Getting Ready
While it may sound like a redundant first step, the importance of preparation can not be overstated.  Errors most often occur when one's concentration is interrupted because of a missing tool, a distracting telephone call or some other unexpected disturbance.  It is best to eliminate these unplanned interruptions as much as possible.

Below is a list of the items which will be needed:

- A flat surface in a well lit area
- An accurate ruler or tape measure that is at least as long as the artwork being measured.
- A pencil, sheet of blank sheet of paper (or a copy of the worksheet available for download just below) and an eraser, just in case.
- A few minutes of peace and quiet.

You may also wish to print a copy of the specially created worksheet by clicking here.  There is also a completed version available here. 

Determine the Artwork Original Size
When measuring an artwork's original size, we measure the portion which we would like to be viewable from the finished frame. If the print goes to the edge of the paper, this is fairly straightforward. However, if this is not the case, you will have to choose how much of the artwork you would like to be visible. For example, we see in figure 1 that the artwork goes from one edge of the print to the other.  In figure 2 however, the artwork does not go to the edge of the paper.  In this case, the framer will decide how much is to show in the final framed piece.  There is not right or wrong way of doing this.  It will depend on personal taste.

We see in figure 2 that the width and height of a watercolor painting is being measured.  Remember that the Picture Frame Guys can cut up to 1/16 of an inch precision, so your measurements can be quite precise. The adage "measure once, cut twice" wholeheartedly applies to this task.  Although we will be doing the cutting for you, neither of us want to cut the incorrect size. Attention to detail and precision certainly applies here.

If a mat is not being used for the framing project in question, there is not much more to do. Your frame will be cut so that this artwork size will fit into it.

However, since the vast majority of frames are matted, we will cover this topic next.

Determine the Mat Offset
When framing, it is important to ensure that the artwork is totally covered by the mat window opening.  The last thing any framer wishes for is the edge of the artwork paper to be exposed because the mat window was cut to too large of a size.  This would be unattractive and would defeat the aesthetic purpose of a mat.

Therefore, the next step is to decide how much of the mat should overlap the artwork's edges. This is known as a mat offset. In most cases, either 1/16” or 1/8” is subtracted from each side to accommodate the offset.  

In figure 3, we see the mat offset displayed as a pink line. On the calculation worksheet available for download (at the beginning of this article), we would enter the desired offset from each side. In most cases, the offset does not change for each side.

Special note: It is not always necessary to subtract a mat offset. Many works of art are intentionally printed with a white border around the artwork. Again, this can be seen in figure 1. This picture has a white space paper border.  In this case, the framer would only have to measure the size of the artwork they wanted framed.  An offset would not be needed because there is plenty of room for the mat and it would not risk exposing the side of the artwork.  Whether you need to think about using mat offsets depends on your specific framing project.

Complete the Calculation
The next step is to subtract the original width and the height dimension from the mat offset (item "C" in the worksheet).

By writing everything out as we have just done, you will be more certain of you measurements.  This is simple enough, but be careful. Many mistakes are made subtracting fractions.  It may make sense to have someone double check your math.

These result obtained in part "C" of the worksheet is what you will write in in the “artwork size” dialog box when ordering online. 

That's All

That is all there is to it. With this sheet and a little practice, you can go online and begin shopping for a frame. A great advantage to working all this out ahead of time is that when you go online, you will not have to think about artowrk size and can instead focus on aesthetic things such as frame type and mat colors.

 

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