Black and White photos are a great time to use a gray stained hardwood frame. This is my concentrated charcoal stain on a 1″ maple cube frame (a cube is a square frame that has the same height as width). Maple is such a hard, dense wood that it takes a powerful stain to darken it. This finish is a simple oil and wax, buffed to a dull shine. The stain is still transparent enough the show the maple’s grain pattern and warm color mixing optically with the dye-stain. And the organic nature of the maple’s grain pattern goes particularly well with the three photos’ natural subjects.
