We've been framed!

[Ghoulish Delight]

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!