Jenna Ingram co-owns Fiksate, where she’s also an in-house artist. The gallery is the city’s unofficial indoor hub for urban art, drawing works and exhibitions by street artists from around Christchurch, New Zealand and the world.

The studio also does beautiful custom framing, and Jen recommends framing new artworks as soon as possible after buying them to protect your artwork and make it hang-ready for your walls.

Jen’s quick guide: Frame types to suit your art and surroundings

Choosing a frame can be based on the tones in your artwork. If there are strong blacks, then a black frame will suit. Lighter tones with little or no black can suit white or natural pine frames. You should also consider what other frame colours and types you already have in your home. Also considering your wall colour and type at your home can make a difference to what frame you choose. At Fiksate, we like to keep the frame profiles simple and modern to enhance the artwork rather than overly ornate frames that can overshadow the artwork.

There are five main ways to frame your artwork.

1. Straight to edge

This is where the artwork comes right to the edge of the frame and is kept off the glass with spacers. This style can suit prints, posters and or artworks that already have a lot of space around it, like a border in a print.

2. Matboard

This affordable framing method gives your artwork more room to breathe and this can really enhance the overall impact when hanging on your wall. Matboard is kind of like cardboard and can come in different colours, usually chosen to match or complement the paper or tones in the artwork. The matboard edges can vary in size depending on your artwork size and this will increase in proportions the large your artwork is. We usually have a 10mm larger matboard edge at the bottom and this sets your artwork slightly higher in the frame to make a more aesthetically pleasing result. Matboard can be used for prints or originals. Sometimes artwork can have edges that are damaged and matboard can hide these easily.

3. Shallow float mount

This is where your artwork is hinged directly onto the back of the matboard inside the frame, and spacers are used to give the artwork space from the glass. This option is great for prints or originals on thicker paper, paper with deckled edges, or artwork that goes right to the edge and you don't want to lose any detail.

4. Shadow float mount

A beautiful way to display your artworks. This is the most expensive, but the results create a truly stunning piece for your home and greatly enhance your artwork. Your artwork is framed in a way that it 'floats' from the backing matboard. To do this, framers use a complimentary matboard as a backing and we create a 'mini box' within the frame so all sides and back match and are seamless to the eye. We use a backing piece of foamboard that is slightly smaller than the art, and your artwork is hinged to that. Similar to the shallow float mount, this is used for prints or originals that are on thicker paper, have deckled edges, are more 3D in nature, or when the artwork runs right to the edges of the paper.

5. Tray frames for canvas

Loose canvases should be stretched and tray frames can surround these stretched canvases. This protects the canvas edges and gives them a final border that gives an amazing impact.

Read more: Tips from Frame 'n' Copy, tips from Nailed It Art Hang, tips from RightSide Gallery, tips from Xgaleri, and tips from Distranged Design.

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