In order to buy the correct picture frame for that print or photo you have you'll need to know what size it is first. A
nd to know what size it is, you'll have to measure it even if these are in "inches" frame sizes . If you're from Europe, schooled and grown up with centimetres and decimetres, you'll probably measure your artwork, and your frame, in decimetres, centimetres or millimetres. So when you go and look for picture frames and you find them labelled in Imperial sizes such as 8"x10" or 11"x14", chances are that you'll be a little confused. After all Australia is supposed to be a metric country, right, so what's going on? ..
What's happened is that Australia converted, or metricated, to the metric system, which included units of length, in the 1970's. From its founding, and up to that time, the imperial system of measurements which included feet and inches had been the official one. Therefore, for picture framers in picture framing, making picture frames and photo frames, inches were the most commonly used unit of measure.
So picture frames were known, made, bought and sold in sizes such as 8"x10", 11"x14, 20"x30", etc. Traditions and common usage die hard, and many older customers and country residents still ask for photo frames in common, handy size such as 8"x10" and 11"x14" . The double quotes (") accompanying the numbers denote that the measurements are in inches. Australia superseded the Imperial system for a number or reasons.
Perhaps chief amongst these is that world progress and science more commonly flourish in SI units. Australia wanted to foster a scientifically literate environment and nation and sought to ensure that scientists and the common people understood the same language. It also desired to be more internationally competitive and did not wish to be remain at at disadvantage by not practising the international language of science.
A large part of the problem was also the fallacy or assumption many held that Imperial and American Customary units were the same, but this has never been the case. Take for instance the litre. Everyone, no matter where they come form, agree how large it is. Then take a British and an American pint. They're not the same, they're different! Britain and America have different volumes for wet and dry pint measures. Concomitantly, an ounce could refer to a fluid ounce, to a troy ounce or to an avoirdupois ounce.
This is but one example of dissimilar similarities. The universal advantage of the metric system is that it is easy, logical, international, unambiguous. That said, if you're from Europe and don't know Imperial or U.S. sizes, there are a few ways you can fairly easily convert Imperial measurements to metric ones. One way is to buy yourself a tape measure with both an Imperial and a metric scale. These are quite cheap and easily found at 2-dollar shops.
Simply run the tape along, say an 8"x10" photo frame, and you'll see its exact size in both Imperial and metric. Another way is to simply Google for the conversion you require, there are about a dozen sites offering quick and easy conversions. Perhaps a last method for getting free picture frames sizes conversions is to find and stay with customer-friendly picture framing sites. Our own web site PictureFrame.com.au for instance, has a free measurements conversion tool on its home page.
Thank you for reading this post "I'm from Europe and confused about the "Inches" frame sizes, what are these?".
Yours is a very informative website and I enjoy reading your posts. This one on English sizes and their history in Australia is also interesting to read. Thank you.
I fell like i have gone back to school reading this article but it was an interesting lesson nonetheless! I never understood why picture frames were often measured or quote in inches. I got a quote from a picture frame for my artwork which was 11 x 14 inches and he asked me whether i knew the measurement in millimeters. I was lost when he said that as i had no tape measure. We were on the phone so i found a conversion site on the internet like what’s mentioned in this article. It really helped as the framer knew exactly what size i was talking about. I guess i started to speak some sense! However if i run into this problem again, i’ll just use pictureframe.com.au and the size converter that’s on this site! Thankful for this article.