Framing

And then several months later, I took another – smaller – print to the same shop and asked them to prepare it in exactly the same way they’d done the first one – only smaller. ~$80 and a few days later, it came back – with a black mat instead of a white one. I should have taken them to task immediately, but I decided to hang it on the wall to see what it looked like first. I decided I didn’t like it – but not enough to actually haul it back into the shop.

After that, I had 3 prints – an 11 x 14 and two at 5 x 7 – that I wanted framed. Having learned my lesson with the “cheap” shop, I committed to spending the extra cash to “have it done right.” $400 later, I had 3 beautiful wall-hangings. Huh?!? There has to be a cheaper – and maybe better – way, right? As it turns out, there is – frame your stuff yourself.

So over the past couple months, I’ve undertaken a couple of my own framing projects – and so far with acceptable results and a large savings in cash outlay. The journey, however, has been fraught with frustration. I hope that by sharing my experience and knowledge, perhaps I can save you some of your own money – and maybe some blood (literally), sweat, and tears, too.

On the other hand, if you’re a typical computer user, or you give a damn about what your print looks like on the wall (or both), then read on.

Right, so now you’ve decided that a $10 frame from Walmart isn’t for you – and you have to decide what is for you. At the one extreme is museum framing with specific aesthetic features (e.g., framing and matting custom coordinated to match the print) and which will preserve the print for literally hundreds of years while still allowing the print to be viewed on display (as opposed to dark storage, which can conceivably preserve a print for thousands of years – but nobody gets to see it). At the other extreme is the aforementioned cheap framing from your local variety store; often, these cheap frames will actively deteriorate your prints.

You have to balance asthetics, cost, and the degree of protection – and somewhere in the middle is the flexibility to mat and mount your print as you see fit (e.g., off-center or in a non-standard frame) with archival materials which will both sufficiently preserve your print and look good on the wall. It’s this middle ground for which I strive.

With that in mind, a couple notes…

• I am not a framing expert, and any information presented here is probably suspect. This document is presented with absolutely no warranty or guarantee. If you decide to act on any of the information I provide here, you do so with the understanding that you’ll hold me blameless for any harm or loss which might occur through the application of any of this information. Straight up, XACTO knives and mat cutters are sharp and dangerous and framing materials are expensive. Taking on a framing project represents both financial and physical risks (at the extreme, conceivably even death). I’m not kidding; if you take on a framing project armed with the information provided here, you’re on your own.

 

• The information here is gleaned from over 30 web sites and 3 books. I’m a lazy bastard, so I’m not citing any of them. I’m not quoting any of them, either, so I fear not the copyright police.

 

• I don’t like metal frames, so to be quite honest, I haven’t even researched them. I know nothing about them, really. I’m going to talk here about wooden frames. I assume that some (perhaps large) part of this documentation will also apply to metal framing, but I don’t know that for a fact. Your mileage may vary.

 

• I’m a wannabe photographer; I frame photographic prints. I have little or nothing to say regarding the framing of other types of art (or even photos printed on older papers), and you should be advised that framing your kid’s 3rd-grade art project on construction paper will require some additional effort by comparison to modern professionally printed photographs. If not done correctly, construction paper – as just one example – will discolor and curl, even if framed in archival materials. If framing stuff other than modern photographic prints is what you want to do, then I encourage you to look elsewhere for information. I’ll get you started by telling you to research “deacidification”.

 

• Your goal should be to be able to put together a frame that will look good and, at a minium, that will do so without actively damaging the print. You are in control of what you’re willing to spend, how the finished frame will look, and how archivally safe it will be.

 

• My goal here is not to give you a step-by-step this-is-how-to-frame-your-print. Lots of web sites already have procedures posted, and how-to video tutorials on the topic literally abound on eHow and YouTube. What I found, however, is that while many sites detail the “how”, very few explain the “why” and even fewer tell you where to source the referenced tools and materials. With that all firmly in mind, my goal here is take apart the diagram at the top of this page, share what I’ve learned about each component, and point you towards appropriate associated online resources.

• In glazes, this means that (regardless of what I might say later in this article) you should be using UV-blocking materials and that you should be mindful of where you hang the frame relative to direct or strong sunlight.

