The Blue Horizon Prints Buying Guide
Everything you need to choose the perfect piece with confidence — the right media, the right frame, and above all the right size for your wall. Handmade in our Noosa and Booragoon workshops and delivered ready to hang, Australia-wide.
1. Choose your media
We offer every art style our customers want, from panoramic to portrait, across the media options below. Every option is printed with archival pigment inks and finished by hand.
Stretched Canvas
Printed on 100% cotton 380gsm textured canvas, hand-stretched over a 32mm kiln-dried pine bar, finished with four coats of art varnish and ready to hang. The cotton weave gives colours real “personality”.
Framed Print
Award-winning 100% cotton fine-art paper set into an Italian-profile timber moulding in white, black or raw oak, behind lightweight shatter-proof acrylic.
Floating Frame
A stretched canvas set inside an L-shaped hardwood frame so the artwork appears to “float”, combining the frameless canvas look with a timber surround.
Rolled Canvas
The printed canvas without the frame, delivered rolled — ideal for framing locally or shipping overseas.
Fine-Art & Lustre Paper
290gsm 100% cotton archival rag for gallery-grade reproductions, or 260gsm lustre satin photographic paper for photography. Frame it yourself at home.
Removable Wall Decals
Removable vinyl wall art and murals, from a single feature panel through to whole-wall coverage.
Stretched Canvas Prints
What is a stretched canvas print? The design is printed onto canvas, then stretched over a wooden frame, with the image often wrapping around the edges. We use only 100% cotton 380gsm textured canvas with a gesso receptor coating, so the pigment inks soak evenly into the weave instead of sitting on the surface. Every printed canvas is finished with four coats of art varnish for a subtle protective sheen and UV resistance in our Australian climate.
Stretching, hardware and finishing
Every canvas is hand-stretched in our Noosa and Booragoon workshops over a 32mm kiln-dried, sustainable-plantation pine stretcher bar. Kiln drying stops the frame expanding, shrinking or warping on your wall. A bevelled edge avoids the tell-tale “ghost line” of timber pressing through the print. The back is sealed with framers tape and fitted with D-rings, picture wire and felt corner bumpers.
Wrap-style options (all included)
Choose how the image continues around the edges: a mirror wrap, a gallery wrap (50mm of the image itself wraps the timber), or a coloured border in black or white — all at the same price.
Ready-to-Hang — Hassle-Free & Secure
Our stretched canvas prints, framed prints and floating frames all arrive ready to hang, with heavy-duty steel picture wire and secure D-rings professionally fitted. No extra hardware — simply unbox and hang. Rolled canvases and paper prints do not include hanging hardware, as they are designed for custom framing or mounting.
Framed Prints
We print on premium 160gsm matt 100% cotton fine-art paper, then mount into an Italian-profile timber moulding in white, black or raw oak (20×20mm profile for smaller sizes, 40×20mm for larger; mahogany and gold upgrades on request). We use lightweight shatter-proof acrylic rather than glass — it looks the same at viewing distance but survives couriering across Australia.
Black Frame
White Frame
Natural Timber FrameBorder & mat options (all at no extra cost)
Our recommended 20mm white printed border, a no-border full-bleed option, or a traditional white card mat. (The card mat isn’t available in our smallest or largest sizes.)
20mm Printed Border
No Border
White Card MatFloating Frames (Floater Frame)
A floating frame is designed for a stretched canvas: the canvas sits inside the frame with a small reveal gap so it appears to “float”. We use a 40×10mm L-shape hardwood moulding in Matt Black, White or Raw Tasmanian Oak, adding 30mm to each side of the canvas. It’s effectively a stretched canvas and a frame together — double the work and materials, and well worth it for a classic piece that lasts a lifetime.
Black Floating Frame
White Floating Frame
Raw Tassie Oak Floating FrameRolled Canvas, Fine-Art & Lustre Paper
Rolled canvas is the printed canvas without the wooden frame, delivered rolled for local framing or overseas shipping (more here). For paper, choose 290gsm 100% cotton archival fine-art rag (gallery-grade reproductions) or 260gsm lustre satin photographic paper (photography, with a darkroom-print depth). Maximum printable size is 1.5m short edge by 12m for fine-art paper, 1.1m by 12m for lustre.
2. Frame or no frame — what’s right for you?
Choose a Framed Print when…
- You want a formal, gallery finish
- It’s a gift or a feature piece
- You love a clean border around the image
- You want it ready to hang with zero fuss
Choose a Stretched Canvas when…
- You prefer a modern, frameless look
- You want a ready-to-hang piece with no glass
- You’re going large — canvas suits big walls
- You want the best value per square metre
Choose a Floating Frame when…
- You want the canvas look and a timber surround
- You want a premium, collectible feel
- Black, white or raw Tassie oak suits your room
Choose Rolled / Paper when…
- You’ll frame it yourself locally
- You’re shipping overseas
- You want a specific custom frame
3. Size guide
Getting the size right is the single biggest factor in how good a piece looks on your wall — and the most common mistake is going too small.
