Floating Frames (& Canvas)
The first time I saw a floating frame was a customers home in Shanghai, where she had a giant canvas of a military vehicle custom framed. We've purchased several custom photo canvases and I've been itching to finish them off, but didn't want to pay the price for custom-framing. Luckily, floating frames are actually very easy to make and literally a few dollars each.
http://www.designsalononline.com/the-design-salon/framed-
Hubby helped. I liked the look of square corners, which made the job even easier, as we didn't use a miter box to make angles meet. We purchased lengths of 1x2" pine, finished them with Walnut Danish Oil and hubby screwed in brackets towards what would serve as the back end of the frame. With a little shifting, the custom canvases popped in.
There are loads of photos on a list I would love enlarged, in order to make my own photo canvases.
I ordered the first 20x30", as a trial, for $20, purchased a 20x30 blank canvas and manufactured Modge Podge.
I made a few mistakes, putting the steps out of order from this fantastic tutorial.
Paint the edges of your blank canvas first. I'm currently making a mess painting around an already adhered photo.
Adhere photo with Modge Podge in excellent lighting. I did this in the basement where it looked smooth, until it was dry and I brought it up to daylight. You can see bumps and bubbles at certain angles.
Take your time trimming photo and use sharp blade, before adhering. My edges are rough and it's tricky cutting a straight line without nicking the canvas.
Altogether, the quality is similar to custom and these are large pieces that would cost upwards of $300 framed.
Photo enlargement + canvas + Modge Podge + DIY wood frame = $50 (plus your time)