Paint By Numbers

Festive Frames: You Are the Artist

Festive Frames is an art form — and when you use it, you become the artist.

Like any form of art, it starts from scratch. At first, you learn the basics, follow guidance, and build confidence. As your skills develop, your natural creativity begins to shine through. Think of the Festive Frames system in the same way you would think about learning to paint.

You don’t begin by creating a masterpiece from a blank canvas. You start with paint‑by‑numbers — following a pre‑set design with clear instructions to create a finished piece of artwork.


From Following Designs to Creating Your Own

Festive Frames works in exactly the same way.

Initially, you can follow our wide range of step‑by‑step design instructions to create the sculptures you see on the website. For many people, this is all they ever want to do — and that’s perfectly fine. With a single kit, you can create a different sculpture year after year, and we regularly release new design instructions that can be purchased and used with your existing components.

However, some people will want to take the journey one step further.

As confidence grows, you may choose to move beyond the instructions and begin creating your own designs. These could be three‑dimensional sculptures, flat shapes, borders, or something entirely unique. The choice is yours — and whichever path you take, you are still creating art.


Creating Your Own Designs: A Few Tips

If you decide to design your own sculptures, here are some important things to keep in mind:

  • Be patient. This isn’t easy. Like any art form, it takes time, practice, and skill.

  • Plan first. Map your design out on paper before you start building. All poles are named by length, making it easy to test the viability of your design using graph paper.

  • Understand the flexible poles. Flexible poles are available in 55 cm and 110 cm lengths. When creating circles, these work best with radii of 17.5 cm, 34 cm, and 70 cm.

  • Avoid oversized circles. Do not create circles with a radius larger than 70 cm, as the flexible poles forming the circumference will not have enough support.

  • Build a strong framework. Always create a rigid framework using solid poles before adding flexible elements.

  • Mind the height. Avoid building too high unless the structure is fixed to a wall or similar support.

  • Over‑support first. Build with plenty of support initially, then remove any poles you feel are surplus as the structure takes shape.

  • Expand if needed. Additional components can be purchased from the website if your design exceeds what’s included in your kit.

  • Lighting doesn’t have to follow poles. You can add extra lines using ribbon or line‑out lighting (see the Lighting page), as long as there are fixing points at intervals.

  • Structure disappears when lit. Once illuminated, only the shape of the lights is visible, so additional supports won’t detract from the final effect.

  • Think ahead. Plan how and where your lights will be attached as you build.

  • Document your work. Photograph your finished design so you can recreate it in future seasons if you wish.


Share Your Creations

Good luck — and most importantly, enjoy the process.

We would love to see what you create. Please email photos of your finished designs to info@festiveframes.co,uk

Your work may inspire the next artist.


If you’d like, I can also:

  • Shorten this for a website page

  • Adapt it for an instruction manual

  • Make it more inspirational or more technical

  • Rewrite it for first‑time users

Just tell me how you’d like it positioned.