Our standard sizes
Most artworks come in one of our two standard proportions, each with a full ladder of sizes. Every size in a ladder is the same shape, so the artwork simply scales up or down and is never stretched or cropped. Shown in inches and centimetres:
Classic proportion (2:3)
Poster & print-style art (e.g. Banksy Balloon Girl)
| Size | Inches | Centimetres |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 12 × 18″ | 31 × 46 cm |
| Medium | 18 × 27″ | 46 × 69 cm |
| Large | 24 × 36″ | 61 × 91 cm |
| X-Large | 30 × 45″ | 76 × 114 cm |
| XX-Large | 40 × 60″ | 102 × 152 cm |
Photo proportion (3:4)
Photography & landscapes (e.g. Katoomba Creek)
| Size | Inches | Centimetres |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 12 × 16″ | 31 × 41 cm |
| Medium | 18 × 24″ | 46 × 61 cm |
| Large | 24 × 32″ | 61 × 81 cm |
| X-Large | 32 × 43″ | 81 × 109 cm |
| XX-Large | 40 × 53″ | 102 × 135 cm |
Some artworks are also offered as square, panoramic or multi-panel where the image suits it, and custom sizes are available on request. The exact sizes for each piece are always shown on its product page.
A quick word on aspect ratio
Aspect ratio is simply the relationship between an artwork’s width and height. Our two standard proportions — 2:3 (classic) and 3:4 (photo) — cover the vast majority of art and photography. Because every size within a ladder shares that same shape, your artwork is never stretched or cropped; it just scales up or down.
4. How big is that on the wall?
The most common sizing mistake is going too small. This to-scale guide shows the full Classic (2:3) size range above a typical 1.8 m (2-seat) sofa, with a 1.7 m person for reference.
5. Room-by-room size recommendations
| Room / spot | Recommended range | Most popular |
|---|---|---|
| Above a sofa or bed-head | Large to X-Large, or a pair/trio | Large — 24×36″ (61×91 cm) |
| Living-room feature wall | X-Large or XX-Large, or multi-panel | X-Large — 30×45″ / 32×43″ |
| Bedroom | Medium to Large | Medium — 18×27″ / 18×24″ |
| Hallway / entry | A run of Smalls, or panoramic | Small — 12×18″ / 12×16″ |
| Dining room | Large, or a square | Large — 24×36″ / 24×32″ |
| Office / study | Small to Medium | Small — 12×18″ / 12×16″ |
6. Choose the right size
The perfect size makes all the difference. A few simple rules our team swears by:
The Golden Rule
Your artwork should be about two-thirds to three-quarters the width of the furniture below it. Above a 1.8 m sofa, aim for roughly a 1.2–1.35 m spread of art.
Hanging Height
Hang so the centre sits about 145 cm from the floor — gallery eye level. Above furniture, leave a 15–25 cm gap to the bottom of the frame.
Gallery Walls
Keep a consistent 5–7 cm gap between frames and treat the cluster as one shape. Lay it out on the floor, or tape up paper templates, before the first nail.
Bigger Is Better
The most common regret is going too small — a modest print can look lost on a wall. In larger rooms especially, go bigger. When in doubt, size up or choose a pair or trio.
7. Popular combinations
Large Stretched Canvas
A large stretched canvas print for a warm, ready-to-hang feature above the sofa — our most popular choice for living spaces.
Framed Print + White Border
Fine-art paper, black or oak frame, 20mm white border — a classic gallery finish.
Floating Frame in Oak
Canvas in a raw Tassie oak floater for a collectible, high-end look.
Panoramic Canvas
A long seascape or skyline to draw the eye down a hall or above a console.
8. Our craft & quality
Inks and longevity
All our prints — canvas and paper — are produced with archival-grade pigment inks on large-format pigment printers. Pigment inks bond to the substrate as solid particles rather than dyes, the industry standard for archival reproduction. With the four-coat art varnish on canvas and the gesso receptor coat beneath, our prints are made to resist visible fading indoors for decades. We don’t recommend hanging any print in direct sunlight.
Free image manipulation
Minor adjustments before print — red-eye, horizon straightening, simple lighting tweaks — are free; just ask. For larger retouching we’ll happily quote.
Supplying your artwork file
For best results supply your image at the actual print size, as a TIFF or high-quality JPEG. If it’s over 2 MB, send it via Google Drive or Dropbox and we’ll pull it from there. Not sure it’s big enough? Send it anyway and we’ll review it free before printing.
Production and delivery
Every Australian order is hand-made in our Noosa (QLD) and Booragoon (WA) workshops — stretched and finished by a real person, by a team with 20+ years of combined experience. Delivery is calculated at checkout, with express overnight available to most of Australia. Canvases are wrapped in protective film and boxed; rolled canvas and paper ship in a sturdy tube.