Custom Box Frames
When your artwork is displayed with museum quality box framing, you won't be the only one to notice.
What Are Bespoke Box Frames?
Works such as oil on canvas, books, tiles and textiles are often displayed using box frames. Original art on paper and limited edition prints are also frequently presented in a box frame, floated to demonstrate the full edge to edge glory.
Box frames are deeper than traditional frames, so need a deeper profile to allow room for the art. Glass spacers are used to keep the glass or acrylic from touching the art.
Every box frame we produce is handmade and completely unique, tailor-made to the perfect size for the item you wish to be framed. We use conservation level techniques to house the artwork safely inside the frame and high quality woods and metals for the outer frame profile.
I started using Art Graphics six years ago. These guys are the best framers in the UK, they focus on my needs and always deliver.
Key Box Frame Features
Give Your Artwork Serious Impact
The timeless shape and clean visuals give your artwork added gravitas that visitors will comment on.
Extra Large?
We specialise in oversized, meaning your box frame can be customised to any length. Frames this large can act as a centerpiece and really pull your space together.
Protect Your Artwork
Conservation level mounting techniques are used to house your artwork safely into the frame and a variety of glazing materials with various benefits, such as UV protection and anti-reflective properties, are used to protect the artwork from environmental damage.
A Variety Of Materials
The work we do is completely custom, so you have a large choice of materials to choose from.
Hand Finished Woods
Our team handcraft our wooden frames in house from a range of species including beech, oak, walnut, rock maple, ash, cherry and pine guaranteeing a high quality finish every time.
Hand Finished Metals
We’ve developed our metalwork extensively recently, with our team now welding both custom aluminium and brass frames to suit a number of different shapes and styles.
Acrylic Options
Acrylic is naturally 70% UV resistant, 50% lighter than glass and incredibly tough to break, making it an ideal replacement to glass if preferred. Higher grade acrylic options include full UV resistance, anti-static or anti-reflective coatings.
Glass Options
We offer a UV resistant glass as standard on our frames, with higher grade options to choose from including ‘Gallery Glass’ which has an anti-reflective property to make your artwork sing or glazing with anti-scratch coatings.
Glass Spacers
Also called 'Fillets', these separate the mount and artwork from the glazing in a box frame. As they're visible, colours and styles can be used to compliment and contrast your artwork.
Splines
Up to 5 splines can be used on your frame, for 2 purposes. Either to make a stronger frame for large works (where it's often painted over), or for the style and character it adds to your frame. In the latter case, contrasting woods can be used to enhance the effect.
Multiple Finishes
We offer a wide range of finishes on both wood and metal, if you need something custom - we can almost certainly achieve it.
Sprayed
Spraying is our most popular finish, with benefits including invisible frame corner joins, a smooth high quality effect and a choice of colours and glosses. It gives contemporary museum quality to any artwork.
Staining
A versatile option that can be used to enhance grain, add colouring and even out natural surfaces. This is best used on natural woods.
Waxed
We use wax when sealing raw wood, enhancing the grain and natural colours.
Corten
This unique finish is created though a careful chemical reaction on wood and metal. The result is a natural rust which is then sealed with clear lacquer to protect it.
Burn Back
Gives modern rustic aesthetic with deep texture and ageing effects. The process involves carefully burning the wood. Ash or obeche wood has the best grain effect for this technique.
Gilding
After laying a gesso base, gilding can be applied using leafs of many metals, including gold, silver, bronze, copper & aluminium. This gives you a luxury finish with a huge range of custom styles including patination, scuffing, rub through and burnishing.
Mounting Options
We can present your artwork within your frame in a number of different ways.
Float Mounted
This traditional mounting method lets you see the edges of your paper artwork, adding extra appreciation to high value prints and deckled edges. It's fully reversible and causes no damage to the artwork. We can also lift the artwork to add a shadow effect.
Window Mount
Gives essential negative space to give the art breathing room. There are a range of colours and thickness's to choose.
Multi Aperture Mount
This mount has a number of windows (often different shapes) cut into the board. Useful for organising collections of items, emphasising text descriptions or masking sections of artworks.
Close Mount
A 'Close' mount is where no mount board is used. The artwork touches, and often go slightly under the inside of the frame profile. Bulk frame orders and signage often use this method.
Double Mount
Two layers of mountboard can used to add an architectural depth to an otherwise flat piece of work. One layer can optionally be raised to enhance the effect and add a shadow gap.
The framing of my piece has really made a statement in our new home, for a price that was unrivalled by any local competitors.
Examples of box framing from past projects
Browse 1,652 images from our previous projects, including many box frame ideas to give inspiration for your next project.
The only museum quality framers we’ve found outside London.
Why Choose Harten?
Any Size
We work with artwork on any scale, customising your frame to fit perfectly.
Consult With An Expert
Talk with one of our framing experts for free, to receive advice on construction, colour and various product options.
Cutting Edge Manufacturing
Your frame will be crafted using the latest machinery, such as CAD mount cutters and custom spray booths.
