White wooden picture frame in high gloss, made to measure

A high gloss white picture frame, milled to a classical profile 52 mm wide and made to the size of one particular painting. The moulding is solid timber low in tannin content, finished in ultra white polyurethane paint that is built up in coats and rubbed down between them, so the gloss reads as one hard, even plane. On a flat moulding white tends to go blank; here the deep hollow across the face keeps the light moving, and at 52 mm the frame gives a canvas a substantial border while staying quiet against the work itself.

Moulding profile

A narrow bead runs just beyond the rabbet. From there the face is given over to a broad, deep half-round hollow that rises in a gentle arc towards the outer edge and ends in a fine step. Above the step the profile turns into a convex, strongly rounded outer edge, the highest point of the moulding. The outer flank of the moulding is scooped with a half-round hollow, visible when the frame is seen at an angle.

Specification

• Style: classical milled profile, ultra white, high gloss
• Moulding width: 52 mm
• Moulding thickness, face to back: 42 mm
• Rabbet: 7 mm wide × 20 mm deep
• Material: solid timber low in tannin content, of the kind used in museum and conservation framing
• Corner joinery: mitred at 45 degrees, reinforced with wooden splines
• Finish: polyurethane paint, ultra white, high gloss
• Other colours: the same profile is made in any colour to order
• Glass, backing and matting: available as additional options
• Mounting and hanging: sprung clips and hanging cord as standard
• Suited to: oil and acrylic on canvas or panel, prints, drawings, photography, watercolours
• Lead time: 20 to 30 working days

Order the frame to the dimensions of the artwork. I build it 2 to 3 mm larger than the work, the technical clearance that lets the piece drop freely into the rabbet, and the moulding then overlaps the edge of the artwork by roughly 4 to 5 mm.

Works and interiors it suits

A wide white moulding in high gloss works best where the painting can hold its own: oils and acrylics with a strong composition, prints with large open areas, black and white photography, watercolours with confident colour. The gloss picks up whatever light the room has, which puts the frame at ease in contemporary and pared-back interiors, while the classical profile keeps it at home in rooms with cornicing and panelling. Other white finishes from the workshop, from chalky surfaces through to gilded edges, are gathered under white picture frames, and if you are choosing a frame for a stretched canvas the guide to types of picture frames for canvas paintings is a useful starting point.

How I make and finish it

I cut each length at 45 degrees and join the corners with a glued wooden spline, a joint that keeps the mitre closed as the timber moves with the seasons. The joinery is done before any finishing, so the paint runs unbroken across the corner. The surface is then built up in coats of polyurethane paint, each one rubbed down before the next goes on, until the white is dense and the gloss sits evenly across the hollow, the step and the rounded outer edge. High gloss is unforgiving: every ripple left underneath shows the moment light crosses it, which is why most of the work on this frame happens before the final coat.

How it differs from a mass-produced frame

An off-the-shelf white frame is sprayed over MDF or extruded polymer, in a profile repeated to the millimetre and cut to a fixed set of sizes. The coating is thin, and it chips at the corners on the first knock against a doorway. Here the moulding is timber, the mitres are splined rather than stapled or pinned with V-nails, and the frame is cut to your painting instead of your painting being fitted to the frame. If the work is an oil on canvas, there is more on the decisions involved in framing oil paintings.

Functionality

The frame is supplied without glass, as a mount for a stretched canvas: the painting goes into the rabbet from the back and is held there mechanically. The 20 mm rabbet depth takes a standard stretcher, and for a thicker stretcher please get in touch before ordering. The same profile can also be made without a rabbet, as a floating frame, so that a work on a thin panel appears to hover inside the moulding with an even gap all round. There is more on that construction in my guide to the floating picture frame for canvas art.

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.