The Encyclopedia of Picture Framing Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques

Enhance any picture with your own beautiful, custom frame. Having frames professionally made can be very expensive, but anyone can do it themselves from pre-decorated moldings or by creating their own. Here you'll see how to do just that.
Start with simple carpentry techniques. Then choose from a wealth of different paint and wood finishes, or try some of the many gilding methods shown. Spectacular results can be achieved with tortoise shelling, faux marbling, and sgraffito, used since the golden period of framemaking in Renaissance Italy. As you see various examples of finished frames, you'll realize how the right molding, mat or finish can complement a picture, or even transform an ordinary image into something special.
Regarded until recently as simply a way to showcase a picture, frames can be a work of art in their own right.