General Question

Kayak8's avatar

Where is a place (online is ok) to purchase quality picture frames of a variety of sizes?

Asked by Kayak8 (16457points) May 20th, 2012

I am an artist and I need to frame a number of different pieces. I need quality, simple frames. I don’t want anything garish or with words (“family,” “friends,” “sister,” etc.) like what Kohl’s offers.

This is for paintings and illustrations, not photographs. I need archival type matting as well.

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13 Answers

BIRDistheWORD's avatar

I’m not sure if this is what your looking for but here is a site that has a lot of different styles and unique frames that you might be looking for.

gailcalled's avatar

^^Faulty link. Double check.

Here’s some stuff from Etsy

The good, the bad, the ugly and the curiously bizarre.

hearkat's avatar

I don’t recall where you live. Most art supplies stores have frames and framing services.

jca's avatar

I recommend your local art supply store or even some crafts stores, like Michael’s have decent frames.

Buttonstc's avatar

A. C. Moore is another Craft supply chain with generally better pricing than Michaels. Check their website to see if there are any near you.

Also Pearl Paint is an Art supply/craft store (but more emphasis on art than craft) used by professional artists, painters, photographers, art students etc.

You can even buy ones to assemble yourself if you need a custom size.

When I lived in Philly these two stores were my regular places and both are great with reasonable pricing.

Pearl generally has a better educated (art-wise) staff to guide customers.

Buttonstc's avatar

I just found out that Pearl closed their S. St. location in Philly a few years ago. Bummer.

But obviously one can order online from them.

And I almost forgot the grandaddy of online art supplies: DickBlick.com

I just looked briefly and they had some really nice looking frames. Can’t do links from iPhone but I’m sure you can find something suitable for your needs.

Happy hunting at either.

Kayak8's avatar

@Buttonstc I have been to Blick (I practically live there), but was looking for other alternatives (maybe better pricing). I also like Uetrecht. I didn’t know about Pearl or A.C. Moore, so I will check them out now. Thanks for the tips!

Buttonstc's avatar

If its better pricing you’re after, then Moore is most likely your best bet, especially when they’ve got something on sale, which they regularly do each week.

Kayak8's avatar

@Buttonstc I did go to the AC Moore website and you are right about the better prices! Thanks for the information :)

Buttonstc's avatar

I also like the fact that they have lots of options for the do-it-yourself custom framing. Now that I no longer live near one of their stores, I realize how much I miss browsing around their store regularly.

About the only ones around here are Joannes and Michaels but neither has the selection that Moore has.

jca's avatar

I found an issue with buying things from Joann online. When you check out, they only allow one discount code. Free shipping with a minimum purchase is not automatic, so when checking out, if you have a code for free shipping, and a code for another discount, you can only get one. Other sites, like Kohl’s will allow you two codes. With Joann, it’s “either/or.” So you may get the discount but have to pay for shipping, or vice versa. I wrote a letter to them, got a response but it’s not changing, so you may as well go into the store if they have what you want, unless you don’t mind paying for shipping. If I’m buying $100 worth of stuff, I don’t want to pay for shipping.

Buttonstc's avatar

Thats a good point. I cant imagine myself buying online from Johannes since they don’t really have anything all that unique which i cant fins elsewhere. And now that I know all the other info you just detailed, I definitely wont.

They just happen to be located locally here in Mich. but if I had my druthers,

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