So, I've been LOVING
space and astronomy art...
pinterest is a KILLER! Then,
Fulcrum Gallery emailed me about reviewing an art print from their website! Sweeet! Perfect time to acquire some space art for my lonely walls! Bartering is even better! I get something in exchange for my words! The best part is that they stressed they want HONEST opinions in my review, the good
and the bad. Awesome! Because I wouldn't have agreed otherwise!
First off, I want to stress how human the interaction has been with the company! :) I stress this because I hate and am totally turned off by pre-written responses that are irrelevant to the questions you ask. It's super cheap and degrades a business. Having been a shop owner (while also juggling a separate full-time job that mostly involved communication), I know that it only takes a few minutes to reply to an email in a human way so there's no excuse. But Fulcrum Gallery was awesome when it came to communication:) Totally human!
And on to the rest of my review:)
When I went to their website to choose my print I was excited and a little overwhelmed by the selection. Guys, there are THOUSANDS of options! I got distracted by all the options but remembered how enamored I've been with the idea of outer space themed prints all over my walls! I spotted a deep space picture and went with it. Fulcrum was generous enough to let me frame it as well! I chose the "Natural Oak" frame with non-glare glass. Also, I chose to not have it cropped and no mat. If you choose to crop it, it cuts off the white border around the photo.
It was easy to hang and sturdy. It looks really well put together.
I loooove space photos! Nerd at heart...
All professional ;) I love the little felt pads at the bottom to protect your walls from the frame corners.
I chose the "non-glare" glass to test it out knowing that it would dull the colors. I was wondering if it would actually be non-glare. I have to say, I'm not impressed. It definitely has a lot of glare AND it makes the picture dull... I've seen prints framed with non-glare glass and they always seem to have glare and really just dull the colors, so I was expecting a bit of but this but this seems to have just as much glare as plain old glass. My recommendation would be to go with the cheaper
regular glass or maybe even acrylic (I haven't seen either in person, but I'm assuming anything is better than the non-glare options!).
Another thing I wasn't too impressed with was the rippling on the print. I don't think I should blame the company for that, it may have to do with the humid environment here, but it makes me wish I could take it out of the frame to smooth out. If I do, I'd have to remove the paper that seals the frame job though. What to do?! Hoping it'll smooth itself out ;)
On to the shipping... It arrived fairly quickly in large sturdy packaging, that wasn't
too large or wasteful. They provided tracking information too, which I always appreciate.
To wrap up, I would definitely buy prints from Fulcrum, but without the frame. They're actually fairly cheap (my choice would've been around $13 without the frame for a 16"x16" print)! However, while I appreciate the picture and frame, I would have been very disappointed if I had paid the quoted amount for it because of the non-glare glass that reflects like and the rippling on the print.
Good:
*1000s of options
*Low prices & good sale
*Sturdy shipping packaging, not overly wasteful
*Well-made frame
*Human communication
*Many options for framing, types of canvas, glazes on glass/acrylic, laminating, etc.
Bad:
*It would be nice to have a "View All" page for faster perusing
*It would also be nice to be able to sort the prints by price (high to low, low to high) or by size (small to big, big to small). They give options of showing prints within a size range, which is helpful, but that extra bit of sorting would be awesome! Maybe I'm just a tad anal, lol :P
*Non-glare glass is not actually non-glare
*Rippled print
Have any of you ordered from Fulcrum? What has your experience been with them?
xo,
T
