How To Make A Homemade Picture Frame

Download Article

Flick frames are a great way to show off your favorite pictures, only they tin get expensive. Making them rather than buying them is the best way to get a squeamish frame that perfectly fits your picture without breaking your wallet. Frames make perfect gifts for loved ones, or go on them to adorn your ain walls.

1

Cut a piece of cardboard or construction paper into a rectangle. This will be the size of the frame. Depending on how wide you want it to be, make it a few inches bigger than the picture on each side.^[1]
2

Cut a rectangle out of the middle of the cardboard. The rectangle's size should be slightly smaller than the photo.^[two]

Advertisement
iii

Pigment the frame. Pigment it all one color, or pigment patterns and figures on the frame. You lot can as well utilise markers, crayons, pens, or colored pencils to decorate the frame.^[3]
iv

Glue on paper decorations. Cut shapes out of newspaper -- stars, hearts, animals, messages, or symbols are only some ideas -- and glue them onto the frame.
5

Become artistic with your decorations. Employ cloth, buttons, chaplet, glitter, stickers, or annihilation else you tin can think of. Glue these decorations onto the frame in whatever patterns yous like.
vi

Brand the back of the frame. Cut a rectangle out of another piece of paper. This rectangle should exist slightly smaller than the whole frame, so that it easily covers the centre of the frame.^[iv]
seven

Glue this new rectangle to the back of the frame. Attach it firmly and smoothly on 3 sides, but brand sure to leave one side open so that you can slide the picture in.^[5]
viii

Slide the picture into the frame. Slip it in through the side you left open on the dorsum of the frame.
nine

Finished.

Advertisement

1

Decorate popsicle sticks. Y'all'll need six or seven large popsicle sticks for the all-time look, but you can likewise utilize smaller sticks. Cover them with washi tape or other patterned record, or decorate them with markers, colored pencils, or paint.
2

Glue the popsicle sticks together to form your frame. Lay two sticks down vertically, almost 5 inches apart, and glue a decorated stick horizontally beyond the top. Glue the adjacent busy stick adjacent to the first, being conscientious not to let any glue show through the crack. Continue until the ii vertical sticks are completely hidden by the busy sticks.^[6]
iii

Decorate the frame. Glue wooden shapes, beads, paper, buttons, ribbon, or anything else you like to the front of the frame.^[vii]
iv

Adhere your pictures. Smaller pictures work amend for this frame -- using a wallet-sized photo leaves room for more than ornamentation, making both the picture and the frame wait good. Use gum, tape, or a push button pivot to attach your pictures to the frame.^[eight]
five
Add a magnet to the back. Glue a strong magnet to the back of the frame, centered horizontally and virtually the superlative, so that yous tin hang the moving picture on your refrigerator or anywhere else magnetic.^[9]
- You tin use a hook instead of a magnet if you lot prefer, only the small size and light weight of this frame makes information technology a perfect addition to your fridge or school locker.
half-dozen

Finished!

Advertisement

i

Gather iv, 8, or 12 sticks. The number volition depend on how thick you want the frame. They should exist about a foot long and ^one⁄₄ to ¹⁄_two inch (0.6 to 1.iii cm) in diameter. Choose sticks that are relatively straight and free of knobs, forks, or other unsightly features.
ii
Ready the sticks. Make sure they're all the same length, about 11 inches (27.9 cm) long. Remove whatever leaves or branches. Wash the sticks if they're dirty. And then divide the sticks into four groups (of 1, 2, or 3), and lay each group of sticks out to course the frame, with 1 group of sticks along each side of the motion picture.^[x]
- Lay the sticks in each grouping next to each other rather than bunched on top of each other to create a wider frame.
- Make sure your motion picture will fit in the rectangle at the center of the sticks you've laid out.
3
At one corner, lash the sticks together with twine. Utilize a hot glue gun to mucilage one end of the twine to the dorsum of one corner of the frame (You can also utilise hot gum to initially gear up sticks in batches together). Bring the twine diagonally across the front end of the corner. Then bring information technology horizontally beyond the back of the intersection. Bring it diagonally across the front once more -- this fourth dimension it should fill in the other diagonal (so if the first time yous went top correct to bottom left, this time you'll go lesser right to superlative left). Wrap information technology across the back vertically this time. Once again, wrap diagonally, and then horizontally, and then diagonally, and and then vertically. At this point the front of the corner should show 2 wraps of the twine across each diagonal, so the twine should grade a thick Ten. The back should have one wrap along each side of the intersection, so the twine in the back should form a thin square. Secure the cease of the twine with hot glue.^[xi]
- Keep the sticks on each side flat and close together. Make certain the twine is tight throughout the knot and so that the sides of the frame are secure.
- If you want to experiment with other looks, try whatever lash to necktie the corners. Try out a foursquare or diagonal lash, or experiment with one of your own.
- Echo this for the other three corners. When finished, yous should accept a strong and secure frame.
4

