We've been framed!
 

Or framing...

Since the end of June, when we bought our Shag prints and had them autographed, we've been keeping an eye out for frames for them. Unable/unwilling to afford the stunning custom framing, or anything similarly custom, that was displayed in Disneyana we knew we were stuck with finding less amazing pre-made frames that would be good, but not fabulous.

We underestimated our ingenuity. Today was a good day.

It started with a trip to Khols, where I stumbled across a PERFECT frame for the Fantasyland print. The style I had in mind the whole time was one that mimiced the spiral grooved brass of a carousel poll. Well, voila! How perfect is that? We were a bit worried that the size of the frame would overwhelm the art, but because there is actually no brass in the art, it contrasts and still completely pops. AND, the already decently priced pre-made frame was 50% off and we had a 15% off coupon for Khols. Grand total: $13. We might consider adding a small inner frame, probably the same pattern as the inner edge of the frame, inside the mat. That should only cost a few dollars.

Earlier, Jen had scoped out Aaron Bros. which is having a buy one get one for 1 cent sale. She learned that even at non Disney prices, custom framing would be absurd (actally, the ones Disney was offering were a good price as framing goes for what they were). But with the sale, we thought we'd see what we could do with the pre-mades. Oh man, did we score big time. For Adventureland, it's been no question since the beginning that we wanted a bamboo frame. Well, not only did we find a bamboo frame, we found another frame that happened to have this AWESOME mat. So we got them both (with the second one only 1 cent) for $18, and scavanged the mat from the one to pair with the bamboo frame.

There was only one problem that we didn't grasp until we got home. While the prints came matted to a total size of 11x14, which is a standard size, the prints themselves are 8.5x11, which is NOT a standard size! So the cool mat was only an 8x10 opening. But, undaunted, we began to perform surgery, removing the inner frame from the mat and carefully cutting it to the correct opening size (hey, at a penny for the frame, it's not like we were risking anything). The result? Well, you be the judge. And as you might be able to tell in this closeup, that mat is NOT printed, it's actually sticks of some sort of wood material strung together and mounted to cardboard. Cutting that to size was no easy trick!

Our final purchase was a frame for the Mainstreet print. Unfortunately, we ran into the same issue with the mat opening. Here's the frame with the mat and inner frame. The mat's got that great period wall paper look to it. We're going to either buy a new mat of the correct size or see if someone will cut it to the correct size (unlike the Adventureland mat, the "rough hewn" look of our home surgery won't quite blend in as well) and get a new inner frame to match. But, until then, this is what the print looks like in the frame. That one was $23.

So that's 3 frames for under $60 (we'll see how much any minor custom mat work will cost). Compared to $100 each for what Disney was offering, or $100 for a frame alone (before matting and glass) at a standard retail custom frame shop.

Tomorrowland and Frontierland are proving quite a bit harder to find good matches for in the pre-made realm. But with 3 down and 2 to go, we're way ahead of where we thought we'd be!

Now to find somewhere to hang these things!

Absolutely awesome work...

Who knew a night of framing could make one giddy. :)

There are some awesome Frontierland frames on sale on eBay, may have to get it there...
One
Two
etc.

Tomorrowland is probably going to be the toughest one to find though...all the metal frames we've looked at are so boring.

My sis has a framing business, and you are right- the prices are daunting. You did a really fantastic job!:snap:

I especially love the Adventureland one.:cheers:

That's our favorite of the prints, and when we saw the one Disney was displaying, with a great burlap mat, we were kinda bummed that the best we'd be able to do for it was a simple bamboo frame. We're so psyched that we cobbled together something so much more interesting than that, it deserves it.

Hey wait...what kind of a deal can she cut us? ;)

Hey, those look awesome! I really liked the Adventureland one, as well. Good work!

You people are practically homosexual.

You must spread some Mojo around before giving it to Gn2Dlnd again.

Lol!

GD- actually, I do get a bit of a break....:D She's also an artist, so I have some geat artwork by her, wonderfully framed of course. She works for a software (gaming) company, but in between product launches she focuses on her side business. I am going to show her this thread next time I see her, because I know she'll love what you two did with your Shag prints.

Way Cool!!! The frames look like they were made just for the prints!

I have bought many frames from http://www.pictureframes.com/ also known as Graphik Dimensions, Ltd. Found their prices fair, and service good. Of course it would require actually framing the piece yourself, but they have many excellent frames.

