Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-09-12
Home-Made Picture Frames.

The following directions for making neat
picture frames from common brown paper
are so full and clear that our readers viii
have no difficulty in carrying them out !:
Take an ordinary drawing or print or pho
tograph Mount the picture with ordinary
paste on piece Of smooth cardboard. Any
color plain or printed, will do. if it has
only fair surface and enough thickness to
Withstand the warping. I.etthis cardboard
be the size of the print THAT is, the actual
black-and- white picture, regardless of the
margin it possessed In its first state), with
an outer margin of equal width all around.
If the print itself is five by seven inches
allow clear three inches each side, making
the size of the mount eleven by thirteen
inches. Paste the picture without cutting
off the old margin. as il may be useful for
reference, and will be hidden) in the exact
center Then take piece of the gray
mottled cardboard, now so much used and
so easily obtained cut from the center a
piece either by or by inches, at will.
Some prefer the gray mount to touch the
picture everywhere; others ike a narrow
white border, with the name of the artist.
etc, visible. This is, We think, only to be
decided by the character of the drawing, as
some are much improved by allowing no
other white than that left in the drawing
picture itself Having cut the gray mount,
take piece of rough cardboard, the top of
paper box or other available material, cut
il IL by Is and at the distance OF three
fourths of an inch below the top and say
three inches and a half from each side, cut
two short upright Sits with sharp pen
knife, and pass a piece of narrow tape
through them this will lie flat on the sur
face, and should be tied behind in knot
close to one of the Sits, so that a
firm and unobtrusive support is left
to suspend the picture when complete:
Then, having procured piece of glass II
by Is inches, the size of these three pieces
of board, lay the cardboard flat on a table.
above that place the mounted etching, then
over that the cut-out mount, and the glass
above all. Next cut some thick brown
paper into strips of about an inch or an
inch and half wide; thoroughly paste
these, and bind the four thicknesses to-
gether the brown paper showing about
half an inch all round i'll the front, and
well over the back, being cut in inter
fashion at the angles. When dry it will
be ready to hang, and, after cleaning
Oft any paste-marks from the glass.
will be found a very pleasing little
picture, unpretentious in appearance, the
framing being not unlike a plain
oak frame at a distance, and an ornament
or at least no disfigurement-in itself
apart from the actual etching, in
any room it may find itself The
cost of the glass is at most II
cents, and the cardboard perhaps 5 or s
cents, so that for Il or Is cents a picture
may be neatly framed. But this does not
exhaust the possibilities of brown paper.
If the old gilded molding fy-specked and
furnishing is well reclothed with brown
paper, soaked with paste, and well stuck
on, SO that it shows every feature of the
molding, it gives a very presentable appear
ance. The paper should be pasted some
few minutes before use, and thoroughly
nodded to the wood. Each hollow and
tillet will be seen sharply defined and the
whole will dry hard, and while I'M
like paper, look somewhat like oak.
and present certain fresh
character of its own, not attain
able in any other way. In this case the
brown paper itself is pleasant variety to
the gray mottled card for the cut-out
mount, and an ideal setting TO many wood
engravings, as it gives such value to the
blacks and whites of the print, in the same
way that good photograph gains by
dark, dull mount.-[ScienceN News.