and Bespoke Picture Framing
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Picture Framing - the basics
To most people, a picture frame is 4 pieces of mitred wood, a piece of glass and a backboard.
It might be elsewhere, but not at Just Paintings.
So what is the primary purpose of picture framing?
Surprisingly it is not to enhance the item, but to preserve it.
The Fine Art Trade Guild have laid out a set of standards for picture framing. They have 5 levels;
Minimum - putting economy first (as described above)
Budget - visually pleasing (a mount is added but no long term protection)
Commended - a degree of protection (a backing card is inserted between the back of the image and the backing board and the mountboard must be acid free)
Conservation - helping preserve the artwork (the quality of materials must be to a conservation standard)
Museum - ultimate protection for artwork (only rag mountboards can be used and the image must be protected with UV control glass).
Virtually all our framing is completed to a Commended or higher level, as the extra material cost is only minimal e.g. all tapes touching the artwork have non-drying permanent adhesive on an acid free carrier paper, but are also water-soluble. These tapes are 3 to 4 time more expensive per roll, but the quantity used means only a few pennies extra per picture. Very few picture framers use these tapes all the time, but you will only find out when it is too late. When we are using special materials to preserve an image this is printed on a label fixed to the back of the frame.
All valuable artwork and photographs under glass are mounted with Bainbridge mountboards, manufactured in America to the most exacting standards to offer the best long term protection with light fast and bleed proof surface papers. These properties are not as good in cheaper mountboards and has been scientifically tested.
Glass should never touch the image as this can cause mould growth if there are large temperature or humidity changes in a room. The use of a mount is the normal way to create an air gap, but we can also use other inert spacers. A mount can also be made decorative in many ways with ruled lines, wash lines or fancy cutting.
Float glass is our standard glass rather than drawn glass as it is flatter and has fewer imperfections.
Non-reflective glass can be fitted, but we do not recommend this as it makes an image fuzzy and flat.
Ultra violet control glass provides almost total ultra violet protection to prevent fading in direct sunlight.
Ultra violet reflection control glass provides the UV protection but the outside face has been acid etched to stop reflections.
For places where glass is a risk, we can use a clear plastic. There are 2 drawbacks compared to glass, firstly it is highly static charged and attracts dirt, secondly the surface is softer than glass and scratches easily.
Other glass we can obtain includes acid etched reflection control glass and optically clear UV reflection control glass used in museums.
Just Paintings are always happy to advise on the best way to frame any item.