Wow. Fantastic job!

Yeah, we've bought from pictureframes.com before, but they didn't really have anything that fit the bill for us.

We found a good one for Frontierland at Michael's yesterday, but there was only one left in stock and it was damaged. They're getting more on Wednesday.

Tomorrowland is still up in the air. There's absolutely nothing ready-made that's right, we've looked at a billion different places. I guess the retro-future look has gone back out of style. Michael's is having a 50% off custom framing sale all week. We saw some possibilities there, so we may do that. But, even at 50% off, if we're not careful the cost could still approach that of just going back to Disneyana and getting them to do it. But we went back and looked at that framing, and didn't love it as much as we remembered. The frame itself is awesome and we have seen nothing even close to it anywhere else, but the matting they chose leaves soemthing to be desired. I wonder if they'll sell us just the frame...

Nice work GD! Wow, what a difference a frame makes for the art. I particularly like the Frontierland one.

Tomorrowland: check out beveled mirror frames, maybe? Or something of recycled paper? Or better yet, since this is SHag and Tomorrowland: the wonderful world of plastics!

Better living through chemistry.

I looked at white frames, since the Tomorrowland of '55 was all about white, but I decided white was way too blah. Looks like TL will be our splurge in this area.

Just wait until you see the Frontierland frame, it's awesome.

I've got my two Shag Tiki Room prints in relatively plain black frames I got at Target. The Adventureland one is waiting for the same frame to be back in stock at my Target. (I just left the white mats they came with--my framing is certainly nothing special, but they look really good with the black.)

And a certain someone has that third Tiki Room print to send to me--still. I swear I'm good for the cost and postage. I can't hang the 3 I have until they're all here--it's a spacing thing. Hint. Hint.

Oh yes, the art can definitely stand on its own without elaborate framing...but even before we bought them we were considering the themed frames, and seeing them in Disneyana in themed frames sealed the deal. And now that we've got 4 of the 5 frames found, Tomorrowland's framing has to be able to hold its own against the others.

Of course it does!

I have the distinct advantage of not having seen these fancy framings in Disneyana. If they're as cool as they sound, I'd probably be tempted to theme the frames, too. Though in my case, that'd mean bamboo all around. And while that would go with my very Floridian furniture, I don't want to "theme" my living room that much. My entertainment unit is already a completely different style. I don't want that ultra-modern stuff to feel too excluded. ;)

Yeah, it's nice that we've got 5 distinct themes to work with.

I'm with you on the simple framing. After all my years working in an exhibition space, I learned I'd rather see the art than the frame. I believe all of the art in my house - original or prints - is framed fairly simply because of my professional experience and personal preference.

I keep thinking of the scene from Hannah and her Sisters when Max von Sydow says to the haughty and stupid decorator "I don't make art to go with your couch!" :)

And, tomorrow. I SWEAR I'm going to the PO Tomorrow! I also have a Alice drawing for you. Remember............oh so long ago?

I thought you were "Gardening." :p

I so forgot about the Alice one. Yes! Yes! Mail me some art!


GD . . . 5 different lands/themes for 5 different rooms? Have you decided where to hang these yet?

If we HAD 5 different rooms...

Maybe when we move out of our apartment to a (hopefully) bigger place with enough rooms, we'd "theme" 5 rooms around each. And by "theme" I mean use a complimentary color pallette, no way you'll find a fully themed Frontieland room wherever I live *shudder*.

But for now, we're probably going to hang them together. Our little dining corner seems like it'll be a good place, lots of wall space. It's actually got 2 walls 90 degrees to each other, so we can break the set up instead of bunching all 5 togehter. It's our little classy corner, with a curio cabinet and our growing collection of hangable travel souveniers (plates and tiles from Italy and Mexico respectively). Currently, the area we plan on using is covered in family photos and our big wedding portrait. The portrait will probably move into the back bedroom and the family photos to the hallway.

After all that description we're required to post pics of the finished set up, eventually. :D

Yes, but sometimes the right frame makes a world of difference. For instance, the Fantasyland and Mainstreet prints I was always kinda luke warm on, especially Fantasyland. I don't know why, they just didn't grab me the way the other 3 do. Not that I dislike them, but they were a distant 4th and 5th. We bought them only because it seemed silly not to have the whole set.

Now that they're in their frames, though, I love them. For some reason, the frames just give it the right character for me to actually appreciate them.

