How To Mat Your Own Photos

Smooth out any bubbles.

How to mat your own photos.

It s so simple and affordable and the best part is you can customize your own wall hangings to fit your style. You can mat about 10 20 photos from one sheet. Framing photos and art is one of the most common projects i do. If you ignore the crazy sparkly bird nest in the bottom right corner its actually a great piece of art.

All it takes is a few supplies some art or a photo to frame and you ll be. Place the mat and photo into the frame and. There is a really easy way to cut your own mats without expensive mat cutter tools. Next cut a second picture mat to the same size but this time cut a window out from the inside of the mat to frame your picture.

Use either sticky back tape if there is enough room around the photo or use more sticky back adhesive squares applied around the photo and then press the mat into place over the top. Especially when the mat doesn t match the bright white of the frame. Spray the back of your patterned paper and the front of your mat with the spray adhesive and carefully place one side on top of the other to adhere. Ok first step in making your own mat is a teeny weeny bit of math.

To learn how to secure your picture mats inside of the frame scroll down. A 12 12 piece of mat board mat board is available in huge sheets in the framing department of your craft store. Or it will be when i m done with it. Press firmly on the back of the tape to ensure it is well adhered to the mat.

Prepare the mat board and the mount board by measuring them to fit in the picture frame and make careful cuts in the mat board to create the border for the picture. The costs can really escalate when you want to have more than one opening cut in a mat such as when you want to include multiple photos. In addition to that issue i was also working with some art sizes that didn t actually fit the mats they were square or just off the usual size and mixing in some vintage frames which didn t have any mats at all. Use the x acto knife and ruler again to cut away the excess paper from the mat.

Then tape your photo in place behind the mat. For 4 x 6 photos matted up to a 5 x 7 size use sticky back adhesive squares to affix the photo to the foam board. How to mat small photos. Avoid touching the front side of the mat with your hands as you risk smudging dirt on it.

All arguments aside the best reason to cut your own is because it s fun to do. Turn the mat and attached page face down on your clean work surface. The dimensions of the window are a matter of preference but usually a 1 2 inch to 1 5 inch thick frame looks best.