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 that 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 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's 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, in figure 1 we see that that the artwork does not go to the edge of the paper. In all cases, the framer decides how much to show in the final framed piece.  There is no right or wrong way of doing this, it will depend on personal taste.

In figure 2, the width and height of a watercolor painting is being measured. 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, or the artwork will pop out.  The last thing any framer wants is for 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. Remember that the Picture Frame Guys can cut up to 1/16 of an inch precision, so measurements can be quite exact. 

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 of the artwork to accommodate for 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 her or she 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 or not depends on your specific framing project.

Complete the Calculation
The next step is to subtract the total mat offset from the original width and height dimension (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 artwork size and can instead focus on aesthetic components such as frame type and mat colors.

 

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