craftgrrl | framing/selling advice (Reply)

i need some help from those of you with experience in selling art that requires framing--photographers, painters even, and especially those who work in mixed media collage or other word art. actually, even those of you who like to buy those types of art could probably help as well...

ok, as a freelance writer, i've been doing more work lately on making art out of my writing--whether through collaging bits of it into a piece of art, or just typing it up and mounting it on some nice vellum, whatever you want to call it, this is what i've been doing. and i'd like to start selling some of them (or trying to, i guess) but i've run into two major problems...

1. taking pictures, especially when i've used magazine or glossy paper, is next to impossible. i want to convey the detail, have up-close shots of the typewritten word, and also the piece as a whole, without a major flash glare. any advice on how to make this work... i'm really not a photographer, so even something that seems common sense would probably help. here are how the pictures are turning out thus far...

2. also, i think that these pieces really don't look professional, or tempting to buyers at all. this is partly because i'm still a beginner on this, but also because (i think) they aren't matted or framed. but i'm not sure i should DO that before a buyer is interested. for one thing, it would cost a LOT of money for me up front, because these would mostly be custom frame jobs, and also because a buyer may have a particular idea of what they want in terms of colors of frames and mats. how do you word art/collage sellers usually deal with this?

any other general advice for improving this craft would be greatly appreciated as well. thanks all!