Why are Picture Frames and Matting Boards so Expensive!?!?!

General art-related discussion.
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CS1987
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:54 am

666ways2love wrote:
CS1987 wrote:Is there much difference in quality with UV plexi compared to Masterpiece glass at Michaels? I've framed a few posters with the Masterpiece glass, but I also haven't been using mattes, in order to cut down on the costs. So if the print is 24x36, so is the frame. Does anyone else do this? I wish it didn't cost so much to get a large size frame, and piece of glass.
Quality wise, you really can't tell the difference between MPG and MPA. If there is, it's splitting hairs.

On larger framed work, it's ideal to go MPA because the weight of the glass. Also, if god forbid, the print falls falls off the wall, glass will shatter and shards can damage the print. MPA breaks like a car window, so it stays together.
I appreciate the info. Any good spots to order UV plexi?
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CS1987
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 5:58 am

CS1987 wrote:
666ways2love wrote:
CS1987 wrote:Is there much difference in quality with UV plexi compared to Masterpiece glass at Michaels? I've framed a few posters with the Masterpiece glass, but I also haven't been using mattes, in order to cut down on the costs. So if the print is 24x36, so is the frame. Does anyone else do this? I wish it didn't cost so much to get a large size frame, and piece of glass.
Quality wise, you really can't tell the difference between MPG and MPA. If there is, it's splitting hairs.

On larger framed work, it's ideal to go MPA because the weight of the glass. Also, if god forbid, the print falls falls off the wall, glass will shatter and shards can damage the print. MPA breaks like a car window, so it stays together.
I appreciate the info. Any good spots to order UV plexi?
I meant UV/Anti-glare Plexi
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wonkabars7
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:45 am

Chris217h wrote:Really why the hell are picture frames so expensive!?!?. Even some of the cheapest matting is more than I paid for the cost of the Mondo print that I could sell for over $600 now. Even for the cheapest materials it's $200+ to frame anything of decent size. It would probably be easier to buy a $700 60" 4K tv and just get high res images images of the prints and switch them out on there. I mean there's no way wood and glass should cost more than a tv, new game system, etc.. It's just drymounting crazy that people pay that much
Calm down.

http://forum.expressobeans.com/viewtopi ... 1&t=151111
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hunterjax
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:58 am

fitz wrote:
ONEYE wrote:Framers, producers of mats, fillets, liners, and frames all want a piece of the action. They saw the boom in the print market, saw the prices that some of the flippers were getting, and have been raising prices ever since. Once this collectible genre's bubble bursts, and prices for a majority of prints being sold, re-sold, drops (like they have for action figures, comic books, sports & non-sports cards, thing will return to semi-normal. Now, there will always be certain prints that will command premium prices. However, it's bound to fall. When people start framing less and less, there will be a price drop. Till then, stop framing, wait it out. No rule says you have to frame.
key comics have never sold for more than they do nowadays
this.

the jump in prices on certain books in the last 5-7 years blows my mind.
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jmagee87
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 9:36 am

sidewaysscott wrote:sweet melt bro.
Quality read for a Monday morning
Kramerica wrote:never listen to anything rambo says.
RambosRemodeler wrote:You're entitled to your opinion but it's wrong.
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peacedog
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 10:47 am

ONEYE wrote:Framers, producers of mats, fillets, liners, and frames all want a piece of the action. They saw the boom in the print market, saw the prices that some of the flippers were getting, and have been raising prices ever since. Once this collectible genre's bubble bursts, and prices for a majority of prints being sold, re-sold, drops (like they have for action figures, comic books, sports & non-sports cards, thing will return to semi-normal. Now, there will always be certain prints that will command premium prices. However, it's bound to fall. When people start framing less and less, there will be a price drop. Till then, stop framing, wait it out. No rule says you have to frame.
I've been framing for 18+ years now, we price our materials at my shop using the same formula that my boss used when I first started. I would say we've seen prices rise by 25% over that time, to suggest that framers are specifically riding a "boom in the print market" is ridiculous. It's been a slow steady increase just like everything else. And we frame anything, just like we always have.

