Wide Black Picture Frame Casina 12 — Made to Measure

Casina 12 is a handcrafted black picture frame made to measure, built in solid wood with a 12 cm wide profile. The black of this frame is not a flat, factory-tinned colour straight from the can — layered application of grey pigment yields a surface of depth, where light catches each edge of the profile differently. Closer to charcoal with an ashen sheen than to industrial black. A frame with a studio, gallery character — for oil paintings, acrylics, high-contrast art photography and large-format prints.

The moulding is built around three planes: at the inner edge runs a half-round concave hollow — a scotia-like recess right by the artwork that softly guides the eye toward the work. The broad frieze extends from there — the flat, dominant field that defines the moulding's mass, and the outer edge is closed with a delicate cyma over a small step. The concave hollow at the picture side introduces a soft chiaroscuro even in uniform black — light enters the hollow and returns dimmed, lending the moulding depth without any applied ornament. The architecture is legible and disciplined — close to a classical studio and museum profile.

For which artworks and interiors

The wide 12 cm profile gives the frame a monumental visual weight — this is a setting for works that hold their own against a strong framing presence. It pairs best with:

• oil and acrylic paintings with a saturated, high-contrast palette,
• art photography, especially black-and-white and silver-toned prints,
• fine-art prints (etching, lithography, woodcut) in medium and large formats,
• contemporary figurative and abstract painting.

In interiors, the frame brings gallery composure — equally at home in a classical drawing room, a loft space with exposed brick, or a clean, minimal interior where the black reads as graphic punctuation. For more on matching profile width to artwork scale, see our note on wide wooden painting frames.

Specification

• Style: studio, gallery, timeless
• Finish: black with grey pigment patination, semi-matte, sealed with traditional shellac and wax
• Profile width: 120 mm
• Profile depth: 50 mm
• Rabbet width: 7 mm
• Rabbet depth (max. stretcher thickness): 20 mm
• Material: solid timber low in tannins, used in museum work and art conservation
• Joinery: mitered corners reinforced with wooden splines (conservation joinery)
• Use: oil painting, acrylic, art photography, fine-art prints

The given dimensions describe the full frame including the moulding. The rabbet is correspondingly smaller, as the frame is made 2–3 mm larger than the artwork dimensions to allow the necessary technical clearance for seating the stretcher. Customers order to the artwork dimensions, not to the rabbet dimensions.

Workshop process

Every Casina 12 frame is built in the workshop from scratch. The mouldings are cut from solid timber and joined at the corners with wooden splines — the mitre is reinforced with a wooden feather, a conservation technique that holds dimensional stability for decades without risk of the joint opening up.

Once assembled, the frame is sanded, gessoed and hand-painted in successive layers. The black is laid down in coats and then patinated with grey pigment — this is the step responsible for the painterly, non-uniform character of the surface: charcoal passing into ash, with subtle brushwork along the edges of the profile. The finish is sealed with traditional shellac and wax — a craft method that produces a matte sheen, does not reflect light aggressively, and — unlike industrial lacquers — can be refreshed with wax for the lifetime of the frame.

How it differs from factory production

Factory frames in this size range are pressed from MDF or plastic, wrapped in wood-effect foil and spray-coated to a uniform black. Casina 12 is solid timber, hand-painted, with patination applied by brush — every piece is one of a kind, and the surface carries a depth that aerosol-matte black cannot produce. Spline-joined corners hold up in the climate conditions where butt-glued mitres fracture after a few seasons. For guidance on choosing a frame for a stretched canvas, see our notes on picture frame types for canvas paintings.

Complete framing — additional options

Every frame can be completed with a full archival mounting prepared in the workshop: glass, archival backing and matting. All components are available as a custom add-on — quote on request.

Glass — four classes available

Opti White, 4mm — low-iron glass with a neutral, colourless appearance (no green tint typical of standard float glass). Available up to 90×90 cm — the only option for larger works.

Ultra Vue UV70 (Tru Vue), 2.0mm — anti-reflective glass with 70% UV protection, low-iron. Available up to 60×80 cm.

Art View — premium-class anti-reflective glass: reflection reduced below 1%, up to 75% UV protection, scratch-resistant coating, low-iron, can be cut and mounted from either side. Meets ISO 18916 (Photographic Activity Test) — safe for archival photography. Premium quality at an accessible price. Available up to 60×80 cm.

Optium Museum Acrylic (Tru Vue) — top-tier museum acrylic: over 99% UV protection, museum-grade reflection reduction, anti-static, lightweight, shatter-resistant. The museum standard for conservation work and archival photography. Available up to 60×80 cm.

Archival backing

Dibond 3mm aluminium composite panel — two layers of aluminium with an acid-free polymer core. Rigid, chemically neutral, dimensionally stable. An industry standard in archival photographic framing and art conservation.

Mounting and matting

Acid-free foam board — chemically neutral, will not yellow over time, will not react with paper or photographic emulsions. Archival standard.

Full museum framing

Combining anti-reflective UV-filtering glass, acid-free matting, Dibond backing and conservation hinging tapes provides a museum-grade mounting — protecting the work from light damage, acid migration from typical framing materials, and mechanical distortion. This type of framing is used in museums, galleries and private collections.

To order: all of the above components are available as a frame add-on on request. Please get in touch with the dimensions of your work and your preferred glass class — I will prepare an individual quote.

Artwork retention and hanging system

The frame is supplied without glass — as a setting for a canvas on stretcher. Artwork retention in the rabbet is selected from the variant menu:

• Spring clips — factory-fitted inside the rabbet, rotated aside to swap the artwork. A convenient solution for collectors who plan to rotate works over time.
• Brass plates with screws — supplied loose with the screws included. The customer installs them after seating the artwork in the frame. A permanent, discreet retention used in exhibition mounting.

Hanging orientation — portrait or landscape — is selected from the variant menu. The frame is built only in the chosen orientation. Standard hanging on a cord; a single D-ring hanger on the back is available on request.

Made to measure

Casina 12 is built individually for each artwork. The online price calculator supports artwork sizes up to 120×80 cm. Larger formats are made to individual order — please get in touch with the dimensions of your work.

The base price is the price per running metre of moulding. Mitred corners cut at 45° require additional length — the wider the moulding, the more is consumed at each corner. The calculator accounts for the full consumption with corners and any selected add-ons.

Lead time: 20–30 working days. The same profile is also available as a custom picture frame in further finishes — for collectors considering an alternative within the same family.