 

• In mats, foam boards, and tapes, this means you should be using high quality materials that are both acid- and lignen-free. For mats and foam boards, I’ve found that only two manufactures make products that are affordable and accessible to end-consumers in the U.S.: Lodima with their “ArtCare System” and Crescent with their Conservation line of products. If your supplier doesn’t specify one of these brands, or doesn’t specify a brand at all, be suspicious. For tape, only one company’s name comes up time-and-time again: Lineco. You may be able to find other makes and brands of archival tape, but definitely do your research before purchasing anything else.

 

• In glues, this means that you need to go out of your way to find acid-free variations. Unlike mats and tapes, it seems like nearly all glue manufactures make at least one adhesive intended for use in art archiving. That is, acid-free glue from a variety of companies is easy to find.

 

• From a construction perspective, everything you do should be undoable. Most importantly, be mindful of how you mount the print itself; you should use only archival photo corners or tape hinges crafted from archival tape made specifically for the purpose (see Lineco, above). In short, nothing about how you build the frame should be permanent in nature. This is true whether you build the frame to last 3 years or 30, and either way, somebody is going to eventually need to reframe your print – and reframing can’t be done if the frame tear-down destroys the artwork.

1. It’s expensive; you have to front hundreds of dollars.

 

2. It’s a lot of moulding. Your situation may be different, but I don’t have room in my town home to store that much moulding.

Make sure you buy a frame with a sufficiently deep rabbet to hold the whole stack pictured at the top of of this page (as of this writing, PictureFrames.com has a good definition of “rabbet” if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Basically, you’re going to have to measure the width of all the components you’re going to stack inside the frame and make sure you get a frame that’s deep enough that all the pieces will fit with room to spare.

• I haven’t been able to find any documentation that suggests a minimum of excess (the distance between the back of your stack and the very back of the frame), but I’d guess that you don’t want any less than 3/16″. Less than that, and your points (I’ll talk about points later) are likely to split the wood.

 

• I also haven’t been able to find any documentation which suggests you can have too much excess rabbet. If in doubt, get a rabbet that’s over-the-top too deep.

Some of the sites and at least one book I dug into recommend that wooden frames should be sealed. This is usually done with tape (check out this picture at Blick’s to get an idea) or by painting the rabbet with clear acrylic sealer. The idea is to keep the wood – especially younger wood – from off-gassing acids and other harmful things into the frame’s interior. And that said, several of the sites I ran across indicated that such sealing is only necessary for the finest artwork being given the museum treatment, and even then it may be not be necessary. As always, and as I’ve stated elsewhere in this article, the truth is probably somewhere in between, right?

Go ahead and order a custom-sized frame. As of this writing, the half dozen or so online frame retailers I’ve checked charge at most a couple bucks (literally) more for custom frames than for standard-sized (presumably already built and in-stock) frames. My favorite retailer, in fact, charges less: $21.71 for a standard 20 x 24 frame of my favorite moulding vs. $21.60 for a custom 19 x 22 frame of the same moulding (yes, I know that’s more per inch of moulding, but the example still illustrates my point beautifully, so STFU).

Skip the hanging hardware kits offered up by the online retailers and head to your local hardware store instead. Not only will you save money, but you’ll quite possibly avoid ruining your frame. All of the online retailers I’ve checked put the same-size screw (the screw size varies from retailer to retailer) in all their hanging kits; the only thing that varies from kit-to-kit is the length of the included wire. If they ship you screws that are too big for your frame’s width, you’ll split the wood if you try to put them in – and if the screws are too long, the points will come through the front of the frame.

• The general consensus seems to be that plexiglass should be avoided for various reasons. That said, however, it would appear that “plexiglass” is another name for “acrylic”, and that both are names for PMMA. Many, many shops recommend acrylic and acrylic-based glazes, and many shops list acrylic as “acrylic (plexiglass)”, so I’m not sure where the disconnect is.

 

• Acrylic glaze is a lot lighter than and more shatter-resistant than glass. This means lower shipping costs, greater ease in hanging and handling, and peace of mind if you have kids of any age (my 16-year-old still throws balls in the house, WTF??).

