Are Spacers Effective?

     Often when framing a collectable, custom framers will recommend the use of spacers to keep the glass away from your item.   Sometimes, even the use of a mat is suggested to accomplish the same task. First of all, if you are framing something of value, glass shouldn't be used at all. The most obvious downside of glass is that it is heavy and it can break. If breakage occurs, it is going to scrape or cut your item. The unobvious negative aspects of glass are that, for one, you can get moisture entrapment with glass and your item can stick to the face of it and thus ruin your item. Secondly, glass is a heat conductor and often makes paper brittle over time.  Most conservation framers use genuine UV filtered plexiglass, typically 1/8" thick.  Genuine plexiglass is not to be confused with lower grade plastics like styrene, lucite, PETG, or low grade acrylics. Genuine plexiglass is a high quality product and is very often extremely expensive in a retail store situation. Many sellers on the internet use the word "plexiglass" generically for anything that is plastic. That is not the case and they are usually using some low grade plastic that scratches easily, changes colors over time and can stick to the face of your items.

     Spacers are something that was designed to keep glass away from your collectable to stop the problem of moisture entrapment and sticking. Often someone has an autographed item and doesn't want the glass touching the autograph as the ink might stick to the face of glass. All in all, you can see, that the basic problem here is the use of glass in the first place. In addition, spacers are ineffective on larger items. Let's say you have an original movie poster that measures 27x41. It is not mounted to a hard material as "we never mount collectable items". If you frame that poster with a piece of glass or plexiglass with a spacer, you have left a 1/4" of spacer in front of your "non-mounted" poster. If you actually turn your frame sideways you will notice the whole middle of your poster is touching the glass or plexiglass. By leaving that spacer in front of your "non-mounted" item, it is able to warp into that spacer, sag and cause rippling to the poster that can only be fixed by expensive linenbacking and/or restoration or by mounting it to a hard material, such as foamcore or matboard, and again "we never mount original items" as it is considered a devaluation of the item in the hobby. Spacers are often a way that the cost of your frame job can be driven upwards, but if they don't work for your item, then why spend one cent on them. There are still framers that use matting as a spacer, but most mats are 1/8" thick and that is not holding your item away from whatever you are using in front of it. Again, if you turn the frame sideways, you will see your item touching the whole middle of the front product, especially the larger your item is.

     When you are using genuine UV filtered plexiglass, not plastic styrene, etc., you can actually lay the plexiglass right on top of your item. Genuine UV filtered plexiglass won't stick to your item, even if it has autographs on it. It is manufactured in such a way that you don't get the sticking or bonding problem you get with glass or low grade plastic products.

     I have done the framing for the Motion Picture and Television studios for over 20 years. In addition, I do the framing for many of the top collectors of original movie posters, music posters and other paper memorabilia all over the country. I write the articles that appear in books and on websites all over the world about framing collectables. You don't have to spend an arm and a leg, you just have to use certain materials.  We ship hundreds of wholesale custom made frames each month to Ebay customers to protect and display their items, whether they are valuable monetarily or just a sentimental keepsake. I always tell my customers, all that matters to the longterm preservation of your item is what's touching it in the back and what's touching it in the front. Please see my other articles on framing here on Ebay and, as always, feel free to contact me with any questions. I am always happy to help another collector. Happy Collecting!! Sue Heim  - Hollywood Poster Frames

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