Picture Framing Supplies Delivery Across the UK

A framer's whole job is that nothing shows. A scuff on a moulding length, a scratch on picture glass or a dented corner on a sheet of mountboard is not a blemish on materials — it is a frame that cannot be sold, discovered after the moulding has been cut.

T&C Logistics delivers for picture framing suppliers, moulding distributors and trade framers. Companies House records over 160 active UK companies in picture framing and framing supply. We have run specialist transport since 2020 with more than 3,000 vetted driver-partners nationwide. Quotes from £50 (ex VAT), quoted in full upfront before you book.

How long is moulding?

Long enough to set the vehicle. Picture frame moulding is supplied in lengths of roughly three metres, bundled, and it will not fit across a van.

Gilded and ornate mouldings are the least forgiving item. Gold leaf and composition finishes rub off against anything, and a rubbed length is scrap rather than a second.

How is picture glass carried?

On edge and supported, exactly like any glass, and it is thinner than most people expect. Picture glass at 2 millimetres is considerably more fragile than a window pane.

Coated glasses are the additional problem. Museum, UV and anti-reflective glass carry surface coatings that scratch, and a scratched coating is visible on the finished frame under gallery lighting.

Acrylic glazing is the opposite handling rule — flat, supported, film on — which is the same distinction we draw between glass and plastic sheet. See our plastics distribution delivery service.

What damages mountboard?

Corners and surfaces, and both happen in handling rather than in transit. Mountboard is a large sheet of conservation-grade card, and it is the visible border around a picture.

A crushed corner loses the sheet, because a framer cuts a mount from the whole sheet and a damaged corner is a smaller usable area. A surface mark in the middle is worse still.

Practically it travels flat and fully supported in its packaging, with nothing on top of it. It is the same handling rule as foam sheet, applied to something that shows every mark.

Who receives framing deliveries?

Small workshops, almost without exception. Trade framers, galleries, artists and photographers operate from units, studios and shops with a workshop behind.

That means a delivery through a doorway with three metre lengths and large sheets, by one or two people, into a space that is already full of work in progress.

Access is a shape problem rather than a weight one. A three metre bundle will not turn in a corridor, and a large glass sheet needs a straight route to where it is going.

Do you handle finished framed work?

Yes, and it is a different job from materials. A finished frame is glazed, valuable, and frequently contains an artwork that is irreplaceable regardless of the frame's cost.

Framed work goes between framers, galleries, exhibitions and customers, and its value can be almost entirely in the contents. That needs declaring rather than assuming.

Where an artwork's value exceeds our goods-in-transit cover of £50,000 own-fleet, a specialist fine art carrier is the right answer and we will say so. See our fine art courier service.

Is there a season?

Two, and both are exhibition-driven. Framers work to gallery and exhibition calendars, and a show opening is a fixed date the framing has to meet.

Christmas produces a retail peak in gift framing and photograph framing, which concentrates trade demand into the autumn like every gifting category.

Art fairs and open studio events create their own concentrations, and a framer serving one has a wall of work due on the same day. See our exhibition and events logistics service.

Can you collect offcuts and waste?

Yes. Framing generates moulding offcut, glass cullet and board waste continuously, and a small workshop has limited space to hold any of it.

Glass offcut is the awkward stream. Broken and cut-off picture glass is a hazard rather than a bin item, and it needs containing rather than being carried loose.

T&C Logistics holds Environment Agency upper tier registration CBDU654368 as a waste carrier, broker and dealer, so a collection is documented with a transfer note. See our WEEE collection service.

Do you deliver chop and length service orders?

Yes, and they are the made-to-order end of the trade. A chop service cuts moulding to a framer's exact sizes, which produces a set of pieces for one frame with no substitute.

Mitred ends are the vulnerable part. A chopped length has finished 45-degree cuts at both ends, and a knocked mitre will not close cleanly in the finished corner.

Sets also have to stay together and arrive complete. Four pieces cut for one frame are useless as three, and the framer discovers it with the customer's artwork already on the bench.

How do galleries and exhibition framers differ?

By deadline pressure rather than by materials. A gallery framer works to a hanging date, and everything for a show is due in the same week.

That concentrates demand into short bursts against fixed dates, which makes it closer to the awards and events trades than to ordinary trade supply.

Volume for a single show can also be substantial: a exhibition of forty works is forty frames, forty glass sheets and forty mounts, all needed at once.

Do you carry conservation and archival materials?

Yes, and they need the same care as the artwork they will protect. Conservation mountboard, archival tissue and backing materials are specified for their chemical properties.

Contamination is the specific risk. Materials chosen for their purity should not travel against anything that could transfer oil, dust or moisture to them.

They also cost considerably more than standard board, which makes a damaged sheet a real loss rather than a nuisance — and a marked conservation mount defeats the purpose of buying it.

What about framing equipment and machinery?

It moves too, and it is heavier than the materials. Mount cutters, underpinners, vacuum presses and morso choppers are workshop machines rather than tools.

A vacuum press or a large mount cutter is a two-person or mechanical lift and needs a route into a workshop that is usually already full.

Precision is the reason care matters. A mount cutter knocked out of alignment cuts bevels that are not square, which shows on every mount it makes afterwards.

Do you serve online framing businesses?

Yes, and online framing has grown into a substantial channel. Customers order frames to size online and receive them assembled, which puts finished glazed frames into a parcel network.

That is genuinely difficult, because a glazed frame is fragile in a way parcel handling does not accommodate. Many online framers have moved to acrylic glazing for exactly that reason.

Trade supply into those businesses is bulk and predictable, which contrasts sharply with their outbound. See our ecommerce seller courier service.

Trade counters are the other half of the picture. Many suppliers run a counter framers collect from, which shifts the transport question to stocking that counter rather than delivering to workshops — the same inter-branch pattern as any trade merchant.

Counter stocking runs to its own rhythm too: framers collect little and often, so a counter that is short of a popular moulding on a Friday afternoon costs the supplier a sale that walks to a competitor rather than waiting for Monday.

Do you carry ready-made frames and photo frames?

Yes, and they are the volumetric end of the trade. Ready-made frames go to gift shops, galleries and retailers in cartons, glazed and assembled.

Glazed ready-mades are more fragile than materials because the glass is already in the frame, so a knock breaks glass inside a product rather than a sheet in a stack.

Volume is the other half. Photo frames are boxed for shelf display and take far more space than their value suggests, which makes them a packaging-shaped load rather than a framing one. See our packaging supplies delivery service.

What does picture framing supplies delivery cost?

A rate per drop on a routed round, or one fixed price for a dedicated job, quoted upfront with fuel and goods-in-transit insurance included.

From £50 (ex VAT). Final price depends on distance, vehicle, urgency and time — quoted in full upfront. Related: fine art courier and fabric roll delivery. Call 0121 720 3841 or use our contact page.