Last week I wrote about Prepping for the Holiday Art Market, a fundraising exhibition I’ve been participating in the past few years at the Manhattan Arts Center in Manhattan, KS. As a result, a number of comments and questions have been flowing through my inbox, social media, and the comments section. These queries have prompted this post.

Many questions were centered around the presentation of the small tapestries I wrote about. I mentioned attaching the smallest weavings to mat board which I then inserted into simple wooden frames.

I personally prefer frames around my smaller weavings. I feel like it contains them better, but raises them off the wall at the same time. I also believe it’s a more gallery friendly approach. To elaborate, maybe these images will be helpful. This one shows “Like Rain Falling…” study in a frame.

Normally I would have cropped that image, but since one of the requests was to see the frame included, I show it in entirety.

This is a good place to point out- in case you’ve never framed anything- it’s best to leave more blank space below the piece rather than squaring up equal space on top and bottom. I hope that make sense. In the following piece you can see that top and bottom are equal which can make it appear to be out of balance.

The frames I purchased came with a backing board and plexiglass cover. I don’t use either one. I purchase archival mat board and cut my own backing to fit the frame. This is what I attach the weaving to. It’s actually a very simple process; another plus for this approach. It can be a little tricky to get it centered just right so with the tapestry in place on top of the mat board I very lightly use the awl to mark where the holes will be. Then I remove the tapestry and punch the holes large enough to get a needle and thread through.

After measuring for the correct alignment, I punch 6 small holes into the mat board where I have marked with the awl: 2 at each top corner and 2 in the middle about an inch from the bottom of the weaving. I then sew the tapestry in place with some of the corresponding weft yarn by circling around one warp thread.

This method also allows me to sign my work, another reason I prefer it.

The other pieces were slightly larger so for those I covered stretcher bars* with some flannel, then batting, then outer material;** I usually choose linen for the neutral but still natural appearance. Stretcher bars are nice because they come in various increments. Of course, I could have used the same method and just purchased larger frames, but finding the supplies for larger pieces proved to be a challenge. And cost prohibitive.

You could also use pre-stretched painting canvases (and paint the surface to complement your tapestry).

While I don’t intentionally create these pieces to show, I have learned that for me it’s helpful to have some consistency in size and materials in case I decide to later. After my first year of showing my small tapestries and every piece being different, needing different treatments, I began to work in a size that could use the same frame. For a while I did use prepared mats (my mat cutting days are long gone!) but that became too restrictive as well.

One last question I haven’t addressed is on pricing.

Big sigh. Always the quandary.

I could and might write an entire blog post on that alone, but for now let me just say that the best method I have learned and adapted has been to price tapestries based on a price per square inch formula. Remembering that needs to be doubled - or accounted for- when showing in a gallery or a percentage is taken out. I learned this method early on through a member’s survey article on the American Tapestry Alliance website.***

My formula? Take the 4.5” square size. 4.5 x 4.5 = 20.25.

$2.50/square inch = 50.60

Doubled = $101.25

But then there are the frames to consider, so the cost of materials for the presentation (I don’t include cost of yarn) is added in.

I hope this helps to clarify some of the questions my last post provoked.

Let me know if you still have questions!

*I like the Edmunds brand stretcher bars - both for this and for making frame looms.

**If you’re unfamiliar with the stretcher bar method, Rebecca Mezoff has a very instructive and informative post on it. She also has a video in her Little Looms class (which is where I learned it!)

***I tried to find this article but was unable to locate it. However, I did find this page with lots more resources on mounting and hanging tapestries. Enjoy!