The floater frame is an idea whose time has come in the fine art photography framing world. You start with an image on canvas that has gone through the "gallery wrap" process, take it and them place it inside a floater frame for the final effect. Floater frames for canvas clearly show off all of the top surface of your artwork, which is typically not possible with a traditionally matted and framed image, along with a little bit of the sides of the gallery wrap images visible as well.

The first step to take to get your fine artwork photo ready for display in a floating canvas frame is to gallery wrap your canvas. You will use stretcher bars, which create a square form, upon which you place your canvas. Then carefully you work your way back and forth attaching the canvas to the stretcher bars. It is best not to attach one whole side and move on to the next, but instead attach a little bit on one side, then cross over to the opposite side and attach a little bit there, so that you achieve an even tension and a smooth surface to the canvas.

Once the canvas is attached all the way around the stretcher bars, it is then in a gallery wrap. You could display it just like this, but many artists like to take the next step and display it in a canvas float frame.

You can find floater picture frames in many different colors, including traditional black shades. This allows you to add a spot of color through the use of your canvas float frame, if you wish. If there is a lot of color in your artwork, however, you might decide to go with a black floater frame instead. In this way, the floater frame does not draw any attention, but does its part to put the focus back on the artwork.

It is pretty easy to mount your artwork inside the floater frames for canvas. You will need a Phillips-head screwdriver and some offset clips. Place the clip on one side of the back of the floater frame, and screw in the side of the clip with the hole into the stretcher bar. Again, in order to end up with a smooth artwork surface with equal tension placed all around, it is best to switch sides as you place the offset clips on the back of the floating canvas frame. You will obviously use more offset clips if your artwork in the floater frame is large, and fewer if it is smaller in size.

You can find a lovely variety of floater picture frames from online fine art photography framing suppliers, as well as help with how to select the correct frame size and detailed instruction on how to mount the artwork in the frame.