 

• Acrylic does scratch more easily than glass, but if it’s hanging on your wall and you’re being careful with how you clean it (see below), what are the odds of it becoming scratched at all??

 

• Kodak’s metalic pearlescent, e-surface, and true-black papers are rated for 100 years under “home display” conditions (and 200 years in dark storage). If you are having your prints professionally done (i.e., not at the corner pharmacy), then – unless you intend to display your print in direct sunlight – you do not need UV-protective glaze. Note also that all but the most expensive UV-protective glazes will be slightly tinted – usually green – casting a hue distortion on your print. See a little further down for some additional observations on this topic.

 

• If lit correctly, anti-reflective glazing isn’t necessary either. Anti-reflective glazing – affordable reflective glazing, that is – will always reduce the clarity of the glaze, making your print look “fuzzy” (for lack of a better word).

 

• Some sites claim that acrylic and acrylic-based glazes will cloud with time; others claim that their acrylic glazes will remain cloud-free for decades. Who knows the truth?

 

• It would appear that glass cleaners like Windex(R) or Formula 409(R) should never be used on acrylic glazes. Instead, you should use a cleaner designed specifically for plastics; commonly recommended products are Novus #1(R) and Brillianize(R). On that same note, paper towels and newspaper should not be used for acrylic cleaning, either – and neither should a dry cloth. Instead, a soft cotton cloth or microfibre cloth should be used for the job, and it should be wetted with your cleaner first. Finally, acrylic is porous – so before you clean the acrylic at all, you should blow off as much dust as you can (e.g., with a vacuum or with canned air). Be mindful that you should always wet the cloth and not the acrylic; you don’t want drips to go down inside the frame!

I’ve looked at the glazes at 2 local frame shops. At one shop, the UV, anti-glare, and UV + anti-glare glass were all unacceptable. At the other (more expensive) shop, these same types of glazes had less impact on image viewing – but were still not acceptable. This week, however, I ordered glaze samples from my favorite online supplier and looked at them all against a white 4-ply mat and both black & white and color prints. Frankly, I was shocked. All 4 Acrylite(R) samples were acceptable. The 2 UV blocking glazes had a noticable yellow-green tint when I held them up to the light, but when put against the mat and print, I had to look hard to see it. The lesson learned? Get a sample before out-of-hand dismissal of UV-protecting glaze, and if you don’t like the way it looks, try another brand. If you can find a UV-protecting glaze with which you can live, your print will love you for it.

Finally, the most important thing to remember when selecting a glaze is that your goal is to preserve your print for maybe a couple decades and to make it look good on the wall while doing so. If you put the frame together correctly, you can always quickly and easily replace the glazing. If the glaze stops meeting your criteria for clarity or print protection for some reason (e.g., it shatters, clouds, or becomes scratched), simply replace it.

• Always use a mat. Never mount a print in direct contact with glaze. Photographic prints pressed against glass and glass-like substances will adhere to the material over time, and this will absolutely ruin your prints.

 

• With the above in mind, the window mat only needs to be thick enough to keep the print from touching the glaze. I’ve seen some 2-ply mats that do the job, but I don’t like the way 2-ply bevel-cuts; 4-ply grants some additional protection and, in my opinion, looks better. Generally speaking, 6- and 8-ply mats are overkill in terms of print protection, and so are generally selected for asthetic reasons.

 

• You don’t need to pop the big bucks for cotton rag. Cotton rag is used for museum framing intended to last longer than the couple of decades we’re targeting. Additionally, alpha-cellulose fiber mat is thought by most to perform as well as (or potentially better than) cotton rag.

 

• Obviously, whatever material you use should be both acid- and lignin-free. In the U.S., look for Crescent and Lodima product lines (note that Lodima is the new name for Bainbridge, and that Bainbridge is also known as Nielsen & Bainbridge).

 

• Invest in a mat cutter, and don’t skimp. You can get a nice Logan medium-sized cutter for about $200 – even less on sale. Logan’s mid-sized cutters will handle mats up to 40 x 40, and since standard raw matting is sized at 32 x 40, this means that one of these cutters will be capable of nearly any framing job you might throw at it. They’re also amazingly simple to use, and their web site is a treasure-trove of instructional and informational video and documentation. A cutter will quickly pay for itself – in my case, just 3 frames was enough to justify the purchase.

