Glass
is the protective layer to stop dirt being absorbed into the
paper of a watercolour or print. An air gap is essential to stop
mould development. Normally this is done with mountcard, but the gap
can be created using a wood or plastic spacer or additional small
moulding if the frame needs to be kept as small as possible.
Mounts are precision
cut with bevel cuts to the image aperture. They can be single thickness
or multiple layers where cream coloured top mounts normally look
best with darker colours beneath. The use of fancy corner cuts (1)
can compliment many images. For a crisp clean modern look then cover
the bevel with a gold (2), silver or black c-slip. Some images
look best with deep bevels (3) or floating mounts (pastels require
an 8mm air gap to stop static electricity lifting the pastel powder
off the paper).
Simple decorative finishes include V-grooves
(4) cut into the surface of the board (looks best on black core mountcard)
or ruled lines. For the traditional look then a washlined mount
(5) cannot be surpassed. Washline mounts can only be created
by hand using artist grade watercolour and colour matched to the image
- some picture framers cheat by using a printed tape. A variation
is to use a decorative paint finish in the wash area as different
effects can be created like stippling or malachite.
