I love art and I have lots of prints all over the house, I'm also a keen photographer and I also like to have some of my better pictures on display but I've always found that the most expensive part of the whole process is not the buying of the prints or the printing of the photos but the framing. If you have pictures to frame in standard formats you might be able to find some cheap frames online but if the pictures are of odd or unusual sizes getting frame specifically made can be very costly. I'm constantly looking for a cheap, reliable, high quality framing service and just recently I think I've found it, easyframe.co.uk. This online site offers four separate services that will cover almost all of your framing needs and more. You can buy standard size frames, make your own custom frames, print your pictures and frame them and also produce canvas prints of your pictures. The website is very easy to use if a little cluttered in appearance. Let me go through each one and in turn and explain how it works. CUSTOM PICTURE FRAMES- Click on this option and you will be guided through the process of making your own custom made frame. Firstly you specify the exact height and width (in mm) of your picture at the start of the process. If you have a digital image of the picture you want to frame you can upload this to the site to see what your picture will look like with the different choices available. Do this and the image will appear in a left hand box on the screen and when you choose a frame type it will automatically add it to the picture in this screen. Once you have the picture and size sorted them you choose the frame. The choice of frames is as follows: Black and Grey Frames Dark Wood Frames Light Wood Frames Bronze and Copper coloured Frames Silver and Pewter Frames Gold Frames Green Frames Red Frames Blue Frames Barefaced (untreated) White and Washed Frames Aluminium Frames (you have to fit these together on delivery but the process is simple and there are instructions on how to do this on the site). The frame choice is very good but is dependent on size. With larger size frames not all types of frames are available. It's fun to try out different frames types on your imported image and get a really good idea of what it will look like when finished. Next you have the option of choosing a mount for your picture. You can specify the thickness and width of the mount you want and the colour from a range of choices. Of course if you don't want a mount you can just skip this step. As you update your image on the left hand side of the page with new additions you can see an updated price for the picture appear. The final step is to choose the type of glazing you have. You can choose from Clear Acrylic, Clear Glass, non -Glare acrylic and no Glazing. Again as you add your choice the total is updated. The whole process is really simple and straightforward. STANDARD SIZE FRAMES- Here you can buy frames ready-made to standard popular sizes offered in 'A' paper sizes A4, A3, A2,A1 and also in Metric and Imperial in the following dimensions. Metric 300 X 240mm 300 X 300mm 400 X 300mm 400 X 400mm 500 X 227mm 500 X 400mm 500 X 500mm 600 X 500mm 700 X 500mm 800 X 600mm 1000 X 500mm Imperial 5" X 5" 6" X 4" 7" X 5" 7" X 7" 8" X 6" 8" X 8" 9" X 7" 10" X 8" 14" X 11" 15" X 10" 18" X 12" 18" X 14" 20" X 16" 24" X 18" 24" X 20" 30" X 20" 10" X 10" 36" X 24" 12" X 10" 40" X 30" 12" X 12" Once you have chosen you size you will be presented with a choice of a staggering 440 different types of frames from plain untreated wood to painted wood in a variety of colours; blue black, white red, gold, silver and additionally the frames can be very elaborate in design for more traditional framing needs of more modern including aluminium frames. Included in the huge choice is a variety of frame thickness and depth. PRINT AND FRAME SERVICE - This option give you the opportunity to upload a high quality photo image and then have it printed either in its original form, B/W or Sepia all to your desired size on fine art paper or glossy photo paper. The is a maximum upload limit of 2MB for each picture if your image is larger than this then you need to contact Ezeframe direct before uploading. Once you have chosen you preferred print option you can then order a frame through the Custom frame section. CANVAS PRINTING SERVICE - Again this option will allow to print your uploaded images to a desired size but this time they can be printed on canvas. Here too you get a variety of options, as before the print can be B/W or Sepia as well as its original. In addition the canvas can have white, black or wrapped edges or simply be 'unstretched'. You can also vary the depth of the stretched bar from a minimum of 25mm to a max of 40mm. Once you've finished any of the different option you add the picture and frame to your cart and proceed to checkout. PRICING, DELIVERY, CUSTOMER SERVICE The prices are very competitive compared to high street framers and other online framers. To give you an example: If your order a custom frame for an image 400mm x 500mm using a smooth rounded blue wooden frame 12mm thick, and you added a white mount of 40mm thickness with plain acrylic glazing it would cost ?23.53 + VAT. Without the mount it would be ?16.20 + VAT. All the frames come with 2.5mm MDF backing board and either hanging clips for smaller frames or D-ring screws with nylon cord to hangs them with at no added cost. Hanging hooks and nail and a variety of other extras are available from the online shop. You can also get stand up backs if you want to display your (smaller) framed pictures on a surface. Doing a little research online I found that Ezeframe compared very well to their competitors for instance 'E Picture Frames' that run a similar service would charge ? 