Framing is an essential part of the art purchase. For works on paper be they photographic prints, water colours, digital prints, etchings et al framing under glass protects your investment and increases its life.

It can also be a very expensive pastime. For my 2002 exhibition, framing ate up half the total costs for the exhibition which meant that the first third of my sales were for the framer and that was after getting a volume discount from the framer. My DIY skills weren't up to the job of professional, customized framing.

Framing is a craft requiring accurate measuring and cutting skills of a variety of materials and specialized equipment and tools to do the job. I am an average DIYer with enough knowledge to know my limitations. I figured the wastage from mistakes and the purchase of the essential tools and materials would at least equal what the framer charged.

I have now become a little older and wiser and quite a bit cleverer. Instead of making frames to fit the art work I now make my art work to fit the frame. Producing my work on the computer this is a very easy process, a couple of mouse clicks and voila the print equals the available frame. Even for a more traditional artist it isn't that much of a change of mind set to work at a size that will fit an available frame.

The good news is there is as many frame sizes out there as there works of art to go in them. Check out your local second hand or even better junk shop and there you will find a wide selection of pre-loved frames in all shapes and sizes. Yes, you most likely will have to remove the current resident, but that is not a big job. A craft cutter and a pair of pliers and your on your way. Obviously you will need to clean it up, but once done you will have a very acceptable home for your work for just a few bucks.

A friend of mine went this way for her last exhibition. Over the 6 months prior to her exhibition she haunted second hand stores collecting frames that appealed to her and suited her works. Some of which gave a new lease of life to with a coat of paint. Her exhibition was not only an artistic success but also a financial success with her framing costs coming in at just a couple of hundred dollars.

An alternative to the second hand shops is department stores and their stock of mass produced framed pictures or the DIY shops with their frame kits. These are available in a variety of finishes almost as wide as that available at your local framer. They are available in plastic, wood and metal and the majority of them include a mat and even a double mat. Obviously the mat opening size needs to be just little bit smaller than your art work.

These are not as cost effective as the second hand shops but require less work to be made ready for your art work and are still considerably a lot less than a custom made frame. The quality of the materials is on a par with that used in custom framing and as long as you use acid free tape to secure you work to the mat longevity shouldn't be a problem.

If you are purchasing art via the net buying unframed works is the usual, mainly due to prohibitive shipping costs for framed works. The cost of shipping a work framed under glass will cost more than a custom frame job and depending upon your purchase it may be more than total cost of art work and framing.

I am yet to find a web site that doesn't offer a range of print sizes many of which are very close to the available commercial frame sizes and some sites offer a custom print size service.

For the artist contemplating an exhibition, the savings of using recycled or kit frames can mean getting the work on the walls for the public to see without maxing out the credit card. For the casual purchase via the net, it can mean the difference between an open or a limited edition print.