Framing Since 1974
Your frame will benefit from craftsmanship and research built over 40 years.
Full Insurance Coverage
Your artwork is fully insured while it's with us at the workshop.
Made In The UK
All of our frames are hand crafted by the team in our Cheshire based workshop.
Range Of Finishes
With a variety of finishes on wood and metal, you’re guaranteed to get the look you are aiming for.
Security Fixings
We can supply special fixings to stop people taking the frame off your walls
Variety Of Delivery Options
We offer delivery through artwork couriers or we can personally deliver your finished pieces.
Art Graphics have made beautiful frames for me for over 20 years.
Harten has created for companies including...
Thank you so much - they look great and I am sure my client will be thrilled. The quality is superb too - I am very pleased with them, so thank you and your team for their hard work on them.
What types of artwork can a box frame be used for?
| Acrylic | Metal & Wood Frames | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artwork | Box | Panel | Box | Simple | Stretcher | Tray |
| 3D Object | ||||||
| Board | ||||||
| Canvas | ||||||
| Digital File | ||||||
| Mirror | ||||||
| Paper | ||||||
| Textile | ||||||
They are framers with a truly artistic eye and understand how to compliment artwork with colour, space and the right profile.
How Are UK Box Frames Made?
Any item we box frame for you will be framed with conservation in mind as we do not use any destructive fixing methods when it comes to your work. This means no glue, nails, staples or anything that could damage your art.
Box frames can have the following elements:
Deep Profile
A strong wood is preferred to ensure the frame remains rock solid and keeps your work safe. Tulipwood is a good choice we regularly use for a balance of strength, budget and adaptability to finishes.
The frame will need to be deeper than the height of the work, to allow for the construction materials (glass, mountboard, subframe etc). This can be important to consider if you’re after a particular visual dynamic in the frame proportions.
Using more depth than strictly necessary is completely up to you for either small, large or deep box frames. We can advise on what suits your item best, but the decision is up to you. It is possible to build up the profile, pack out the back of the frame or fabricate a box frame in acrylic. We have recently completed several acrylic box frames for wedding dresses, which is always interesting. We have also undertaken box frames for football shirts, a series of paper bags, a set of beer pump icons, dried flowers, a school tie, resin cast baby feet, antique books, tickets, etc.
Glass Spacer
Most clients opt for a white, conservation paper wrapped glass spacer. This gives a clean, modern visual and adds space to the frame.
Glass spacers can also be hand-finished in the same range of options the main profiles. Custom finishing for the glass spacer can be very effective. The artwork can appear to blend into the frame or a sharp visual contrast can be achieved.
Mount board
A mount board is often chosen by you to compliment the artwork.
The art then sits on top of the mount board and is attached differently in many cases. Some examples of the reversible fixing methods we use are Japanese Museum Tags, stitching and custom built support structures.
There are several options available to you regarding mount board: colours, thickness, aperture, double mount, triple mount, multiple aperture etc. All of these will be fully explained to you in your initial consultation. All mounts are cut using a dedicated Swiss-made computer-aided mount cutter.
Spacing around Art
A key consideration to make is how much spacing to leave around the artwork, before the edge of the frame.
How much space to leave depends on the size of the work and how it will sit with the chosen profile. As the under-mount creates the negative space, considering the under mount’s colour and material is also important. A common size to use might be 30mm around the art.
Another point to keep in mind is the spacing of multiple objects. It’s quite common for plaques or paper comments to be included with the object. Or there may even be a selection of several objects that need to be arranged for best visual affect.
Glazing
Box frames can either be glazed with glass or acrylic (also sometimes called Perspex, Plastic or Plexiglas). They each come in a variety of options. There are 2 items to consider when it comes to glazing box frames:
UV Protection
If the art being framed is susceptible to damage from UV rays (paper artwork and textiles are particularly vulnerable) then UV protection is something you may like. Glass and acrylic range from around 50% protection right up to museum grade, 99.9% protection.
Refection Control
This is a simple upgrade that really sets off your work. It’s magic seeing it in person – you assume it’s possible to reach out and touch the art directly but it’s still fully protected. This is especially useful if there will be down lighting, or strong opposite lighting where the piece will be displayed.
Sub-Frame
With large box frames, it will likely need a sub frame to make sure it stays fully rigid and protects the artwork. This can double as an effective hanging method by using a split batten on your wall. Just let us know if you’re interested in this hanging method and we can build the frame to accommodate this.
Welded Aluminium
We can also create welded aluminium box frames. You can see the process in the video below.
They frame everything for me and I put them down to a big part of my success as an artist and businessman. They have always bent over backwards to help me, they even assist my shows by hanging and delivering my paintings to site.
Quickly Get Prices & Timelines
It was the communication from ArtGraphics that really set them apart from the competition. I had a lot of concerns about the framing of a blanket as I knew it was a tricky piece to get right. They talked me through every step of their process.