Topic: online Framing supplies? (Read 16637 times)

lightstand · « **on:** December 21, 2009, 02:00:49 pm »

Looking for recommendations on where to buy framing supplies online? Looking more for a cheap reliable place over the high costs like that of Light Impressions. I'm located in the US. Any suggestions very appreciated thanks Jeff

Justan · « **Reply #1 on:** December 21, 2009, 02:05:31 pm »

My experience is that it's best to buy this stuff locally whenever possible. The shipping costs can be pretty high and negate any savings you may get from buying on the web. Plus framing supplies tend to be large, highly fragile and shipping related damages will be a world class PITA to deal with.

Adam Schallau · « **Reply #2 on:** December 21, 2009, 02:08:34 pm »

FrameDestination.com

I've been using them for a couple of years and have had nothing but a good experience.

jerryrock · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2009, 02:15:36 pm »

I use Framing4yourself.com. They are reliable with competitive prices and good customer service.

http://www.framing4yourself.com/index.htm

John.Murray · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2009, 02:25:11 pm »

2nd on Frame Destination:

I had one frame "kit" (including glass, foamcore, hardware) that had a minor dent on one edge - they sent a complete replacement kit, as opposed to just the frame - no questions asked! Very nice to work with online and via phone....

DarkPenguin · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2009, 02:30:48 pm »

American Frame

www.americanframe.com

framah · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2009, 02:50:51 pm »

Sacrilegious, I say!!

The ONLY place to buy framing materials/ framing is thru a qualified framer... like...me!

Sorry. Had to do it!

How else was I able to afford the trip to Antarctica?

The biggest problem is usually the shipping costs that add to the final cost of the materials.

Try looking for a craft store in your area as they usually have frame kits and precut mats and stuff like that. I will send people to our local one when they want the cheapest they can buy. Shop locally whenever you can.

Alan Goldhammer · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2009, 04:03:29 pm »

Quote from: lightstand

Looking for recommendations on where to buy framing supplies online? Looking more for a cheap reliable place over the high costs like that of Light Impressions. I'm located in the US. Any suggestions very appreciated thanks Jeff

I use Strathmore Museum matboard from Dick Blick and cut it myself: http://www.dickblick.com/products/strathmo...mounting-board/
Acrylic glazing comes from: http://framingsupplies.com/AcrylicForPictu...lareAcrylic.htm
Precut Frames and foam board are from: http://www.archivalmethods.com/category.cfm?categoryid=3

All are less expensive than Light Impressions and Archival Methods was started up by folks who used to be with Light Impressions when it was still in Rochester, NY

dwood · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2009, 05:35:16 pm »

Another vote for Frame Destination.

MBlue72 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2009, 06:05:36 pm »

I have had an excellent experience with Frame Destination. I have been a customer for several years and they have outstanding service and their packing is unbelievably good.

Hope this helps,

Dave

Peter Mellis · « **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2009, 06:31:50 pm »

Another vote for Frame Destination. I actually got a package of four frame kits from them today;as someone else said, nobody packs like they do. I like to use 8 ply mats for framed work;they do them very well and at a fair price. Service is excellent.

rdonson · « **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2009, 07:18:57 pm »

Another vote for Frame Destination...

AFairley · « **Reply #12 on:** December 21, 2009, 07:20:17 pm »

Do you know of a place that will precut to 24"x29" (no cutouts) and maybe give a break off the pice of full 32"x40" sheets? Hand cutting full size sheets is a pain, not to mention I'm accumulating a bunch of 16x32 remnants I have no use for.

howseth · « **Reply #13 on:** December 21, 2009, 08:12:10 pm »

Another thumbs-up for Frame Destination: I had 8 custom frame sets made up - no problems - and accurate cutting/ good packing.

Also, they sell nice 'bubble pouches' for framed work.

Howard

lightstand · « **Reply #14 on:** December 21, 2009, 08:59:06 pm »

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. Jeff

peterpix · « **Reply #15 on:** December 21, 2009, 09:04:19 pm »

Quote from: lightstand

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions. Jeff

Hard to beat American Frame, Just did an exhibit and they prepared 64 frames with custom mattes. Frames ranged from 13 x 19 to 18 to 24. About $35 per frame including shipping.

Peter

fdi · « **Reply #16 on:** December 21, 2009, 09:56:40 pm »

Thanks to everyone that recommended my company. Framah mentioned buying local and I wanted to expand on that a little. For the most part there are two kinds of frame shops. Local custom framers that basically do the entire framing job from design to final assembly and mail order/online wholesalers like my company that mostly sell the materials for people wanting to “do it them self”. If you need help with conservation, design, and or mounting then I strongly encourage you to use your local custom framers. You can get a list of qualified framers from the Professional Picture Framers Association www.ppfa.com which is a sub organization of the Photo Marketing Association. Just go to their home page and click on “Find a Picture Framer”.

