We have had more than one Customer asking us if he or she can "do my own picture framing" our premises and unfortunately the answer is, always no. While we
certainly would have the requisite knowledge and experience, supervising D.Y.O. students and conducting classes is not what we do. One of the reasons for this is that we do not believe that picture framing classes, or teaching D.Y.O. picture framing, are viable commercial propositions, nowadays. Certainly 30, 20, even 10 years ago this business model did work, but not today. The average Customers today is very much time-poor and has better things to do than to spend time and money trying to makea product that is easily available at most department stores for a few dollars.
Another reason for not doing D.Y.O. picture framing courses is the clear and present danger of people hurting themselves while handling glass and pointed or sharp tools. The insurance premium for this type of activity is likely to run into the thousands of dollars. On that score, we even need to dissuade the occasional Customer from trying to fit up their pictures into our ready-made picture frames, because of this public liability risk.
In addition, over the years we have witnessed a marked and dramatic decline in people crafting or even enjoying making their own art. Witness the moribund crafts of embroidery, paper-tole making and scrap-booking. Sure, there are still people who do do these crafts, but far less than 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. We think that the internet and online activities are largely responsible for the slow demise of these once-popular past-times.
That said, you could Google 'DYO custom picture frames' with the postcode of wherever you are to check if maybe you can do this somewhere in you area. Certainly in Melbourne there still seem to be one or two custom picture framing stores-schools where you can do this. And if you're thinking of maybe becoming a picture framer, have a read of this post about the picture framing industry before spending too much time, energy or money in pursuing this occupation.
I do the South Melbourne market and I’m always looking for the cheapest way to frame my photos. The cheaper I can do it, the cheaper I can sell it, and people are always trying to screw me down. I tried a DYO place in Malvern Rd. and while it was Ok it wasn’t that much cheaper than having my pictures custom framed. Also I had to travel there and spend a few hours making my picture frames. So DYO picture framing is hardly worth the effort as you end up paying nearly as much if a picture framer does it for you. Imported, black Ready-Made frames, if you cand find them, work out the best and cheapest for me.
Nah! Doing your own picture frames is a hell of a lot cheaper than having a picture framer make them. I went down to Bunnings, got some raw, hardwood picture framing mouldings, spray-painted them black and then made my own poster frames. Picture framers wanted between $450 and $900 to make my 3 large poster frames. Sure, I’m a chippy and I know how to cut and join timber but it’s not that hard. I got my glass second-hand from a building site and my timber cost me $68 all up so I saved myself hundreds !!!
Here’s a picture framer’s point of view. We had to stop Do-Your-Own picture framing classes up here in Queensland because our classes were getting smaller and also because of public and private personal injury and liability costs. For the class sizes we couldn’t much about it as our class fees had been the same for 5 years. But the real dealbreaker was the insurance. After a student nicked herself on her finger and made a claim against us, the insurance rose from $2350 x year to $11,380. Now we stopped teaching and we don’t allow anyone to do any framing at all in our premises.
[…] picture framery is Eastleigh Frames, our business details are here and we have been professionally custom picture framing in Melbourne for nearly 50 years. We began framing in the late 70's, the golden age of picture […]