Mitre & Mat · Liberty, Missouri
Six jobs that went out last month, at the size they actually are.
Framing gets quoted per job, so nobody publishes a price and everybody guesses high. Here is the wall, hung the way it left the shop, with what each one cost.
Maple float frame, unfinished. No mat, no glass. A float leaves a finger of shadow round the canvas so the edge of the painting stays visible, which is the whole point of buying a stretched canvas.
$285Three inch shadow box, suede-wrapped backing, museum glass. Sewn to the mount, never glued. The signature is the reason the glass is the expensive one.
$410Black wood, four inch mat all round, standard glass. The wide mat is not decoration, it is what stops a small piece of paper looking like a mistake on a big wall.
$95Cherry, double mat in the school's two colours, conservation glass. We keep the common school colours in stock, so this one is usually a two week job rather than four.
$165Walnut case, UV glass, an engraved plate underneath. We fold it here if it arrives loose, and we will not charge for that.
$220Thin gold, hinged with acid-free tape so nothing is trimmed, museum glass. Posters from that decade are printed on paper that browns, so the UV coating is doing real work here.
$240Four things move the number, and only one of them is the frame.
People arrive expecting the moulding to be the expensive part. It usually is not. Here is what a quote is actually made of, in the order it gets added up.
-
1
The size, in united inches
Height plus width. A 16 by 20 is 36 united inches. Everything else in the quote is multiplied by this number, which is why a two inch difference sometimes costs more than changing the wood.
the multipliernot a line item -
2
The glass
Standard, conservation, or museum. This is the decision that moves a quote the most and the one customers have the least information about, so there is a whole page on it.
$0 to $180on a 16 × 20 -
3
The mat, and how many
Cut here, on the bench, from the sheet. A single mat is quick. A double with a quarter inch reveal takes a second pass and a steadier hand, and that is the cost.
$25 to $70 -
4
The moulding, per foot
Plain black wood runs about four dollars a foot. Hand-finished gold leaf runs about thirty. Most people land between six and eleven and are happy there.
$4 to $30 / ft
Bring it in flat, unrolled, and we will price it while you stand there.
No appointment. If it is bigger than your car, ring first and we will come out to it. If it is wet, torn, or has been in a basement, say so on the phone, because that changes what we can do.
- Where
- 123 Main St, Liberty, Missouri
- Open
- Wed 11–4 · Thu 11–5:30
Fri 11–4 · Sat 10–2 - Shut
- Sunday, Monday, Tuesday
- Turnaround
- Two weeks on stocked moulding. Four if it is ordered in.