Glue the film to the dorsum of the frame. Trim the photo to fit, if necessary. If yous don't desire to mucilage directly onto the photograph, or if you want to exist able to change the motion picture in the frame, gum a larger piece of paper to the back of the frame instead. Attach this slice of newspaper on 3 sides and slip the photo in through the gap on the last side.^[12]
5

Glue a slice of twine to the top of the frame to use for hanging. This piece of twine should be six to 8 inches long, depending on the size of your frame. Attach it at each of the top two corners, again using a hot glue gun. Y'all'll be able to hang the frame from this handle.
6

Finished!

Advertisement

ane

Mount the film if desired. You'll be gluing the flick right onto the wooden frame. If you don't want to glue directly onto the film, or if you want a edge around the moving picture, mount it on, or simply tape it to, a piece of high-quality paper or cardstock.
two

Become two matching wooden slats or square dowels. Use sparse wooden slats most an inch wide, or ¹⁄_four to ^ane⁄₂ inch (0.6 to i.3 cm) foursquare dowels. They should be about an inch longer than the width of the film.
3

Paint or stain the wood slats or dowels to your desired color. With the simplicity of this frame, staining the wood frequently looks all-time. Notwithstanding, you tin can also pigment it a solid colour or decorate it with paint if you desire.
4

Glue the wood to the superlative and lesser of the picture. Center the moving picture horizontally, and brand sure the wood is perfectly straight and level across the top. Glue the wood on top of the picture and then that the picture is visible underneath. If y'all find that you take to embrace too much of the motion picture, use some other slice of paper under the picture and mucilage the wood to that instead.
5
Attach string to the top piece of forest. Get a piece of cord that y'all volition use to hang the flick. It should be viii to 12 inches (twenty.three to thirty.5 cm) long, depending on the size of your picture. Screw minor hooks into the dorsum of the wood about halfway between the edge of the motion picture and the edge of the wood. Necktie the cord onto these hooks.
- If you lot don't want to use hooks, simply hot glue the string to the woods. This will be secure enough, and information technology won't bear witness from the front of the frame.
6

Finished!

Advertisement

1
Buy or brand a bones frame. Cut out a piece of paper-thin equally big as yous desire the frame to be, and cut out an opening in the middle for your picture. The frame can be every bit simple or creative as you lot want - become for the basic rectangle, or cut a large base with windows for ii or 3 different pictures. Add construction paper over the back of each motion picture window to concord your pictures. Glue the newspaper on three sides so that y'all can slide pictures in and out of the frame.
- You lot can besides buy a simple wooden frame if you don't want to make one.
two

Collect several quondam magazines or other paper. The colors and gloss of magazines make them perfect for this frame, but you can also use old newspaper, cardboard newspaper, or any other scratch newspaper you accept lying around.
3

Cut the paper into strips. If you lot're using magazine pages, only cut each page in half lengthwise. If you're using newspaper, cutting strips about iv inches wide and x inches long.
4
Utilize a wooden dowel or skewer to roll a strip of paper into a tube. Identify the dowel at one corner of the paper, at only more than a 45 degree angle to the folio. Ringlet the corner of the paper around the wooden dowel. Keeping the newspaper tight, use the dowel to roll the paper into a tube.
- As you curl, the edges of the dowel will exist covered past the paper. Don't lose them, equally this will make information technology harder to become the dowel out of the tube. Merely slide the dowel to one side to make sure you always have enough of a handle sticking out of the rolled paper.
5

