twelve by eighteen

You guys, Michael's finally has 12" x 18" frames! And the ones I liked best were 50% off this week. I went in on a lark today because I had a 50% off coupon that was going to expire; I was flabbergasted when I spotted the 12" x 18" frames. I'd vaguely thought I'd start buying the make-your-own frame pieces, 1 pair at a time over a course of several weeks with 4 coupons. Then I'd buy glass and get custom mattes cut.

Long time readers (if there are any from four years ago still around) may recall that my two photo enlargements have been almost nothing but trouble for me since the start.

• My negatives spent weeks lost in the mail before arriving at their destination.


• Once the enlargements were made and put back in the mail, they were lost again for over six weeks.


• When my enlargements and negatives finally arrived, half the tube they were in was soaking wet.

Despite these obstacles, the photos and negatives arrived intact.

That's when I discovered that there was no standard sized frame for 12" x 18" pictures. There's 8" x 10", 11" x 14", 16" x 20", and sometimes 12" x 16". 18" x 24" was the only standard frame that would work but it'd require getting custom cut mattes (ridiculously pricey). Besides, I didn't really want a three inch border around my photos.

The totally messed up thing is that my photos were shot on 35 mm film, originally printed at the standard 4" x 6" size. Enlarged three times gives you 12" x 18". All the standard frame sizes require cropping. I framed it the way I wanted it from the beginning, mofos! Alas, the joke's on me.

Ideally, I would've gone for a 2" white matte border yielding a frame size of 16" x 22". The frame itself a nice rich wood perhaps. Signed in pencil just below the photo on the lower right. Date? No date. I paused in one of the frame aisles. I could still do that.

Then I resumed walking back and forth between my two 12" x 18" options. I know myself. The photos have been sitting in a box under my bed for over a year and could easily continue to do so for years to come. So fuck it, y'know? After some OCD glass cleaning, I'll slap--OK, gingerly set--those photos in the black frames I bought today, without mattes. They may not be perfect but they will go ON A WALL. And that's the point really, for the photos to be seen.

I can always upgrade their framing when I have more cash down the line if I feel like it, but I won't be deprived of seeing the photos in the meantime.

Four years ago, I attached so much significance to the enlargements it's laughable, like I was flipping a coin against the universe for answers to my life and repeatedly losing.

It's time to create my own luck.


Two years ago on TTaT: Ruins where I can get them, Vol. 3