One day, 20-ish years ago, my BFF Yvonne knew I was looking for a job after being fired from the last one (long story there). She came over and wouldn’t leave until I filled out an application to work at the picture framing store where she was a manager. She knew I would love the work, and I really did. I alternated between full-time and part-time, depending on my school schedule, for about five years at a Bay Area chain called Corners.
For the first few years, we did everything in-house. We cut and joined frames, cut mats, stretched canvas, built shadowboxes, we did it all. I learned how to lay out and cut multi-opening mats. I learned how to sew down an antique christening gown or an autographed football jersey without using any tape or glue. I built shadowboxes for military medals, antique coins, musical instruments, and even a few license plates. I stretched canvases that were up to eight feet long and cut frames to fit. It was such a FUN job.
The sales side wasn’t always fun; especially with customers who had no idea how expensive custom framing is. But my favorite times were the weeks leading up to Christmas. We’d have hundreds of orders to finish before the holiday, so we’d get overtime approved, crank up the music after the store closed, and get it all finished without interruption. I have lots of fond memories of singing and dancing and making some wonderful friends.
I have thoroughly loved framing different things for my home. I may have old, cheap, and mis-matched furniture, but there’s never a shortage of framed photos and artwork to hang on my walls and lots of artwork and empty frames waiting for a larger house to adorn someday.
Last Christmas, I splurged and bought myself a mat cutter. A few times I paid way too much at JoAnn’s for a custom mat to fit a ready-made frame and it was so difficult to justify paying that much when I knew I could do it myself. Of course, my house is small, so I don’t really have anywhere to put it other than the floor of my office/studio.
First thing I cut a mat for??
I framed Kukkiwon 1st degree black belt certificates for my son and myself. We worked our butts off to earn those and they deserved to be displayed with pride.
The next things I cut mats for were my own paintings and prints for my exhibition at Draper’s Art in the Barn, Draper’s Internationals Arts & Crafts Festival, and the Sandy Visual Arts show. Being able to buy full sheets of mat board and cut all of my own mats proved to be a huge money-saving tool.
My knowledge and skill allowed me to cut mats to fit ready-made frames and save on custom framing AND have complete control over how they looked. When I chose mat colors for the exhibition and arts & crafts show, I kept the mats off-white and simple.
When I chose mats for the Sandy Visual Art show, I went with black to really make the colors in the paintings stand out; even though it’s wasn’t necessarily mat colors someone would choose to hang in their home.
I am SO glad I bought this gift for myself. I have so many pieces of artwork I bought from other artists I follow and I cannot wait to get matted and framed.
Next goal: Get a new house with a bigger studio/office space so I can have a whole table for my mat cutter.
