Hacker News Reader

Comment by TaylorAlexander | Hacker News Reader

I recently discovered something strange. If you buy a large format photo printer then a common paper size for larger prints is A3+, which is roughly 13"x19". The paper is readily available in this size in office stores and online. If you then go to a craft store or art supply store to buy photo frames, you will find very few if any frames that match that paper size. It seems that the "fine art" world uses certain sizes that are not common sizes of photo paper! This is frustrating for me as I will sometimes want to print a photo as a gift for someone last minute and I always have to order frames from mail order and keep a few extras around. I wish i could go to the local shop and buy A3+ sized frames but even when there are some the selection is extremely limited compared to other sizes.

View on HN

My understanding is that the kind of workflow used in that area is to print from a roll of paper with a bit of bleed (printing slightly larger so there’s no white edge) and then cutting down to the desired size?

It is annoying trying to get good sized frames, maybe a lot of them are custom made too? Often they’ll at least have a custom mat board cut I think.

My printer uses sheets and cannot print on rolls. It prints borderless (that is, cleanly up to the full edge of the page) so no cutting is needed.

I can order frames online (Craig Frames company). I was just surprised when I found out that this rather common large format photo printing paper size was a very uncommon frame size, and at three different local stores which sell a lot of large frames, they had little to no selection in that particular size.

My fiancée made a wonderful series of 3 watercolor paintings for me of the musical instrument I play. She’s not a pretentious paper art genius (she makes digital art for video games), so she just used the standard size she bought at the store that came as a full stack of tear-off pads for watercolor: 14”x20”, assuming that we would just be able to slap them in frames when we were done. All the local framing shops and even the chain store quoted us hundreds of dollars just to cut the border mats that would adapt them to standard frames. Online I found a solution that was tens of dollars for all 3 frames and mats and it really made me feel like a loser for going out of the way to drive around and shop local in the SF Bay Area.

So I encountered this Purgatory over the course of several years, since I began to earn professional certifications. These certificates came in standard Letter size, 8.5x11 pages, with glossy durable paper. They also issue them electronically in PDF format, Letter-size as well, so it's easy to print them and even upgrade paper quality. Last year, I finally earned graduation from college, and my certificate came in the mail: 8.5x11 as well!

So where are the Letter-size picture frames? I want to hang these credentials on my wall, or frame them and place them on a shelf! They will look very nice that way! But all picture frames on the market are for 8x10 photographs! So it's horrible; I can't use the standard-issue, original certificates at all. I can't print them as-is, and reducing their size does not yield the 8x10 aspect ratio you need.

Eventually, over the course of several years, I've managed to amass a few 8.5x11 picture frames from thrift stores. It wasn't easy, they don't match one another, and they're uncommon, but they do exist. Likewise, no big-box store or specialty framing store seems to carry such an animal.

So if these frames are so unobtanium, why are these authorities issuing certificates in this size? Don't they know we have little hope of framing them nicely? Surely there is some sort of disconnect, and surely there is a market-niche opportunity, especially for college-grads, like Josten's, or our college bookstore, to source these and sell them to us!

Yeah there’s so many different options for 8x10 and then 8.5x11 there’s often only very cheap looking thin glossy black plastic frames.

Take a look at a company called Craig Frames. That’s where I get my A3+ frames and they are lovely. Pay attention to which ones are solid wood and not just a veneer, if you have a preference. Though the veneer looks good too.

My only frustration with this situation is that I have to go online as local shops ignore that size.

Rather than picture frames, you might find 8.5x11 sold as “document frames”

https://www.michaels.com/shop/frames/wall-frames/document-fr...

(and also as “diploma frames” or “certificate frames”)

I’ve bought 8.5x11 frames at the local arts and crafts chain so they’re not quite unobtainium. But 8x10 is definitely more common.

Local framing is very artisanal and therefore quite expensive. These days it almost certainly makes more sense for all but the high-end case to just go online. Reminds me to add some frames or at least mattes to my to do list.

> Local framing is very artisanal and therefore quite expensive.

Local framing can be art in itself, and can definitely enhance art. As an example, I have a Vonnegut silkscreen print ("Black Heart") that I find quirky and endearing and love its origin -- but is a bit of a challenge to present in a way that doesn't dominate anything with which it shares a wall. I would have gone with a large mat and oversized frame to reduce the impact of some of the more... exotic... color choices; but the framing shop I worked with proposed a double frame with an outer black frame and an inner painted green wood frame that /exactly/ matches the color of the piece, and the result is stunning.

A3+ is for getting your end result as an A3 sheet after you cut the edges.

Maybe that’s why it was created, but I think my use is pretty far removed from that. I simply want to print the largest photos possible on my printer and that’s A3+. It prints beautiful borderless photos with no need to cut them. But despite readily available paper, frames are much less common.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com