When you lot near the edge of the paper, identify glue along the border to hold the tube together. You lot can only put a drop of glue on the opposite corner from where you started; this volition hold the whole tube together. Nonetheless, if you subsequently cut the tube, yous risk cutting off the glued part and unraveling the tube. To forbid this, put glue on the whole outer edge of the tube. This way, it will stay rolled no matter when or how y'all cutting it.^[thirteen]
six

Echo the above steps to roll enough tubes to cover your frame. You'll need more than you recall, so make sure y'all curl plenty of tubes before proceeding.
7

Cover the basic frame in Mod Podge. You tin utilise another mucilage to hold the paper tubes in place, but Modernistic Podge tends to exist constructive, secure, and easy to work with, and so it'southward a swell selection for this frame.
8

Lay tubes along the edges of the frame. This volition give the edges a clean, polish wait and feel, and y'all won't take to worry nearly perfectly trimming the ends of the other tubes.
9
Make full in the frame with tubes. Cut tubes down to size before you attach them, or trim them to fit as y'all put them in identify. For a unproblematic frame, lay all tubes vertically on the frame, i correct next to another. This will create a simple, archetype look.
- Experiment with laying the tubes diagonally or perpendicular to each other, or fifty-fifty use them to create patterns. For example, add a small square of tubes rotated 45 degrees from the remainder to create a diamond in the middle of your frame. Bend the tubes to create corners, or let them stick off the edge of the frame. Get artistic -- the layout of the tubes will ascertain the await and feel of your frame.
- Make sure to place the tubes tightly together and then that there are no gaps or holes in the frame.
10

Encompass the tubes with a layer of Modernistic Podge. When you've finished filling in the frame with tubes, a layer of the matte volition deed as a glue to keep them together and in place. It will besides provide a beat covering that volition strengthen the frame and keep it crisp and glossy.
11

Permit the frame dry. In one case the matte has completely dried, skid your pictures into the frame.

Advertising

Add New Question

Question

How do yous choose the correct frame way for a photo?

Peter Salerno is the possessor of Hook it Up Installation, a professional installation company, which has been hanging art and other objects around Chicago, Illinois for over 10 years. Peter besides has over twenty years of experience installing art and other mountable objects in residential, commercial, healthcare and hospitality contexts.

Installation Skillful

Expert Respond

Back up wikiHow past unlocking this expert respond.

It depends on the image. I think you lot should frame to match the image, rather than the residual of the furniture and decor where you'll exist hanging it up. Go with something that really accentuates the image.
Question

What is "construction newspaper"?

Construction paper is also known every bit chart paper if you are in an Asian country or posterboard if you lot are in Australia. It's a thick colored newspaper.
Question

What is a wooden dowel?

A wooden dowel is a sparse rod made of wood. I don't think a wooden dowel would be very helpful in making a picture frame. I would apply Popsicle sticks, pieces of wood, or paper instead.
Question

Tin can I do this on a budget?

Yes, you can save money on this projection by buying your supplies from a secondhand shop, like Goodwill or the Conservancy Army.
Question

I take a piece of wood and button. I want to brand a photo frame. How can I cut a wooden piece and affix the button on the photo frame? How practise I fix a stand on the back of the picture show frame?

Carve the woods into a frame. Use the leftover wood to fix the stand up/re-make the stand. Glue the push button on the photo frame.
Question

I don't have decorations to decorate my frame. What else tin I use to make it look pretty?

Anju Ramdas

Community Answer

Use painted ice-cream stick, glitter color, watercolor etc. If you have colorful ribbon, it will await pretty if you tie a bow in the corner of the frame.

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to become a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Y'all tin look at some reference books. They might exist useful in providing y'all with some ideas.

Be conscientious when you use scissors or pocketknife. They could hurt you.

Advertizing

Well-nigh This Article

Article Summary Ten

To make a photograph frame, start by cutting a piece of cardboard into a rectangle that's a few inches bigger than your photo on each side. Then, cutting a rectangle out of the heart that's slightly smaller than your photo earlier painting and decorating the frame as desired. Adjacent, cut a rectangle that's a little smaller than the frame from some other piece of cardboard. After that, glue 3 sides of the cardboard to the back of the frame and slide your photograph through the open side. To learn how to use wooden slats, former magazines, or twigs to brand a photograph frame, roll down!

Did this summary assistance you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a folio that has been read 941,306 times.