Aloha and Welcome to Part Two of my video series on 'Putting on an Art Show on a Budget'! Today I am showing you how easy and inexpensive it is to frame your paintings using slat boards found in the lumber department of your local home improvement store.

Now for this video you will see me using my super kickass miter saw and electric sander. You don't have to use either of these to make frames; a steady hand with a hacksaw will work along with a lil extra elbow grease for sanding. However if you are interested in playing with power tools ('cause who isn't?!), I'm sure you can score some for less than you think. I bought my miter saw, blade included, on Craigslist for $75 and the sander from Ebay for $40, which to me are small investments considering you could easily spend $150 getting just one painting professionally framed.

As far as the other materials go, the slat boards are between $1.50 - $3 depending on length and the spackle, black paint, 2" paint brush, wood glue, tack nails, painters tape and fine grit sandpaper can be purchased for around $50. All in all (not including the power tools which I already owned) I spent about $110 to frame 12 paintings which is like HELL YEAH!!!!

So tune in to see it all come together in the most delightful way (as Mary Poppins would say)!!

Materials:

Part One + Three:

Pliers
Hammer
Tack nails
Saw (hand or miter)
Sander (hand or electric) 80-120 grit
220 grit sandpaper

1/4" x 2" slat Boards
(spray) paint for
inner Wall
Wood Glue
Paper Towels
Pencil

Part Two:

Scissors
Painter's Tape
Parchment Paper

Part Four:

Size 8-10 flat artist paintbrush
Damp sponge or towel
Sander/ Sandpaper 120 + 220 grit

Spackle
Spreader card
Paint
2 inch paintbrush

A little sneak peek of my artwork hung up for the big night. More pics here

Let me know how your framing went! I chose to use black paint for mine, but I recently saw another artist use this method without the spackle and using a wood stain instead. The possibilities are endless:) Tune in next week for my video about setting up and proper signage for your art show. Yaay!

originally published March 7, 2018