Frame Destination Picture Framing

It can really be difficult to tell form internet web pictures if a particular picture frame moulding is right for your application. Even with color calibration, it is difficult to know how black a black frame is, or how a Cherry wood will look under your lightening conditions. If you house is like mine, it is not exactly the same light temperature as a typical studio strobe. To make it easier to get sample’s of the metal and wood moulding offered by Frame Destination, we have created a series of straight and corner sample pieces. The straight pieces are 6 inches long and an inexpensive way to hold and observe the actual moulding’s color and texture and shape. We also offer corner samples which are little more expensive since they involve considerably more labor on our part to create but can be invaluable when helping you or a prospective customer that may be purchasing frame photographs from you. You can see all of the samples here: Frame Corners Samples

Cheers,
Mark
http://www.framedestination.com/

Frame Destination has recently started using YouTube to add videos to our website. We get a lot of questions from our new customers about the assembly of our metal and wood picture frames. Although a picture is worth 1000 words, a video can be worth even more! We have created two videos that show the complete process from receiving one of our metal or wood picture frames to mounting your image, to final assembly, and installation of the hanging kit. The picture frames used in the videos are complete picture frame kits with metal or wood moulding, foamcore backing board, 4-ply mat board and acrylic glazing. The frame assembly videos have been added to our website in the section for frame assembly instructions. You can check them out here: Wood Picture Frame Assembly Instructions and Metal Picture Frame Assembly Instructions.

Cheers,
Mark
Frame Destination, Inc.

There are a number of differences between archival and non-archival versions of foamcore and these differences will vary between different manufacturers.

A general guideline is that regular foamboard and regular matboard are considered ok for temporary and/or very inexpensive framing. I am not a conservator, but I have heard that minor decay in the artwork will start to occur within 5 years. This will vary dramatically based on the type of framing components, the environment (light, temperature, humidity) of the frame package, the chemistry of the print, and type of mounting. Although some decay may occur, it may not be very noticeable without doing an A/B comparison with the original.

Archival mat board and foam board will usually have the following characteristics:
Composed of acid free material
Composed of lignin-free material
Buffered to help maintain the alkaline pH

Bainbridge has a Micro Chamber technology called Artcare™ that goes a step further and allows their archival products to actively absorb harmful components entering the framing package. This can be especially useful in the case of foamboard. Archival foam board will have an archival mounting surface to protect the print, but the foam in the center will out gas over time. The Bainbridge product will absorb this out gassing.

Cheers,
Mark
Frame Destination, Inc.

Frame Destination Inc. has partnered with Andrew Darlow of The Imaging Buffet to bring to market our new GalleryPouch™ Gold art bubble bags to solve the problem of safely transporting framed art and canvas gallery wraps to and from art galleries and art shows. Our best version of GalleryPouch™ Gold includes a resealable Velcro® flap. GalleryPouch™ Gold is available in over 100 standard sizes or full custom. They are available in square, rectangular and even tube shapes to help protect rolled canvas. We also offer the GalleryPouch™ Gold with just a flap and no Velcro® as a cost saving alternative. We have created a bubble bag help page with calculators to help you determine the size you need.

The GalleryPouch™ Gold is a premium bubble bag composed of heavy duty laminated 3/16 polyethylene bubble. The bubbles are sandwiched between two layers of durable polyethylene sheet to help protect the. The bag can be used over and over again to protect and transport art work. Our photography customers can also use the bags to help provide additional protection to portfolios or even tri-pods with the tube shaped GalleryPouch™ Gold.

Cheers,
Mark
President
Frame Destination, Inc.
http://www.framedestination.com

Frame Destination has recently added a couple of new standard frame sizes to our selection of FDI ready-made picture frames. The FDI picture frames were originally created to offer an inexpensive framing option for inkjet prints in non-standard sizes such as 8×12, 11×17, 12×18, 13×19, 17×22, and 17×25. Many people are using them for framing all kinds of other artwork so now we have rounded out the line with standard sizes 8×10, 8.5×11, 11×14, and 16×20.
These are black metal frames (our profile 2) with a smooth white 1/8 foamcore backing, and glass.

Of course if you need a different size you can just go to the frame kit section of our website. Just select “Frames” – “Complete Kit” from the top menu bar. Select “no mat”. That will bring you to our metal frame kit page for complete frames without a mat which include free hanging kits. You can select one of over 60 different sizes or select custom and create your own size. Then just select
Moulding Style: “Profile 2”
Mount Board type: “Foamboard Regular 1/8 inch”
Glass or Acrylic: “Glass”

Of course you can select other options if you want acid free or a mat. Profile 2 is not very tall so if you do want a mat then you will want to select “Profile 117” which looks the same from the front but has a deeper rabbet.

