Art in an Instant: 12 Quick Ideas Using Floating Glass Frames

Forget about matting, cutting wood and finding acid-free painter’s tape — the floating glass frame is here to make framing art remarkably easy. If using a store-bought frame, just sandwich the art or found object between the pieces of glass—and voilà, you have a wall-worthy piece. DIY-ing your own is hardly more complicated: two sheets of glass and a roll of black tape is all you’ll need. Clearly, making this frame is simple, but what you display can be as minimal or elaborate as you like. Here are some top contenders.

Above: Copenhagen Wilderness shows us how to press and frame nature’s finest, from leaves and petals, to feathers and entire flowers.

If flowers aren’t your thing, take a page from Alana Jones-Mann‘s botanical-pressing book and frame large tropical leaves instead.

One of the most romantic ideas for a floating frame is to slip an old love letter between the two sheets of glass, as shown in the hinged frame above from the UK-based home decor site Cox & Cox.

Small souvenirs collected during trips—an envelope, a postcard, a map—shouldn’t be hidden in a box, but displayed behind glass. The set of frames above from Decorator’s Notebook demonstrate how charming it looks to curate a mini collection within each frame.

According to Linda Loves, the secret to getting a feather to lay flat inside its frame is to first flatten the quill with the back of a pair of scissors. Check out her how-to for three alternative ways to secure a floating frame using tape, string or clips. To see a feather-themed arrangement come together, watch our floating frame video tutorial.

Above Holly Waterfield’s desk at her former West Village store Camp, featured on Decor8, a set of floating glass frames hold vintage doilies. Intricate designs with negative space that let light filter through, such as doilies and paper cuttings, are ideal specimens for floating frames.

In an eclectic Parisian apartment featured on Inside Closet, gold paper polka dots look particularly cute when hung against a dark gray wall. Try filling a frame with circular paper punches, or even confetti left over from a party.

In Dan and Shannon’s colorful D.C. home, a collection of graphic pop-art postcards add interest to a blank wall in the bathroom.

Re-edited from a post originally published on 3.12.17 – AL