Matting and Framing a Work of Art The Anatomy of a Picture

Knowledge of the basics, as well as a few rules of thumb, can be very helpful when purchasing supplies to mat or frame your own work, or even when employing someone else to do it for you. With this in mind, to give you more familiarity with frames and the frame buying process, let’s look at the various components of a picture frame.

Four Decisions: Frame, Mat, Mounting Board and Glass When purchasing a frame, whether on-line or in a store, you will be making four separate decisions. These are selecting the 1) actual frame, 2) the colored matting, 3) the backing material to which the artwork is attached and 4) the glass. Figure 1 shows each of these components in the order in which they are placed into a frame. Each of them have unique characteristics that are useful to understanding when buying a frame.

Decision 1 - Selecting the Actual Frame The best quality frames are made of either metal or wood. Wooden frames usually have a warmer, more inviting and traditional look. This is desirable for certain pieces of artwork such as a painting, a rich color photograph or a heirloom piece.

In contrast, metal frames, with their straight edges and sharp corners, tend to portray a bolder and more contemporary, even industrial look. Metal frames are commonly used for black and white photography and other modern media.

The best advice is to match the frame to the type of artwork that you are presenting. If it is a piece that has a history to it, matching the frame to the time period in which it was created is a good rule of thumb.

Step 2 - The Mat Boards The second, and probably most complex step in purchasing a frame, is making a decision about the matboard to use. The matboard is the colored material which is placed between the artwork and the glass. Its primary purpose is to put an air space between the glass and the artwork so that the two do not stick to each other over time. A secondary purpose of matting is to create a border between the frame and the artwork, thereby drawing the viewer’s eye inward, towards the piece.

There are 3 distinct decisions to make with regards to matting. These are deciding upon a quality grade, the number of layers and which color(s) to use.

Selecting the Grade -Grade refers to how well the mat materials will preserve the artwork over time. Preservation is measured by the acidity level (pH-value) in the mat. The more acidic the material the quicker the mat and the artwork will deteriorate over time.

The good news is that all grades of modern matting materials are greatly less acidic than their ancestors of 20 years ago. Matting is made either with wood pulp (trees) or with cotton. Wood pulp is naturally acid rich and therefore needs to be coated or chemically treated to either remove acidity or at least slow the process down. Cotton in comparison is naturally acid free and these mats provide the very best preservation quality. Their downside, as you might have guessed, is that cotton mats are double or sometimes triple the cost of wood-pulp based mats.

Let’s divide matboard into 3 different grades: Decorative (good), Select (better) and Ragmat (best).

Decorative is considered a minimal level of artwork protection. It is made with wood-pulp and is coated with special chemicals to slow the damage caused by acidity. However, this mat will unlikely last over 5-7 years and does have acid in it’s materials. It is suitable for replaceable art such as photos, or art that is not required for the long-term, such as the presentation of school projects that will be replaced in the future.

Select grade is a much better level of conservation matboard and it is the workhorse of the framing industry. Although it is also made from acidic wood pulp, it is chemically treated to reduce acidity when the pulp is still in liquid form. This grade of matting is suitable for a basic level of conservation framing for items such as limited editions and reprints. Although it still will have some acid in it’s core, it will last longer and often has a layer of acid free paper over it so as to give minimal protection to your work.

Ragmat, is the best level of matboard from a conservation point of view. It is made from 100% cotton and therefore naturally acid-free. Cotton is a time tested material (the Egyptians used cotton) that will preserve any piece for generations to come. The drawback of cotton-based mats is that they are fairly expensive.

How Many Mats? - Quantity refers to the number of mats that are layered inside of the frame. For starters, nowhere is it written that a frame must have matting. It is quite acceptable to not use any matting at all. The only consideration is that some kind of spacer will be needed so that the artwork does not touch the glass. Over time, any contact will result in the two sides sticking to on another when natural moisture and temperature changes occur.

In a vast majority of framing projects, a single mat works quite well. Framers sometimes like to layer different colored mats to create a visual border. This is done by placing one mat over the other, the bottom one being slightly larger than the top one in order to create a small border.

Color Options - Mats are available in numerous shades of every color in the rainbow, including gold, silver, white and black. The best color is the one that looks good to you and does not distract from the work of art itself. Afterall, that is the most important thing, the art.

If you are having a hard time deciding, it may be useful to know that many professionals simply use an off-white color as a boarder. Such neutral colors will not overemphasize the matting and distract the eye from the artwork.

Step 3 - Mounting Board Once you have selected the matting, the decisions become much more straightforward. Mounting board, also called foam board, is the back of the frame and it is what the artwork is supported by. Some people actually attach the artwork to the mounting board, others attach the art to the window mat and use the mounting board to support the work from behind. Sometimes cardboard is used as a mounting board, but many framers recommend against this because cardboard is very acidic and will quickly yellow the artwork.

Step 4 -Glazing The last step is to choose what kind of glass, or glazing, you would like on your frame. Glazing is the cover that protects everything in a frame. As with matting, glazing is optional and certainly not required. Of course, without glazing the artwork will be readily exposed to any temperature and humidity changes, but this is more important for some pieces than others.

Standard framing quality acrylic or glass which is great for the average framer.

Anti-glare glazing which will reduce glare from light bulbs or natural light.

Ultra violet reducing glazing which will prohibit UV rays from penetrating the glass.

Now...How do I cut the mat?

Start by determining the size of the mat’s window. This will be affected by how you choose to present the artwork in the window of the mat. You usually have three choices.

-You could show only the image in the window of the mat. -You could show the image and some of the border area surrounding the image (assuming a blank area surrounds the image). -You could show the paper complete; ie, show the edges of the paper.

If you choose to show only the image or if the image bleeds to the edges of the paper, the customary approach is to allow the edges of the mat’s window to overlap the edges of the image by ¼” on each side. Since there are two sides to each dimension (one on either side of the width and one on either side of the height) the window can be determined by subtracting a half inch from the height and width of the image.

This is an example of what your math might look like when figuring out your overall size along with the size of your boarders:

When you are measuring to include a blank area surrounding the image it’s a simple matter of measuring out the area of the image and its surrounding border that you wish to show in the window of the mat.

If you want to show the paper complete, measure the paper and the amount of additional space surrounding the paper; ie, the distance between the edges of the paper and the edges of the mat’s window, and this will be your mat’s window size. One more consideration...

The question of whether your mat should have a wider bottom border is an aesthetic one. One rule of thumb is that compositions with distinct horizon lines are enhanced by wider bottom borders while those without are better presented in mats where all four borders are the same.

If you wish to have a wider bottom border, you can add it to your measurements. For example, you might have three borders of 1¾” and a bottom border of 2¾”.

And Finally...

What are safe places to hang or store art works? • Avoid hanging or storing anything in the basement, attic, or any other place with extremes in temperature and humidity. A stable, cool, dry environment is best. • Avoid hanging pieces on outside walls, but if you must, request that a moisture barrier be placed in the mat package. • Avoid hanging objects in direct sunlight or any other intense light source. Control exposure to ultra violet light through glazing or placement away from a UV source. Occasionally rotate framed objects to cut down on the duration of light exposure. • Avoid hanging framed objects directly above working fire places or radiators.