How To Mount, Frame & Present Your Artwork – Works on Paper

Prime a raw plywood panel with Acrylic Matte Medium to seal the wood. Use two coats, sanding in between and attach your work on paper to the second coat leaving 1/8″ overhand all around. This will be trimmed later.

Use a hot iron to speed up the drying process of the Matte Medium and to flatten out the the paper on the panel.

Once mounted on the plywood panel, brush another coat of Matte Medium on the painting to seal and protect the paper and to allow the work to be shown without a glass covering.

Turn the mounted painting over and use a sharp utility blade to cut off the excess paper to make it flush with with the panel.

You’ll need three measurements when making a frame: width, height and depth.

Cut the frame pieces to size on the chop saw and use wood glue and a nail gun to assemble the frame. Have a damp rag ready to wipe off any excess wood glue as you go.

Make a frame within the frame for the painting to rest on and attach to. Pre-drill holes in the inner frame for attaching the painting to the frame. 

Sand and spray the finished frame with two coats of lacquer.

To create an antiqued gold-leaf finish, tape out the frame with painters tape and apply three coats of Acrylic Red Clay paint to the frame edges…sand between each coat.

Brush the painted edges with Sizing, which will act as the glue to attach the gold leafing.

Cut the golf leafing into strips and attach around the edges of the frame.

Use a cotton rag and a little shellac and lightly rub the gold leaf to reveal the red clay to give a distressed or antiqued look. Spray the frame with lacquer to seal.

Paint the inside of the frame with a color to add contrast to the painting and golf leafing. In this case, I used white acrylic paint.

Remove the painters tape, turn the painting over and mount the painting to the inner frame with wood screws. Wire the painting and it’s ready to hang.

The finished work on paper….mounted, framed with gold leaf, and hung.