Frames: add a decorative border around your design
Adds a decorative border or frame around your design using a frame image you pick. Works for ornate borders, simple lines, or any custom frame shape you upload.
Frames adds a decorative border or frame around every image in your batch. Unlike a plain rectangle border, the frame can be any shape — ornate Victorian borders, simple thin lines, hand-drawn shapes, custom logos.
The frame comes from a separate image (the frame mask) that you either pick from the built-in library or upload yourself.
Why this step matters
Borders and frames make designs look finished and polished:
- Etsy design prep with a thin border read as more "boutique" than borderless
- Print-on-demand designs sometimes need a decorative frame as part of the design itself
- Sticker batches with a simple border feel more like real stickers
- Award / badge / certificate designs need a formal frame around the central design
Doing this by hand on every image in a batch = tedious. Frames does it consistently across the whole batch in one step.
How to use it
- Add Frames to your pipeline.
- Pick a frame from the built-in library, or upload your own frame image.
- (Optional) Adjust Rotation, Flip, and Alpha Threshold to taste.
The settings
How to make your own frame
A custom frame image is just a PNG with:
- A transparent (see-through) center where your design will show through
- The frame shape itself in any color around the edge
Save as PNG, upload it as your frame mask, and ReadyPixl scales it to fit each image in your batch.
Common uses
- Thin black border around all Etsy design prep — simple frame mask, run on the batch, every image gets the same clean border.
- Ornate Victorian frame around POD designs for vintage / antique themed shirts.
- Brand-colored border matching your shop's accent color across every product image.
- Award badge frames for certification / achievement designs.
- Custom hand-drawn frames uploaded as PNG, batch-applied for a unique look across your shop.
Tips
- Run Frames AFTER Color Removal and Trim so the frame goes around your actual design, not a rectangle of background.
- Run BEFORE Reposition so the framed design gets placed on the canvas as a unit (frame and design move together).
- Match frame style to brand. Mixing a Victorian frame on one design and a modern thin-line frame on the next looks inconsistent. Pick one frame per shop and stick with it.
- For very tall or very wide images, the frame stretches to fit. If that distorts a circular frame into an oval, consider using a frame that already has the right proportions.
- Save the pipeline as a preset once you've picked your frame. Every batch loads the same frame in one click.
Things Frames doesn't do
- It doesn't generate frames for you. Use built-in frames or upload your own. There's no AI-generates-a-frame button.
- It doesn't change the image's overall size. The frame fits within your existing canvas. To increase the canvas size around the design, use Reposition first with extra padding.
What to read next
- Reposition — for setting the canvas size that Frames sits inside
- Clipping Mask — related shape-cutting tool
- Watermarking designs — workflow that often pairs Frames with brand watermarks
- It doesn't selectively frame parts of your design. It's a single frame around the whole thing.
- It doesn't add text or other elements. For text, use Watermark Text. For another logo overlay, use Watermark Image.