Now if you are going to go the local route, I suggest you avoid places like Michaels and Joan’s. Those are large companies that are doing production work with low skilled people. You pay near custom framer prices but the conservation, design and quality will be hit or miss depending on whom you happen to run into on a given day. Also, Joan’s is owned by Larson Juhl which is a framing distributor that supplies the custom framers, but is also helping to put custom framers out of business when they bought Joan’s. Some of my employees are from local custom frame shops that went out of business.

If you go the online mail order route make sure you check the total cost with shipping. Unfortunately when you are talking about shipping large frames the shipping companies start charging for size instead of weight and then throwing over size fees on top. Also note that just because something in the frame or shipping cost is “free” doesn’t always mean it is the best deal. It just means the cost is being absorbed else where in the final package.

Of the online companies, there are small companies like most mentioned in this thread and large companies. You can easily Google the names and get review information for all the online companies. The largest online company I am aware of is documounts.com. They were also bought by Larson Juhl which is a case where one of my suppliers is competing directly with me. Larson Juhl is owned by Warren Buffet’s organization so it is by far the largest company in the picture framing industry.

Cheers,
Mark

bill t. · « **Reply #17 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:24:23 pm »

If you are framing a lot of pieces you might consider a "wholesale framer." Most cities have one or more. The local artist community can probably tell you where to find them.

They specialize in no-nonsense service and assume you can deal with that. The ones I have used offer the same range of framing styles as a storefront framer. They assume you're gonna march in there with more than a couple things to frame, and know enough about framing to understand kind of quality you want and can afford. They do not hold hands very well and will treat more like a peer than an honored, always-right customer. They will help you make good cost/quality tradeoffs and will pass on a certain amount of volume savings to you in many cases. There's only one in my city and she's so swamped I had to start framing myself, and I sometimes long for the days before that happened.

PS some storefront framers will wholesale frame on the side if they think you can give them some volume and you are not an unreasonable jerk.

Buy yeah, stay away from Michaels, Hobby Lobby, etc. Their quality control is sometimes OK, but not as consistent as from a framer motivated enough to open his framing shop. All the Big Box "50% OFF" hype is bogus. Most professional framers are no more expensive for the same quality level and will treat you better and offer you a lot bigger range of styles and services.

pindman · « **Reply #18 on:** December 21, 2009, 10:39:34 pm »

Quote from: fdi

Thanks to everyone that recommended my company. Framah mentioned buying local and I wanted to expand on that a little. For the most part there are two kinds of frame shops. Local custom framers that basically do the entire framing job from design to final assembly and mail order/online wholesalers like my company that mostly sell the materials for people wanting to “do it them self”. If you need help with conservation, design, and or mounting then I strongly encourage you to use your local custom framers. You can get a list of qualified framers from the Professional Picture Framers Association www.ppfa.com which is a sub organization of the Photo Marketing Association. Just go to their home page and click on “Find a Picture Framer”.

Now if you are going to go the local route, I suggest you avoid places like Michaels and Joan’s. Those are large companies that are doing production work with low skilled people. You pay near custom framer prices but the conservation, design and quality will be hit or miss depending on whom you happen to run into on a given day. Also, Joan’s is owned by Larson Juhl which is a framing distributor that supplies the custom framers, but is also helping to put custom framers out of business when they bought Joan’s. Some of my employees are from local custom frame shops that went out of business.

If you go the online mail order route make sure you check the total cost with shipping. Unfortunately when you are talking about shipping large frames the shipping companies start charging for size instead of weight and then throwing over size fees on top. Also note that just because something in the frame or shipping cost is “free” doesn’t always mean it is the best deal. It just means the cost is being absorbed else where in the final package.

Of the online companies, there are small companies like most mentioned in this thread and large companies. You can easily Google the names and get review information for all the online companies. The largest online company I am aware of is documounts.com. They were also bought by Larson Juhl which is a case where one of my suppliers is competing directly with me. Larson Juhl is owned by Warren Buffet’s organization so it is by far the largest company in the picture framing industry.

Cheers,
Mark

In my small experience, I've found that companies whose people post on this bulletin board are absolutely first class. I buy my Phase One MF digital backs from Capture Integration, whose contacts originated by posts on this board, and haven't been disappointed by their superior service. Bought my Epson 9900 from Spectraflow, which also has gone above and beyond the call of duty. So Mark, next time I order frames it will be from you.

Paul

neile · « **Reply #19 on:** December 21, 2009, 11:59:23 pm »

Quote from: bill t.

If you are framing a lot of pieces you might consider a "wholesale framer." Most cities have one or more. The local artist community can probably tell you where to find them.

A variation of this, if you are doing your own framing work, is to find a wholesale framing supply place locally that supplies to custom frame shops in your area. If you are a photography business and have a state business license you can pretty easily get a wholesale account. In the Pacific Northwest, for example, there's Jayeness in downtown Seattle and Framer's Inventory in Portland. With a $100 minimum order my delivery charge is only $11.50 and I can order the day before and have it delivered to my front porch on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Neil

Author Topic: online Framing supplies? (Read 16637 times)

lightstand

DarkPenguin

lightstand