 

• Always buy raw uncut mat board and cut your mats yourself. Always. With a Logan bevel cutter, cutting a perfect mat is so simple even I can do it. A custom-cut 19 x 22 mat with an 11 x 14 hole costs only a couple bucks less than a raw board, and whoever does the cutting gets to keep the excess board – which is useful for mounting smaller prints (or, in the case of a retailer, selling as a smaller custom-cut mat)!

• Consensus seems to be that most prints should be attached to the front mat with a T-Hinge using acid-free cotton tape. This technique attaches the tape to the back of the print and the back of the (front) mat, allowing for remounting should it become necessary.

 

• Optionally, the print can be T- or V-Hinged to the Back Mat (see below) or dry mounted to a Back Board (see below) instead. I prefer a T-Hinge to the back mat, but your mileage may vary.

 

• Yet another alternative is dry mounting, which is basically gluing the whole print to a board – typically foamcore or gatorboard. Dry mounting is difficult to do correctly, and should only be done by a professional. If done incorrectly, dry mounting will absolutely ruin your print.

 

• Again, optionally, if the print is tape-hinged to the mat or the back mat, the mat and back mat themselves can – and should – be hinged together along one side – typically across the top. Doing so is arguably a good idea, as it can prevent nasty surprises – and possible damage to the print – if the frame is ever dismantled. The goal is to protect the print, right?

• The material doesn’t have to be thick or rigid.

 

• Since the material is going inside the frame, it doesn’t matter what it looks like – all that matters is that it be relatively impermeable, chemically inert, and acid-free.

 

• The piece should be cut to as exact a fit as possible to minimize the gap between the edge of the material and the side of the frame.

 

I did a lot of searching for thin mylar film or other material designed for this specific purpose (think search terms like “print framing impermeable layer thin film mylar”) – and came up almost dry. I did find a few plastics and photographic supplies retailers who will cut mylar to order or sell you rolls – but all are out-of-this-world expensive (hundreds or even thousands of dollars for shockingly very little of the stuff). After some thought, it occured to me that you can buy over-size print mylar and polypropylene protectors from literally hundreds of online retailers (not to mention your local comic book shop) – and these (polypropelene) protectors are dirt cheap, inert (for the most part – see below), acid-free, and easy to cut.

I found these cool 24 x 36 ClearBags(TM) which work perfectly. My favorite format is the 11 x 14 print in a 19 x 22 frame, so this size will cover the vast majority of my applications. Conceivably, for larger frames, you could pop the big bucks (they’ll sell you a roll of 42 x 42 bags for $176) or you could use ATG (see below) to knit a couple of these “smaller” pieces together.

One last note on this topic: if you go the route I’ve described here, be aware that these bags are made of polypropelene, not mylar. Similar mylar protectors are available, but are significantly more expensive. The reason that I’m noting this is that while polypropylene is exceptionally stable in – and recommended for – dark storage, mylar is more chemically stable and UV-resistant than polypropelene (in fact, Mylar-D is exceptionally UV-resistant). Polypropelene, on the other hand, is particularly susceptible to UV radiation – and releases acids as it breaks down under exposure (and, on a side note, will do the same thing at high temperatures). Since this layer is deep inside the dark bowels of the frame, however, polypropelene should work exceptionally well for this application. You would be well-advised to be mindful of how you store the stuff outside the frame.

• You can use rigid or flexible inserts. The flexible inserts will bend a number of times before breaking, which allows you to do a frame tear-down without having to remove the points. For large heavy frame projects, flexible inserts are inappropriate, as they’ll bend out under heavy load.

 

• I personally have a Logan F500-2 dual point driver, which fires both rigid and flexible inserts. It gets abysmal ratings, but my experience so far – knock on wood – has been that it works well. Your mileage may vary.

 

• As of this writing, you can see a good picture of both points and the Logan point driver (along with some really negative reviews) at amazon.com.

 

• Inserts can somewhat easily be removed with a pair of needle-nose pliers.