There have been leaps and bounds in the quality of some product lines which comes with a price. 20 years ago most people could care less about archival mats and backing. Acid-free foam cores, Museum Anti-Reflective glass, high quality acid-free mats, this stuff wasn't used/available even 25 years ago. Moulding production has also improved dramatically, finishes and textures have come a long way. So there's a lot more variation in pricing nowadays. I was doing archival designs for $185 this weekend, they weren't complex but they did the job. And conversely I can do designs on the same prints 5x that, moulding prices range widely, $7/ft vs. $50/ft, big difference. Fillets, hand-wrapped mats, custom paint jobs, everything has to cost something.

So if you want cardboard backing and paper mats with an inexpensive frame like you could get in the '80s and '90s, I'd bet you could frame an average gig poster for under $100. And your kids can bring them back to the framer in 20-30 years asking what can be done to salvage them, just like we do for the old gig posters framed before anyone knew better.

Maybe a better option than "waiting it out" would be to find a good framer you trust and develop a stronger relationship with them. I have never met a quality framer who didn't take care of his/her long time clients.
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crkohler
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:02 pm

peacedog wrote: Maybe a better option than "waiting it out" would be to find a good framer you trust and develop a stronger relationship with them. I have never met a quality framer who didn't take care of his/her long time clients.
:clap:
Last edited by crkohler on Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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maddoghoek100
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 12:50 pm

C,

how dare you bring reason and data to this, that kind of talk has no place here ;)

The move into any luxury good can be jarring for some, this person clearly seems jarred. Quality costs money and there is as much art in some framing as there is in the piece itself. Those of us that have had real pros frame something special and not just the cowboys in the back room of a a local craft store know that. There are plenty of non archival, mass produced low quality poster frames at any hobby or craft store and they may be just right for some. There is probably an open space in the market for high quality mass produced framing solutions. The artcare frames seem to be a nice step in that direction on the small sizes and an 18x24 and 24x36 one would be quite welcome in my book. I think they max out at 16x20

peacedog wrote: I've been framing for 18+ years now, we price our materials at my shop using the same formula that my boss used when I first started. I would say we've seen prices rise by 25% over that time, to suggest that framers are specifically riding a "boom in the print market" is ridiculous. It's been a slow steady increase just like everything else. And we frame anything, just like we always have.
Last edited by maddoghoek100 on Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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blingaling
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:00 pm

:toilet:
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ONEYE
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:26 pm

crkohler wrote:
peacedog wrote:
ONEYE wrote: Maybe a better option than "waiting it out" would be to find a good framer you trust and develop a stronger relationship with them. I have never met a quality framer who didn't take care of his/her long time clients.
:clap:

Learn to quote correctly.
You make it look like I said that. I didn't. Give peacedog the credit.
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crkohler
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:06 pm

You're correct my mistake, posted quickly and missed the second quote line. May his holiness forgive me for my transgressions.
danieldanger
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:36 pm

ONEYE wrote:Framers, producers of mats, fillets, liners, and frames all want a piece of the action. They saw the boom in the print market, saw the prices that some of the flippers were getting, and have been raising prices ever since. Once this collectible genre's bubble bursts, and prices for a majority of prints being sold, re-sold, drops (like they have for action figures, comic books, sports & non-sports cards, thing will return to semi-normal. Now, there will always be certain prints that will command premium prices. However, it's bound to fall. When people start framing less and less, there will be a price drop. Till then, stop framing, wait it out. No rule says you have to frame.

this hurts my brain.
danieldanger
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:37 pm

Chris217h wrote:Really why the hell are picture frames so expensive!?!?. Even some of the cheapest matting is more than I paid for the cost of the Mondo print that I could sell for over $600 now. Even for the cheapest materials it's $200+ to frame anything of decent size. It would probably be easier to buy a $700 60" 4K tv and just get high res images images of the prints and switch them out on there. I mean there's no way wood and glass should cost more than a tv, new game system, etc.. It's just drymounting crazy that people pay that much

this also hurts my brain.
danieldanger
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:38 pm

i beg of you people to please start staplegun'ing your purchases to your walls.
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fredo
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Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:57 pm

Said masshole heir to staple and plastering fortunes.
just a foil for me today, thanks
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