An accurate size matters when you order an inset frame or a St Ives frame: your board sits in a recess or rebate made to its size, so a couple of millimetres can make the difference between a neat fit and a board that won't go in. This short guide shows how to measure a canvas board, or any rigid artist board or panel.
You'll need a metal tape measure, and a pen and paper.
How to measure a canvas board
Prefer our earlier video? Watch “How To Measure A Canvas Board” on YouTube.
Step by step
1. Lay the board flat
Put the board face up on a clean, hard, level surface, such as a table or worktop. Not a bed, sofa or carpet: a soft surface lets the board and the tape sag, and the measurement will be out. Use a metal tape measure (a cloth tape can stretch), and work in millimetres, which are more exact than inches or centimetres.
2. Measure the width
Hook the end of the tape over the left edge of the board, run it straight across, and read where the right edge falls. Boards aren't always perfectly square, so measure across the top, the middle and the bottom, and use the largest of the three.
3. Measure the height
Do the same from top to bottom: hook the tape over the top edge and read the bottom edge, at the left, the middle and the right. Again, use the largest.
4. Check the thickness
Measure the thickness of the board at its edge. Inset frames take boards about 3 to 7mm thick; St Ives frames take boards and panels 2 to 5mm thick. Stretched canvases on wooden bars are too deep for either: see canvas picture frames or canvas floater frames instead.
Never go by the packaging. The sizes printed on labels are often approximate, or rounded from inches. The board in the video is sold as 16 × 12 inches (406 × 305mm) but measures 405 × 303mm. Always measure the board itself.
5. Write it down, then order
Write the sizes down clearly, width first, then height. On the frame's page, enter the exact sizes you measured in the width and height boxes. Don't add anything for the fit: for an inset frame, we make the frame a few millimetres larger so the board goes in with a little movement.
Still not sure? Send us a photo of your board with the tape measure across it, by email to sales@easyframe.co.uk, or call 01234 856501, and we'll be happy to advise.