 

• As noted above, be certain that your rabbet is deep enough that when you thrust a point into it, you won’t split the wood. Frames are expensive, split frames fall apart, and prints damaged by a frame that has fallen apart may be irreplaceable. Feet cut open by shattered glaze are no fun, either. I’m just sayin’.

• kraft paper isn’t acid-free, and it will release acid into the frame over time. In theory, if you’ve used archival pieces everywhere else in the stack, this isn’t a huge deal – but dude, come on. You’re gonna use archival materials for all the other pieces and then throw a piece of crap regular paper on the back? Really??

 

• kraft paper isn’t lignin-free, and it will discolor and become brittle over time. After a couple years (or less), it’s going to have to be replaced. Again, I ask, if the goal is to preserve a print for a couple decades while making it look good on the wall, how the hell does brown kraft paper fit into the equation??

Right, so I went on a search for archival backing paper. This endeavor was almost as frustrating as trying to find suitable mylar for the impermeable layer. As it turns out, The Big Boys use Tyvek(R) and Tyvek-based products – and I, for one, can’t afford the stuff.

Only one company that I could find makes an affordable archival backing paper – Lineco. They sell the paper in 4 packages: three at 16″ x 72″, 20″ x 72″, and 24″ x 72″ and – get this – 36″ x 300′. That single quote isn’t a typo. 36 inches x 300 feet. The small packages (good for one to three frames) go for about $12 + tax and shipping from various online retailers; on average, they work out to about 0.8 cents per square inch. The 300′ roll goes for about $60 – which works out to about 0.04 cents per square inch. The 300′ roll is a no-brainer – and the smart guy would cut the stuff up and resell it in smaller sheets. In fact, Framing4Yourself.com appears to be doing just that. I ordered the 25-sheet package, and the stuff appears to be identical to the paper in the 20 x 72 package I found at the local hobby shop.

Once you have your paper, you need to attach it, right? This is most commonly done with 3M’s 908 acid-free adhesive and an Adhesive Tape Gun (ATG). Basically, you apply the adhesive to the back of the frame around the 4 edges (or however many edges your frame has) and overlapping at the corners so that when the paper is applied, a good seal is formed all the way around. Once the adhesive is down, you lay down the paper and then trim off the excess.

A couple notes:

• Lay the paper down on the glue first, and then trim it.

 

• The adhesive doesn’t allow for repositioning, so get the paper down right the first time, eh?

 

• The adhesive “tape” that goes into an ATG isn’t really tape – it’s adhesive, like a non-liquid glue, that’s attached to a paper tape. The ATG lays the adhesive down on the surface, and when it’s done, it’s very much like you just ran a bead of Elmer’s Glue – only the adhesive is archvially safe, it’s not liquid (so it won’t run), and it doesn’t require any cure time.

 

• It is possible to apply ATG adhesive by hand – I’ve done it – but doing so is messy and time-consuming. Buy the gun. No, really, buy the gun. You won’t regret it.

Finally, they make special knives for trimming the excess paper. I found a video that shows how to use the knife – it’s basically a beveled carpet knife that uses the outer edge of the frame as a guide to make the trim nice and straight. I also found a handful of sites and videos that mention the existance of such a knife. None of these sites and videos, however, mention the official name of the tool and neither do they tell you where you can buy one. The good news is you don’t need it; an XACTO knife, some patience, and some care will work just fine. Just be careful that you trim to the inside if the frame has an outer shell or treatment. Remember also that this is the back of the frame, and your trim doesn’t have to be perfectly straight; in theory, nobody will be looking at it, right?

• If the screws are too small, they won’t hold the frame.

 

• If the screws are too big, you’re going to split the frame.

 

• If the screws are too long, the points will come through the front of the frame.

And to be perfectly clear: yes, the screws go through the backing paper.

Finally, the bumpers are typicallly small pieces of rubber, silicon, or felt glued to the bottom corners of the back of the frame. These keep the frame from damaging the wall and, in the case of rubber or silicon, keep the picture from swaying off level.

• 3M’s 908 adhesive is the acid-free stuff, and
• you can get better prices for both the guns and the tape elsewhere.

How to hinge a print into a mat. This YouTube video is perfect!

 
This article last updated April 23, 2014.