks great!

Good luck with the project.

Framerguy
 
Thanks framerguy. Just wondering if there were any alternatives.
 
I agree with FramerPrince - I LOVE the Ferrosa frames on b & w's although the silvery gunmetal frame from LJ's Metro line is edging it's way up my favorites list.

(Crescent's Havana linen is a nice alternative to the expected white-gray-black mat choice. It's a mellow rusty red but with enough gray overtones to look strikingly good on black and white photos.)

On those red-white-blue prints how about a nice Chinese red silk and a gold frame? Or a white mat and a red Le Cirque frame and fillet? This sounds like a project that you and your customer can have some fun with. I hope you do.

Kit
 
With lots of Methadone, grumble help and a healthy dose of chocalate every once in a while, you to can kick that "white mat, black frame" syndrome.

That was a nasty trend in the early 50s in New York galleries that demanded that artist work be framed.

B&W photos naturally got pebble white and the smallest blk frame that money could buy. Who said anything about glass?? That would have cost REAL money.

The Los Angeles Artist Association conducted a survey in the 80s. When asked about pictures that they had viewed for just a few seconds that had colored mats, the people talked about the picture and what it said to them.
When it had been a white mat, they talked about how wide the white mat had been...ie: "it had this narrow white mat around it . . ." or "There was this huge white mat..."

RWB prints? Start throwing fabric at them and don't stop until your having REAL fun. Bold colors and wild pictures need Cotton!! Big and bold.
 
There are still those folks who think art looks best in white mats/black frames. Two of my customers entered work in the state fair competition... one original art and one original photography. Both were excellent pieces. But neither won anything. But the ribbon winners all had... you guessed it, white mats and black frames.
 
Back
Top