I have to admit I have a thing for frames. I collect them the way some people collect shoes. I buy frames at Goodwill and TJ Maxx. I pick them up on clearance at other places. My husband hints that I have a problem.
But I don't, really. (Deny everything, right?) I just like the way art looks when it's framed. The fingerpainting above is one that Maia did at 1 1/2 years old. Almost all the others that I framed were from age 2.
Maia painted both of these (above and below) using tempera paints.
I loved the brushstrokes in this one (above).
These are four watercolors (above) in acrylic box frames. She painted three of them during the Toddler Art Group and the project of the day was a masking tape resist. She put a couple pieces of masking tape on the paper and painted over it, then pulled off the tape. You can see the square blank space in the lower right hand painting. I think with the others she ended up painting more after pulling off the tape.
Here's a drawing I framed in an acrylic box frame. I love the dots and dashes!
And here are two of her colorful drawings that I framed with hand-me-down frames and inexpensive pre-cut mats. Now I just have to hang everything!
By the way, I buy pre-cut mats at Michaels or AC Moore for standard size openings, although they're not usually archival. I used to mat and frame stuff for a museum and realize I should use archival everything, but also realize that I'll probably just never get anything framed if I insist on archival. I don't have the materials to cut my own mats anymore and don't have the money to take everything to a frame shop.
I have ordered custom-cut mats online for odd-sized openings. I forget the name of the company I used, but MatShop.com is one inexpensive place to get custom-cut mats. And, of course, you can go to the framing counter at places like AC Moore or Michaels for custom-cut mats.
Update: I just remembered the name of the company that I ordered custom-cut mats from: Frames by Mail.
