Custom (maybe) poster frame w/glass by mail?

June 10, 2015 3:13 PM

Thanks to this AskMe, I have a 19x26" poster that I'd like to frame at a reasonable price.

Can anyone recommend a by-mail vendor that either A) has a stock frame that will fit this well, or B) can make and ship a glass fronted (important - I don't want plastic) custom frame without gouging me?

Thanks in advance, hivemind.

posted by ryanshepard to Shopping (7 answers total)

Best answer: A friend of mine has gotten a couple frames from Level Frames that seem quite nice. They're not exactly cheap, but they're much less expensive than the custom-sized frames I've gotten in the past.

EDIT: Never mind -- from their FAQ: For glazing, acrylic is used (instead of traditional glass)...
posted by j.edwards at 3:16 PM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

Well I've just had a great experience using Framebridge. It'll cost you $136 with their flat-rate pricing -- not sure if you find that reasonable or not. The quality is very high, and they offer free shipping both ways. (They send you a mailer, you send in your art, and then they send back the completed project.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 4:02 PM on June 10, 2015

I received artwork beautifully framed by arttoframe.com. I can't speak to their prices, as I got a gift, but I'm thrilled with the job they did, and their website confirms that they do use glass.
posted by mhz at 4:08 PM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

For something of that size, I think that most of the by-mail vendors will use acrylic rather than glass. If your experience is only with the kind of cheap plastic you get in frames at Michael's and the like, you should know that the acrylic is typically pretty heavy-duty and can be bought in non-glare and conservation quality. For something of that size, the weight difference is going to be substantial.

If you really want glass, you could buy the frame online (I've had good experiences with American Frame, FWIW) and get a piece of glass cut locally, which might keep the overall cost down since it wouldn't have to be shipped.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 4:56 PM on June 10, 2015 [1 favorite]

Okay, I'm a loser because I didn't realize that Framebridge uses acrylic. However, I will say that in my finished pieces it is indistinguishable from glass.
posted by BlahLaLa at 5:15 PM on June 10, 2015

If you have an Ikea nearby, there seem to be several versions of the Ribba that would work (I'm not 100% sure if the larger frames are glass or plastic....I know the smaller ones are definitely glass). The frames are inexpensive enough even if you had to have it shipped you probably could get a piece of glass cut to fit and still be under the cost of a lot of these other places tho.
posted by AnneShirley at 10:58 PM on June 10, 2015

It looks like Signed and Numbered could probably do what you want for around a hundred bucks. They use glass and I have several of their frames, none as big as yours, but they're great and turn around in a week or so.
posted by clavicle at 8:31 AM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]