Glass vs. Acrylic for Photography Framing
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
