Gallery wraps are a common way that artists and art galleries prepare their canvases for presentation to the public. Stretcher bars, also known as strainer bars, are used as a foundation upon which the canvas is stretched and attached to the wooden bars. This makes the canvas surface smooth and gives a place to tuck the unsightly unpainted edges of the canvas to the back of the stretcher bars. However, there are some pieces of artwork that, even after a gallery wrap is in place, still require another step to bring them up to their best appearance. This can be achieved by utilizing a new type of picture frame with the gallery wrap called a floater picture frame.

Floater frames for canvas are basically a picture frame that goes around the outer edge of the gallery wrap. There is a little bit of floater space between the gallery wrap and the canvas float frame. Thus, not only is the entire surface of the artwork visible to the viewer, but also a bit of the sides of the gallery wrap as well. These types of floater frames for canvas are suitable not only for canvas pictures such as paintings but also photographs that have been transferred to canvas as well.

There are floater picture frames available made from durable and beautiful wood in a variety of colors. You can choose a floating canvas frame in warm silver, bronze gold, black, silver, gold and espresso. Taller and shorter rabbets are available so you have more flexibility in finding the right floater picture frame that will work with your particular piece of artwork. The face width for a canvas float frame comes in different thicknesses and some are straight while others offer a sloping appearance.

Knowing how to find the correct size of floater picture frame is also important to achieve the best and final look for your picture. You simply measure the size of the stretcher bar frame with measurements taken at the corners of the frame. You can then use that size as your preferred size for the canvas float frame. A half-inch of space will be available between the inner edge of the floating canvas frame and the gallery wrapped canvas when the floater picture frames have an inner dimension size that is one inch larger than your gallery wrap. Floater frames for canvas gallery wraps are available from four by six inches all the way up to twenty-eight by forty inches, with dozens of ready-made sizes in between. If your artwork falls outside those sizes, custom floater frames for canvas are also available, which lend a professional air to your fine artwork.