I guess that's the difference between decoration and art. And, doing something fun with a $15 print is cool and decorative. If these were originals, I'd feel differently, I suppose. Still, mine are going in the same simple black frames that the rest of the "gallery" is framed in.

Whether you paid $15 for the print or $10,000 for the original, you're still getting the same work of art.

I love Shag, and since we used his work as inspiration for this board, his stuff means so much more. To have a work of his on our wall, representing our love for Disneyland, plus giving it a proper themed treatment...it's awesome. :cheers:

Ummmm, no. Not by a long shot.

:(

I guess you have to spend ridiculous sums of money to have art, even though it looks exactly the same. Silly me, attempting to put something nice in my house.

Thanks. :(

I think that is where the art/decoration thing comes in. with originals, you can see layers, brush strokes, etc... From a distance one gets the same effect, but they are worlds apart. I have seen prints of Van Goghs "Sunflowers" but it did not do it justice, I realized, when I was standing with my nose 6 inches from the original.


That is not to take away from what you did, just a opinion. (and you know what those are like)

I have an artist friend that lives in the apartment above me, and print making is an art in itself to make a reproduction that is acceptable to the artist. He is extremely picky about subtle variations of color and its proper reproduction, as well as getting the lighting right to properly show the texture in his paintings for images to show prospective galleries and buyers. There is no way to 100% accurately reproduce the subtleties in a painting, even by the best print makers. But as long as they are not bootleg prints, you can be sure that the reproduction is as good as possible, and are justified to be proud to show your original print in any method you desire. God knows I am proud of my bootleg star wars movie poster print, even though it does not hold the value it would if it were an original.

I dig what you're saying about brushstrokes and color. I studied various artists once and went to see the original works at the old Getty. One of them was Van Gogh's Sunflowers and yeah, brushstrokes and layers of paint definitely make a difference.

During our photo reorganization that we accomplished this evening, I rediscovered some tiny prints of 3 works of art that we had put away when we changed our set up a while ago. One of them is by Van Gogh. Yeah, a tiny print is not as good as the original, especially with an artist that used paint the way Van Gogh did.

Even so, it's still a masterpiece. I've accepted the fact that I won't be able to afford an original Van Gogh, or even an original Shag. I love these paintings and I love what we've done to present them, and I can't stop grinning when I look at them. :)

And, ultimately, these are in your house and need to make you happy.

That was a loooong 2 months. BUT, we're finally done. It involved blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally on all 3 counts). Click here for an overly detailed account of the process that really you all have no business giving a crap about. No need to read it, just look at the pretty pictures. I just had to vent about how much bloody effort this took. We're thrilled with the results, but I think we now know why custom framing costs so damned much and if we ever do anything remotely like this again, we're probably going to hand it over to a professional and have them call us when they're done. Oy!

EDIT: Oh, for crying out loud, the bloody photo links aren't working. Of course, they would be working, but the ftp server for our jenniegreg domain isn't so I had to put it on bloody Tripod. It never ends!

REDIT: Okay, now it works. I hope. And now I sleep.

Ye've seen the cursed treasure. You know where it be hidden, now proceed at your own risk.

We finally have our dining room back - all the framing crap has been cleaned up and the stuff is off the floor. I feel like we were on the verge of calling In A Fix. It was part of the reason we haven't had any parties at our house in ages.

I'm so happy it's done. They're gorgeous and completely individual. Definitely a collection we'll keep forever. But my God, what a pain in our asses!

They look great. That Tomorrowland Frame looks fantastic but the Adventureland is still my favorite. Oh and the limited edition map with pins...faboo!

Great job you two. :snap:

Wow- great job, you two! I love them all, but especially the Tomorrowland and Adventureland ones.:snap::cheers::snap:

Very cool... so crafty......

I think that the two of you have done an amazing job capturing the spirit of each image in keeping with the theme. Shag would approve.

As for the print vs. original conversation - yes, of course an original is always going to be the real thing and a print the shadow version BUT in this particular case, the artist strives to purposefully create a two-dimensional image that recalls the classic graphic illustration art of the mid-twentieth century, which, by design was intended to be seen and appreciated as a lithographed illustration in print advertising and poster art.

Therefore, in this instance, because the end product - the reproduction of 1950s graphic design is what informed the current work, it is therefore closer in spirit and intent than the original.

And you can quote me on that.

Done. ;)