Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 3Making the Measurements
Make sure to be as accurate as possible when taking measurements. There is some room for error on a couple of them but most must be as accurate as possible. The object here is to generate the measurements for the mounting board, the matt and the glass. In the end, the glass, mounting board and the outside dimensions of the matt board will all be the same (OD). The inner dimension of the matt board will be slightly smaller than the picture's dimension so that the matt covers the edges of the picture.
PD: To take this measurement, use a ruler or, if the thing to be framed is too big, use a tape measure. To avoid any error caused by the end of the tape measure or ruler, I usually start the measurement at the first inch rather than the end. In this case, the panorama print I'm framing in this example is exactly 32 13/16" x 12".
OD: To calculate this dimension you first need to decide how wide the visible matt border will be. I decided to have a 2" visible matt border. In the final picture frame, 1/4" of the matt will be covered all the way around by the wooden frame. Therefore we need to add another quarter of an inch to the matt border for a total of 2 ". There is a border on all sides of the picture. Therefore I need to add two times 2 1/4", or 4 1/2" to the width and the height of the PD to come up with the OD. In the example here that works out to 37 5/16" x 16".
Unfortunately the chip board I had available is not quite big enough at 36" x 16". Therefore rather than making another trip to the hobby store I decided I would make up the difference by allowing a slightly smaller visible border with 2" visible and 2 1/4" total matt width.
MID: You only need to calculate this dimension to make sure that the matt border width you choose leaves an opening that is at least slightly smaller than PD so that the matt will cover the edges of the item being framed. This will be the OD minus the two times the total matt width (36" - 2 1/4" x 2 wide by 16" - 2 1/4" x 2 high). In this case that comes out to 32" x 11 1/2". Comparing that to the PD shows that all four edges of the picture will be covered by the matting.
The Frame dimensions are not needed right now. I'll explain how to calculate them when we get to that point to avoid confusing things.
PD: To take this measurement, use a ruler or, if the thing to be framed is too big, use a tape measure. To avoid any error caused by the end of the tape measure or ruler, I usually start the measurement at the first inch rather than the end. In this case, the panorama print I'm framing in this example is exactly 32 13/16" x 12".
OD: To calculate this dimension you first need to decide how wide the visible matt border will be. I decided to have a 2" visible matt border. In the final picture frame, 1/4" of the matt will be covered all the way around by the wooden frame. Therefore we need to add another quarter of an inch to the matt border for a total of 2 ". There is a border on all sides of the picture. Therefore I need to add two times 2 1/4", or 4 1/2" to the width and the height of the PD to come up with the OD. In the example here that works out to 37 5/16" x 16".
Unfortunately the chip board I had available is not quite big enough at 36" x 16". Therefore rather than making another trip to the hobby store I decided I would make up the difference by allowing a slightly smaller visible border with 2" visible and 2 1/4" total matt width.
MID: You only need to calculate this dimension to make sure that the matt border width you choose leaves an opening that is at least slightly smaller than PD so that the matt will cover the edges of the item being framed. This will be the OD minus the two times the total matt width (36" - 2 1/4" x 2 wide by 16" - 2 1/4" x 2 high). In this case that comes out to 32" x 11 1/2". Comparing that to the PD shows that all four edges of the picture will be covered by the matting.
The Frame dimensions are not needed right now. I'll explain how to calculate them when we get to that point to avoid confusing things.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
 |
Add Comment
|
