Frame Destination Picture Framing

Dimensions for mat board openings can be very confusing. It is very counter intuitive, but the opening of a mat board should never be the same size as the photograph or print being framed. Usually it is a little smaller and sometimes it is larger, but not the same. Most pre-cut mats are cut 1/2 inch smaller than the photo print. That allows the mat to overlap the image by 1/4 inch on both sides. That brings up another confusing issue. If you want 1/4 of overlap the mat window must be cut 1/2 inch smaller and not 1/4 inch smaller because there are two sides. Personally I think 1/4 inch is too much overlap and so do most custom framers so the default for prints that are smaller than 18×24 is 1/8 inch overlap on Frame Destination pre-cut mats. For example, an FDI mat for 11×14 print would be cut to 10-3/4” x 13-3/4”.

Sometimes people will do what is called float mounting where the mat opening is larger than the image being framed. This is done to ensure that no part of the image is covered up and also to allow for a signature below the image. When doing this it is common to leave a 1/4 to 1/2 inch gap between the image and the mat board for the top and sides of the print. That means that width of the mat opening will be 1/2 to 1 inch larger than the image. When leaving room for a signature the bottom gap will usually be 1/2 to 1 inch. That results in the height of the mat being 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches larger than the visible part of the image.

Cheers,
Mark
Frame Destination, Inc.

We recently added a couple of new products. Lineco Photo Tabs are an acid free archival double sided adhesive used to permanently mount photos and other items into an album or scrapbook. They are safe for inkjet prints and photographs and passed the Photo Activity Test.

Photo corners are a great archival photo mount for picture framing since they allow you to do your photo mounting without any chemicals coming into contact with your picture. Not all photo corners are created equal. Make sure you do not use photo corners that contain PVC plasticizers or acidic compounds. The two most common types of archival quality picture corners are made from polyester film, more commonly know as Mylar (Dupont Mylar Type D) and polypropylene.

Mylar Photo Corners are the first choice of museums and provide the clearest plastic. Polypropylene Photo Corners are not as clear as Mylar but are also inert, acid-free, safe and also widely used for mounting. Polypropylene corners also cost about half as much as Mylar photo corners.

Plastic clarity and archival ability are more of a consideration for photo albums and sleeves since photo corners are generally not visible in photo frames and have little contact with the print. I have read that Mylar is good for centuries and Polypropylene is good for decades (I have not verified this). When storing prints under plastic care should be taken to keep the relative humidity below 80% other wise the print can stick to the plastic. This is more of an issue with the albums since photo corners to not have much contact with the print and typically and may only cover the white border if available.

Mylar, Polypropylene, and Polyethylene are all safe plastic materials and they are all odorless. This is a good indication they are not out gassing harmful chemicals. If you have your prints stored in plastic albums or sleeves that you are not certain about, a quick test is to simply smell them. An example of a harmful plastic smell is that of a shower curtain.

An alternative to photo corners is Mylar See-Thru Mounting Strips. They are used to mount the edges of the artwork instead of the corners.

Cheers,

Mark

I love photography and since I own a picture frame company that caters to photographers I get questions just about every day about how to mount photographs. I have created a picture frame info webpage that provides an overview of just about all of the various picture frame mounting techniques and has some in-depth descriptions and pictures of some archival methods that are inexpensive and very easy to do at home. I included info on everything from dry mounting to archival t-hinging. Most importantly I included pictures. When trying to explain a t-hinge mounting technique, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words. The page also has some info about different types of acrylic for frames and some info about gallery style picture framing. It is a work in progress so I would love to hear feedback about what else I should add or mistakes.

http://www.framedestination.com/picture_frame_mounting.html

Cheers,

Mark