Cindy Smith opened her professional framing and matting service in conjunction with a small art gallery on the lower floor of her house. She also sells original artwork, prints, and posters, framed or just matted. Smith says, “I began to think of opening up my own framing shop when my husband and I were given an estimate of several hundred dollars to frame two prints.” She took a course on framing and assisted her photographer husband in framing his work for shows. She also gained experience by working part-time in two framing shops. You may earn the profiteering shares by getting skills in designing the framing of different things including building apartment as well as other decorative items of daily life.
Start-up Costs and Financing Sources
- $20,000-$40,000, but costs can be less if you buy good, used equipment.
- Small business loan, personal savings, refinancing your home.
Pricing Guidelines
Follow the guidelines of the Professional Picture Framers Association, Cindy Smith; however, says that “you have to charge the going rate for your community. You can charge more for your service in affluent neighborhoods where art is supported and art enthusiasts live.”
Marketing and Advertising Methods and Tips
- Place classified ads in local publications and in the business telephone directory.
- Offer an art contest for local high school students with local artists as judges. Frame the winning entry.
- Network with various artists’ groups.
- Send flyers to and/or contact local art instructors.
- Join your local chamber of commerce.
Essential Equipment
Mat cutter, knives, wood for frames. You will need a work area that you can screen off to receive clients.
Recommended Training, Experience, or Needed Skills
- Take framing courses at art schools or institutes.
- Work in framing shops for experience.
- Practice framing friends’ and relatives’ work.
Income Potential
$20,000-$40,000 is possible in a small community, $80,000-$ 100,000 or more is possible in a larger, art-conscious community.
Type of Business
In-home.
Best Customers
Art enthusiasts, art collectors, artists, photographers, calligraphers, graduates, people wanting to preserve old photographs, those who want their wedding or baptism certificates framed needlework hobbyists.
Helpful Tips
- Work in a framing shop before you open one.
- Specialize in different types of matting—French, gold leaf, etc.—depending on the demand for it and your training. Cindy also learned conservation and archival processes to preserve old paper, paintings, and prints.
- Follow professional standards in your work and pricing.
Additional Business Ideas
- Sell local artists’, artisans’, and craftsperson’s’ work.
- Make your own unique frames—sell them to artists, art galleries, framing shops.
- Making and Decorating Fantastic Frames by Thorn Boswell.
Significance of framing
Homes with high-quality wind framing are often designed by expert structural engineers who cautiously feature the apparent structure which is requisite for framing to make certain that the wind forces are securely transported through the construction. The building regulations also offer authoritarian planed guidelines that present instructions for the construction companies and detailed policies how the structure should be built. Warm framing is outlined to the buildings of European countries where the framing are designed in such a way to protect against the severe winter season. Dairy framing is artistically styled with the unique designs and colors to make the diary very stylish. Factory framing is specially structured by the especial architectures who present the accurate framing for the factory according to the spacious as well as investing capacity of the factory owner. Lancaster framing is very famous for all kinds of framing of the different things with beautiful designs. Wind framing is very exclusively designed to make the suitable source for airy atmosphere in the building of any kind. Colonial framing reflects the traditional aspects of the colonial age of the sub-continents when the specific fashions and trends of framing had been designed. Chinese framing has given new orientation to the framing styles in their very conventional manners that sophisticate the framing with uniqueness.