Cheers,
Mark

Frame Destination recently announced the addition of bulk or raw sheet mat board to our website. We now sell raw uncut matboard directly from the manufacturer for increased savings. These sheets are roughly 32×40 inches. Since we are not cutting them, we can pass on the labor savings to you. If you wish to cut the inside mat opening yourself, but would like to save time by having us cut the outside you can order blank mat board sheets that are cut down to one of our 60+ sizes. We can also cut the mating to a custom size.

Cheers,
Mark

Frame Destination, Inc. is happy to announce that we have added support for uncut mat board to our website under top menu “Components -> Uncut Mat Board”. Uncut mat board has no window cut in the center to display photographs or other artwork. This matboard is cut to specific size (except for 32×40 raw sheets). It is for people that like to cut their own custom size window openings, or for people that are float mounting and need a color matched backing board to mount the image to. It is also for people that just prefer to mount to matboard instead of foamcore mount board. The least expensive (per square inch) mat board size is our 32×40 raw sheet. It is uncut direct form the manufacturer. Since we have no cutting labor we can sell it for less, but please note, it will not be exactly 32×40 in size or square.

Of course we will offer this new product in standard frame sizes such as 16×20 and 18×24, but it is also available in many non standard sizes such as 12×18, 13×19 or 16×16. We have over 60 different sizes and you can also just select custom in the size pull-down and specify any size you need including large panoramic sizes.

We have three different types of uncut mat board:
4-ply Archival (acid and lignin free) Bainbridge Alphamat
8-ply Archival (acid and lignin free) Bainbridge Cotton Rag
4-ply Buffered Paper Mat Board

Cheers,
Mark
Frame Destination, Inc.

This is a mounting technique for when you just want to temporarily mount and image for transport and casual display, but not frame. Assuming you are printing the image yourself, leave about a 1 inch white paper border around the image. Use photo corners to mount it to foamcore that is little larger than the image and then shrinkwrap the entire package. The photo corners will keep the image centered on the foamcore and the shinkwrap will keep it from bowing out of the photo corners and protect it from finger prints. If the foamcore is larger than the paper, minor dings should only hurt the foamcore and not the image.

Cheers,
Mark

Picture Frame Dimensions can be very confusing since there are lots of different types of dimensions used in picture framing. Artwork size is the size of the print that you want to frame. It may or may not be the size of the image. You can print a 12×18 image on 13×19 paper. The artwork size is 12×18 but the paper size is 13×19. Frame size typically refers to the size of the glass the frame will hold. An 11×14 frame should have an inside dimension a little larger (normally 1/8 inch) so that 11×14 glass and backing will fit inside the frame without binding. If you use a mat to add borders around the artwork it will increase the size of the frame. A common mat for 11×14 artwork has 2-1/2 and 3 inch borders creating a frame size of 16×20. Although the mat is for 11×14 artwork, it will not have an opening that size. Most off the shelf mat boards will be cut 1/2 inch smaller so that the mat will overlap the artwork by about 1/4 inch all 4 sides. Custom frame companies and most Frame Destination picture mat boards are cut 1/4 inch smaller so they will not cover up as much of the photo. The mat opening should never be the same size as the artwork. If you do not want any of the artwork covered up you can do what is called float mount and use a matboard that is larger. Such mat openings will often be cut 1/2 to 1 inch larger so there will be a gap between the artwork and the image of at least 1/4 inch. In that case either paper (if the paper is larger than the image) or the mounting board will be exposed. Care must be taken to ensure the exposed border is an appropriate color for the overall picture frame presentation.

Cheers,
Mark

A common question from those new to framing is glass vs acrylic for the picture frame glazing. Glass is used almost exclusively for inexpensive off the shelf ready-made frames because it is cheap and acrylic is used almost exclusively by mail order or internet framing companies because it won’t break during shipping. At Frame Destination we sell both glass and acrylic but we limit the size of glass we ship to 20×24 inches to help reduce the chance of shipping damage. Acrylic is also lighter than glass which reduces the shipping cost. Custom frame shops will mostly use glass unless the frame is larger than 32×40. For large work they will tend towards acrylic because the glass gets very heavy at those sizes and you have to give extra attention to making sure the frame can handle it. The wall hanging hardware also has to be able to handle the extra weight. Museums prefer acrylic over glass because if the glass breaks it can slice and destroy rare artwork. Some galleries prefer acrylic due to reduced liability. Glass has a green tint due to the iron content unless you purchase a higher end water white or museum glass which costs more than acrylic. The drawbacks to the acrylic are increase cost over standard glass, lack of scratch resistance, and static charge. For a more comprehensive break down of the pros and cons of both, see glass vs acrylic on the frame information section of our website.

Cheers,
Mark