17.78 + VAT for a same size picture with comparable frame. Other sites can be much more expensive! High street prices vary greatly and there are advantages to buying on the high street but the last time I had a similar size print framed it cost be close to ?50. In order to buy from the site you have to register with them and your account can then be accessed on your next visit and make the process easier. All usual forms of payment are accepted including PayPal. The delivery charges are extra and come to ?5.95 per order, however if your order is over ?50.00 (ex. VAT) then delivery is Free in the UK excluding remote parts of Scotland & Islands. The delivery is scheduled for 3 working days after the order is placed or the delivery charge will be refunded. In all the order I have made so far the delivery has been within the stated date. I've not had to contact customer service as yet but contact details are provided on site and you can send e-mails as well as phoning. MY SHOPPING EXPERIENCE I was looking for a cheap but good quality framing service online as an alternative to high street framers that are generally quite expensive and take a long time to complete the work. I searched online through various framing sites and found Ezeframe to be the easiest to use and very competitive on price. I also liked the facility of uploading your image to the site and having the chance to try all different frames and mount types on the screen. On trying the site everything looked good. Navigating the site was easy and there were no faults or problems. I decide to initially try them out with a small order for 4 printed 4'' x 6'' photos I wanted to print. I chose some mid priced frames and clear acrylic glazing with no mount. The frames came to about ?5 each unfortunately I had to pay delivery since the order was below ?50. I clicked my order off and waited. Within two days my frames arrived by courier securely package in a cardboard box and the items were undamaged. I was very pleased with the product. On inspection the frames were very well made and had a high quality finish. My pictures fitted perfectly so they had got the dimensions just right and once assembled they looked really smart and looked even better on my wall. Now that this 'dry run' was successful I had some larger and more expensive prints to frame. This time the total order can to more than ?50 so the delivery was free. Once again the frames came on time and they were of excellent quality. The hanging cord had to be fitted but this was easy to do and I was again very pleased with my purchase. I have used this company on a half dozen occasions so far ordering different types of frames and printing once on canvas and the service and quality was great as was the price. You can, if you wish set up a wish list of items that you'd like to buy at a later date and these are stored for a later visit if you're logged into your account. DOWNSIDES I have to stress that overall I was very pleased with the service and product but there are a couple of things that are worth mentioning as downsides. Firstly there is a limit on the size of the frame that can be made to order. The frame size can be no larger than 1220mm x 915mm, this is quite big bigger than your average film poster, so it should not be a problem for most pictures. The choice of frame types does also decrease with the size of the frame; the larger pictures cannot use the thinner wooden frames as this would affect the stability of the frame when hanging. Having said this all the other online framers I came across had the same or similar restrictions on frame size and choice. The other grumble I had is with the timing of the delivery. You are told by e-mail the day before when the delivery will be made but setting a specific time for this is not possible so you are stuck in waiting for the courier since the package has to be signed for. Once again this did not differ from the other competitors online. Finally the last thing to mention is that as with all online shops you don't get the opportunity to feel and really judge what you're buying. The site does display pictures of all items for sale and you can zoom each one to get a closer look but obviously this is not the same as being in a shop and looking directly. The ability to upload your image on the website and see the finished frame with your picture fitted is great and makes up for the shortcoming of the online shopping experience. OVERALL If you need some framing done and you don't want to spend a fortune or wait weeks for it to be ready then I suggest that you search out Ezeframe.co.uk and check out what they have to offer. The quality of the frames is good the delivery is prompt and the web site is easy and fun to use. Recommended. ?Mauri 2011
Article Posted: 23/04/2018 13:19:08