Michael’s is a rip off. I never take stuff to Michael’s for framing. My local independent frame shop charged me $90 to mat and frame something that Michael’s wanted to charge me $160 for.

I've been a custom framer for 19 years and I still think the prices are a big joke! I compare it to the prescription racket in the Unite States !!!

Seriously? That's ridiculous. I'm the PP that paid $30 but that included the mat! Ugh. Total ripoff, OP. I'm with you.

Agree with above - framing is a huge racket. There are several threads in the archives on this topic. I may have started one myself after trying to get something framed and was shocked at the prices.

OP here - guys, I didn't buy the mat, I actually provided it (it came with a frame from ETSY). The $20.00 they charged my husband was just to CUT it! I very annoyed at myself too, because since this was from Etsy, I could have just measured the correct size of the little print before and asked the seller to cut the mat in the right size. It didn't even occur to me actually. I had no IDEA this was so expensive.

Just order an 8x10 mat from Amazon, put it in a cheap frame.

Really? I have been wanting to frame some art and pictures and I didn't know it was that expensive ? Maybe I'm not understanding this right. What is the mat? Is that the 'inlay with cutout' that is to show something that is smaller than the frame ? What material are these expensive mats out of??? Cardboard aren't they?!

I had a picture framed at Michael's. It was one of those street artist pictures where they write your name in animal or plants, very colorful. I had my son's name done and wanted to frame it for the playroom. $100 later (simple metal frame & a single color mat) they were finished. Oh, and that was WITH the 40% off coupon they were running at the time.

$20 seems high to me.

I will note the size of my artwork and take myself to Home Goods. I will select a nice frame with that size opening. Usually it is one with artwork already in it. I will make sure it looks like it is easy enough to access from the back, it usually just means cutting through the paper covering the back. I will carefully remove it all and pop in my piece. If it is an odd shape, I will just leave a plain black/suitable backing behind. I know it involves some time/effort but it saves so much over professional framing places. Most times it turns out really well.

All framing is a racket.

Buy an Xacto knife and live with the results. It'll be fine.

It is a complete racket. I have my own mat cutter now.

Anonymous wrote:It actually does require a pretty steady hand and some practice to do it right.

But most cutting is expensive, relatively. Kinkos charges $1 per side when cutting papers.

Not the OP but come on, I had a few years of photo class in high school and managed to cut neat mats at fifteen years old... $5 a corner is outrageous, I agree with you OP. I had a watercolor I bought in Italy that I had framed at Michael's... actually, I bought one of their standard frames (although it was large) and had a mat cut to fit. I think it came to well over $30.

It actually does require a pretty steady hand and some practice to do it right.

But most cutting is expensive, relatively. Kinkos charges $1 per side when cutting papers.

I was SHOCKED once my husband told me how much it cost to cut a small mat to fit our picture. The frame came with the mat already cut, but with a very small "hole" (whatever you call that), so I asked my husband to take it to Michael's and ask them to cut it in the right size to fit my small picture...

Honestly, I thought they would charge maybe $5.00 or even nothing (yeah, naive!) given the fact we spent so much money there recently with custom frames... Anyhow, when my husband told me they charge $5.00 PER CORNER (!) I thought he was joking. Iam shocked.

Since I have never cut mat before, maybe it is a difficult think that require some sort of skills? What makes it so expensive?