Conservation of Works on Paper

Perhaps the safest and easiest way to store your prints is when they are properly framed.  A well framed print is a sealed package that not only shows off your print, but protects it from most of the things that can harm it.

(There are several good guides on eBay Guides and Reviews about framing.  “Conservation of Works on Paper” is a four-part guide that gives more information: not to make you a framer, but to make you a better consumer. Part 1 talks about what can go wrong and why. Part 2 talks about the anatomy of framing. Part 3 talks about the over matted print. Part 4 is a check list, worksheet, and tips.)

A properly matted and framed work goes a long way to reducing much that can injure it, and good matting and framing enhance the presentation. The frame, glazing, and backing form a protective case, sealing your image on all sides. It is important to understand, however, that you will not be able to seal out changes in humidity, within six months even the best framed works will have shifted to a drier or wetter environment. What you’re hoping to do is to slow down and minimize the changes.

Some of the problems with improper matting and framing are difficult to catch because the work is sealed up in the frame. You are unlikely to take your framed work apart when you get home with it. Therefore, ask for archival matting and framing. Parts 2 and 3 of this guide will tell you what that means. (If you do have to take your framed work apart, if the work is held in place with corner mounts, it can be removed without damaging the art or its mat; therefore, don’t allow your framer to glue or tape the window mat to the backing or mounting board.)

[Ebay Guides have a different image limit, 200X200 pixels, and images cannot be stitched back together.  This is the best that can be done, given these limitation.]

A Properly Framed Print Without a Window Mat

A Properly Framed Print With a Window Mat

Frames: There is a wide variety of frame material in metal and wood. Most common metal frames don’t gas off, so are safer for the art work.  As we noted in Part 1, the problem with some paper is that it is made from wood pulp, which suffers from acidification and become brittle and yellow over time. The culprit is wood—wood just as in wood frames. Materials like wood, or most plastics, gas off: harmful compounds are emitted from the material itself and migrate, in this case, inside the framed package to the very artwork you are trying to protect. The advantage of wood frames is that they come in more varieties and are more common. To minimize the problem of gassing off, have the inside edges of the frame painted with several coats of an acrylic sealer before framing the work.

Glazing: Window glass is less expensive than acrylic. It has a slight greenish cast. Glass is more susceptible to condensation, and is, of course, breakable. Acrylic is lighter than glass, and relatively unbreakable, but it scratches easily and because it tends to build up an electrostatic charge, unsuitable for pastels and charcoals, and it attracts dust. There are UV filtering acrylic and glasses. Some of the museum glass—UV filtering, anti-reflective, even shatter resistant—are stunning, although expensive. Simple anti-reflective glass is lightly frosted, and usually detracts from the image. 

It has become something of a style to frame works without glazing. Even works coated with UV acrylic sprays are not as well protected as work behind glass or acrylic. The glazing prevents food, water, and oils (environmental hazards from cooking, eating, children and big children) from touching the print. It prevents your aunt’s fingernail from scraping over the image when she explains why you shouldn’t have bought that print.

Two problems with glazing, condensation and an electrostatic build up, are reduced by spacing the surface of the print away from the inside surface of the glazing. Most frame shops can insert acrylic spacing material between the glazing and work, or they can over mat the work, see Part 3 of this article.

Backing: This is a piece of material that fills the space between the backside of the back board and the back edge of the frame. It provided stiffening. It should not be cardboard, nor should it be unsealed wood. There is usually a piece of paper glued or taped over this, sealing the back of the frame. Not only does the paper give a neat and finished appearance to the framed piece, but it seals out insects and dust. Ideally, there should be a plastic or metal (foil) membrane between the back of the back board and the backing, or it could be the backing itself. A nonporous barrier retards the effects of humidity changes.

We sell prints and this is the advice we give our customers.  Then next part of the picture is how to over mat the print. 

To read our other guides click: Guide.