How to Frame Canvas Prints in Any Frame (For Less!)

I love the look of a canvas print! I have some stunning ones in my home – from our wedding portrait in my living room, to some floral photography, to a collage in our baby nursery. High quality canvas really takes your artwork in your home to the next level, and in this post, I’m going to share my favorite method for how to frame canvas.

Canvas can be tricky for a few reasons. First, if you have a canvas stretched and mounted on a wood frame, it’s super thick and may require custom framing. It’s also one of the priciest materials to print on. Over the years, I’ve developed my own method of framing canvas prints that both saves money and allows you to use almost any frame you want. 

How to Frame Canvas: Order Unmounted Canvas Prints

The trick is to have your photos or artwork printed on unmounted canvas, which costs less than having it mounted on wood. It also produces a flat, thin piece of canvas, which can be glued to thin board and framed without all the bulkiness of a mounted canvas print.

For the monkey print that I created in this post, I ordered the 16″ x 20″ print from a local print shop, and the total cost came to about $42. The other animal prints in the nursery were printed with another local shop about three years ago, just before my daughter was born. The price I paid isn’t relevant anymore because of inflation.

You could possibly find a cheaper price with an online printer, but I haven’t worked with any and didn’t want to risk ending up with a subpar product. The cost savings is still significant compared to mounted canvas.

How to Frame Canvas: Glue Your Canvas to Hardboard

To provide a sturdy yet thin and frame-able backing to the canvas, my favorite material is hardboard. You can buy it at Home Depot and cut it to the size of your frames.

For this particular project, I used ¼ inch plywood, which also works well. I do prefer hardboard, but I had the plywood on hand already and didn’t want to purchase a whole board for just one frame.

To glue the canvas, the best adhesive to create a wrinkle-free finish is rubber cement. It cures pretty quickly too (in about 20 minutes), so you don’t need to wait hours for it to dry.

How to Frame Canvas: Saving on Frames

Another way to cut costs is to thrift the frames for this project. All of my frames were purchased secondhand, and a few were even trash picked.

If you are creating a collage and like the look of matching frames, you can add a coat of spray paint to unify the frames. I like an eclectic look, so my nursery collage features gold, white, and silver frames.

How to Frame Canvas: Let’s Get Started

This project is simple and produces high-quality results. Follow along to recreate this look in your own home!

Supplies 

• Unmounted canvas print(s), sized to fit your frames 
• Frame(s)
• Hardboard or 1/4 inch plywood
• Hand-held cordless circular saw, (or whatever tool you prefer for making cuts to a thin piece of wood)
• Rubber cement
• Hot glue gun (optional)
• Staple gun and staples (optional, use if your frame doesn’t hard hardware to secure the art)

Directions

1. Remove the glass and any previous artwork from your frames. If you thrifted your frames, you may find yourself removing staples to get the art out. I like to use needle nose pliers or a flathead screwdriver to pop these out.
2. Use the previous artwork as a template to determine the right size to cut your hardboard or plywood. My husband traced the old art using a pencil on the board to help him make the cut.
3. Cut the board to size. My husband used a handheld cordless circular saw to make the cuts.
4. Using rubber cement, carefully attach the canvas to the cut board. I like to place the glue on the top inch or two of the board first and attach the top inch or two of the canvas. Then, carefully unroll and add another inch or so of glue, unrolling the canvas and smoothing as I go.
5. Once the entire piece is glued down, you may notice the top and bottom edges lifting a bit. To secure the print while the rubber cement dries, you can add a thin line of hot glue on the very edge of the print where it is separating from the board. Now, hot glue does not dry flat like rubber cement does, so use only the thinnest line at the very edge of the canvas to avoid bumps.
6. Allow glue to cure for about 20 minutes. 
7. Pop your board into the frame. If using a frame that does not have hardware to secure the canvas, you may need to use a staple gun at an angle to secure the art. See pic below for the angle you’ll need to staple at.
8. Hang and enjoy!

How to Frame Canvas: Create Stunning Results

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve used this method of framing canvas all throughout my home. It’s a great way to create stunning prints at an affordable cost. If you replicate this project at home, be sure to let me know in the comments!

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