How to display odd sized prints without a frame

Last summer I bought this Verkade album (dating back to the 1930s) with these beautiful watercolour illustrations of different parts of the Netherlands. I wanted to display the illustrations rather than keep them in the book (I’d never look at them otherwise), but they’re an odd size. I couldn’t find any frames that fit, plus custom ones would’ve been too expensive.

Holding the vintage Verkade album I found at IJ-Hallen, just before heading home from NDSM.

The illustrations were lightly glued into the album, but still tricky to remove. I used a hairdryer (with paper in between) to heat and loosen the glue. This made it much easier to remove the illustrations without tearing them.

Mounting the illustrations onto self-adhesive foamboard was trickier than expected. I tried cutting the foamboard after sticking on the print, and vice versa. In the end, it was easiest to cut the foamboard to size first and then stick the print on.

Tip: Foamboard can be deceptively awkward to cut. Use a sharp knife with a long blade. Hold it close to the foamboard at an angle of less than 45 degrees. Using medium pressure, first make a shallow cut and then make progressively deeper cuts to eventually go all the way through. Also be mindful that you’re cutting straight, as it’s really easy to tilt the blade creating a sort of bevelled edge which can cause problems later on.

Materials used

• Self-adhesive foam board (€3.52 per A3 5mm sheet, purchased at Van Beek Art Supplies, Weteringschans 201, 1017XG Amsterdam)

• Sawtooth hooks (€0.24 each, purchased at the same place)

• Glue gun 

• Sharp knife with a long blade (I used an X-Acto, Gripster knife)

• Metal ruler

• Cutting mat

• Frame bumpers