What is a Floater Frame?

Floater frames are a type of picture frame that is intended for use with a piece of artwork that has been placed into a gallery wrap or canvas that has been stretched and attached to wooden stretcher bars. The canvas gallery wrap is then placed inside the floater frame, which edges the artwork nicely yet does not cut off the viewer from seeing the part of the edges of the artwork on the sides of the gallery wrap that are visible in the float space. Floater frames make a great change from just a simple gallery wrap appearance for fine artwork, and you will find that canvas floater frames are available in different profile styles and colors.

A floater picture frame gives a unique appearance to the artwork because the artwork looks as if it is floating inside the picture frame. Fine art photographs, even wedding photographs, can be printed on canvas, after which they can be placed in a gallery wrap and then situated inside a floater frame for a polished, finalized look.

Once you have your artwork in a gallery wrap, the next step will be to mount it inside the canvas floater frame. The canvas in the gallery wrap may need to be raised a bit if you discover that the rabbet of the floater frame is higher than the canvas. Archival-quality mount board may be useful for this step if needed. You will next want to make sure that the back of the canvas touches the inner edge of the floater frame, and then adjust the borders of the canvas inside the canvas floater frame so that the borders are of equal width. Offset clips are then used to hold the stretcher bars of the gallery-wrapped canvas in the proper position inside the floater picture frame, alternating placement from top to bottom and then to the sides of the canvas, so that subtle adjustments in alignment can still be made until the final moment of attaching clips. Wire hangers can then be attached to the backs of floater frames, the wire strung from hanger to hanger, and then wall bumpers put into place to protect the wall surface. Then you are ready to hang up your artwork framed in canvas floater frames.

Differing from traditional picture frames, canvas floater frames require neither mat board nor glazing to achieve the finished look. Dozens of different ready-made frame sizes are available and you may also find custom-sized frames will work with unusually large pieces of artwork. These unique frames are available from better fine-art photography frame suppliers online.

Susan Slobac is a consultant in the frame industry. Susan writes about trends in floater frame & floater frames.