Deep rebate picture frame for canvas, hand painted

Most narrow frames are too shallow to hold a painting on canvas. This one is not. The section is 30 mm deep, so the rebate takes a standard stretcher and the canvas sits inside the frame rather than standing proud of it, while the face stays only 18 mm across and keeps the frame quiet around the work. I paint each length by hand in thin coats, so the grain of the timber reads through the colour instead of disappearing under it, then patinate the surface and polish it with wax. It is the plainest profile among my custom picture frames, made to measure in four colours.

Moulding profile

Seen from the artwork side, the moulding opens with the rebate, the recess that holds the stretcher. Beyond it the face runs flat and unbroken to the outer edge, 18 mm across, with no steps or mouldings to compete with the painting. The flank then drops straight to the wall, and it is the flank rather than the face that carries the character of this frame: 30 mm from front to back. The profile is milled by machine; everything after that – the painting, the patination and the waxing – is hand work, which is why no two lengths are quite identical.

Specification

• Style: plain deep rebate profile, hand painted and patinated
• Finish: hand-applied colour with the grain left visible, patinated and polished with wax to a satin sheen
• Colours: bottle green, brown, black, or white without patination
• Moulding width: 18 mm
• Moulding depth: 30 mm
• Rebate: 7 mm wide, depth TO CONFIRM
• Material: solid, low-tannin timber of the kind used in museum framing and conservation
• Corner joinery: mitred at 45 degrees and joined with V-nails, which leaves no visible fixing; flat wooden splines set into the flank across the mitre are available instead, by arrangement rather than from the order menu
• Glazing and backing: supplied without glass as standard; 4 mm Opti White glass with a 3 mm backing board can be added from the product menu
• Fixing: sprung clips as standard, screwed brass plates on request
• Hanging: cord, portrait or landscape from the order menu; single D-ring on request
• Suited to: oil and acrylic paintings on stretched canvas, prints, posters, photographs
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

The dimensions you enter are the dimensions of the artwork, not of the finished frame. I build the frame 2 to 3 mm larger than the work so it drops in without forcing, which leaves the rebate covering roughly 4 to 5 mm of the edge on each side. The outside of the frame is correspondingly larger than the artwork by twice the width of the moulding.

Which artworks and interiors it suits

The deep rebate makes this the frame to reach for when a painting on stretched canvas needs to be enclosed rather than floated: landscapes, studies, contemporary work on box canvas, and anything where the stretcher would otherwise hang out of the back of a shallow frame. Fitted with glass and a backing board it takes prints, posters, photographs and works on paper equally well.

The narrow face suits walls where several works hang together, since 18 mm of frame does not crowd the gaps between them, and it suits large canvases where a wide moulding would add more weight than the wall wants. Bottle green and brown sit comfortably with older interiors, panelling and warm timber floors; black holds its own in a plain white room; the unpatinated white is the quietest of the four and the one that disappears most readily. If you are weighing this profile against the alternatives, I go through the trade-offs in my guide to the best frame for a canvas painting.

How I make and finish it

I cut the mitres at 45 degrees and close them on an underpinner with V-nails, driven from behind so that nothing shows on the finished frame and the corner reads as a single continuous line of colour. That is how the frame is made unless you ask for the other method. The other method is a flat wooden spline, let into the flank straight across the mitre: the same job of holding the corner, but done in the outer surface rather than under it, so the spline stays in view. Once the colour and the wax pass over it, the grain of the spline takes the light at its own angle and the corner shows how it was put together. It is not in the order menu, so write to me when you order if you want the frame built that way.

The timber is a solid, low-tannin species of the kind used in museum framing, chosen because it stays dimensionally calm and does not push acids into the work it holds.

Colour goes on by hand in thin coats over the bare timber, with no gesso underneath – that is deliberate, because gesso would fill the grain and flatten exactly the texture this frame is for. I then patinate the surface, working the colour back in the places a frame would naturally wear, and finish with pigmented wax polished by hand to a satin sheen. Every frame in the series is painted with the same materials and the same sequence, so a green frame ordered this year will sit beside one ordered last year, but the brush leaves its own record on each length.

The white version is made without patination, as a clean, even colour.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

A shop-bought frame of this size is usually a wrapped or sprayed length cut to a stock format, with a shallow rebate that leaves a canvas sticking out at the back and a surface that is uniform because nothing touched it but a machine. Here the section is milled to a genuine canvas depth, the colour is brushed rather than sprayed, the wear in the finish is put there by hand rather than printed, and you get a say in something a factory would never offer you: whether the corner hides its construction or shows it. It costs more and takes longer, and it is the difference between a frame that holds a painting and a frame that is part of it.

Practical use

As standard the frame is supplied open, without glass, as a setting for a painting on canvas. If you are framing a poster, a print or a photograph, 4 mm Opti White glass with a 3 mm backing board can be added straight from the product menu; the fuller archival and museum glazing is described below.

The same profile can also be made as a floating frame, without a rebate, so the canvas sits inside with a visible gap around it and the painted edges stay in view. I explain how that construction works, and when it is the better choice, in my article on the floating picture frame for canvas art. For canvas prints and photographs on canvas there is a separate route through my framing service for canvas prints.

Frequently asked questions

Can I order this frame in a colour that is not on the list?

Yes, but not through the calculator. Send me the colour you have in mind, or a reference, and I will confirm whether I can match it and what it changes about the price.

Does the frame come ready to hang?

Yes. Sprung clips and cord are fitted before the frame leaves the workshop, in the orientation you choose when ordering.

Is the frame suitable for a bathroom or a kitchen?

The wax finish is not made for a room that is regularly wet or steamy. For those rooms ask me about a lacquered finish instead.

Complete framing – additional options

Every frame I make can be completed with full archival and museum-quality framing: anti-reflective UV-filtering glass (four classes to choose from), acid-free museum mat board, spacers wrapped in acid-free paper and a Dibond backing. This kind of mounting protects the work from light, acids and distortion. I set out the full glass and material specification on a separate page: archival and museum framing for paintings and photographs. All components are available at extra cost, as an individual quote on request.

Mounting and hanging

I hold the painting in the frame with sprung clips that turn aside when you change the work, which makes the frame easy to handle. On request I fit permanent, screwed brass plates instead. For hanging, I attach cord as standard, in portrait or landscape orientation; a single D-ring on request.

Ordering made to measure

The base price shown on the site is the price per running metre of moulding. The perimeter of the painting is not the full length the frame needs: corners cut at 45 degrees take extra length, and the wider the moulding, the more they take. The calculator accounts for the full moulding consumption with corners and for any options you choose, so you only need to enter the dimensions of your painting to within 0.1 cm. The calculator handles formats up to 120 × 80 cm, and I make larger sizes to individual order. The lead time is 20 to 30 working days.