Please click on the links below for more information about custom picture framing:
Why Custom Framing?
What is Conservation Framing?
All Glass is not Created Equal
What You Should Know About Light and Your Artwork
Framing Photography
How to Properly Hang Your Artwork
Free Art "Check-Ups"
Why Custom Framing?
Have you ever wondered about the many jobs that a professional framer performs when it comes to your treasured works of art and precious memories?
When you have a piece of art, a photograph or an item that you want framed, you have several options as to how to go about getting it done. With a photo, you can easily buy a ready-made photo frame at almost any store. For a poster or print, many retail stores offer standard poster frames that are available in a variety of colors and sizes to fit your décor. As an alternative, you could also visit one of the many "do-it-yourself" framing centers where, with the help of employees, you can cut your own mat and build your own frame.
With all these options available, why are you considering custom framing?
Designing Your Framing Package
Although a good artistic eye is something that can't be taught, there are certain rules of custom framing which lead to good design that can. When followed, these guidelines, well known to your custom framer, produce a beautiful, well-balanced framing presentation that enhances the work of art without overpowering it.
For example, did you know that the width of the mat border should never match the width of the frame? This tends to draw the eye away from the art they surround. Or that a poorly placed decorative element, such as a French line, can detract from the beauty of the finished package?
Good design based on commonly accepted framing principles is one of the many reasons to custom frame.
Protecting Your Artwork
Perhaps the best reason to custom frame your personal and well-loved works of art is that a professional picture framer has the skills and materials necessary to preserve and protect them as closely as possible to their original condition. Acid- and lignin-free mat and mount boards contain no impurities which can damage the art they surround. Special UV-filtering glazing such as Tru Vue® Conservation Glass can be used to protect art from the irreversible damage caused by light exposure.
Professional picture framers have the training and skills required to use these materials to beautifully present your treasured items in a way that will not only enhance their appearance, but also protect them for your enjoyment for years to come.
Why A Custom Framer?
If you were planning to build a new home for your family, would you ask the person working in the lumber department of your local home improvement store to draw up the plans? Or, if you were sick, would you ask the checkout person at your drug store to diagnose and treat your illness? Probably not.
The same reasoning applies to your decision to use a custom framer's services. A professional picture framer is a person who has been formally educated to know how to preserve, protect and beautify works of art, regardless of their known value. Many hold the professional degree of Certified Picture Framer or CPF. This notation can only be used with one's name after a rigorous, standardized test has been passed. CPF is to framing as Dr. is to medicine.
What is Conservation Framing?
Specifying Conservation Framing is an important form of insurance for your valuable artwork, keeping it as lovely as it is today for your enjoyment for years to come.
As consumers, we have our valuables framed for a number of different reasons.
Sometimes we frame an item to create an attractive decoration for our home. On the other hand, sometimes we frame the very things we value most — whether that be commercial or sentimental value — in order to protect them from damage.
What is Conservation Framing?
Put simply, Conservation Framing employs the use of materials that have been proven to protect and maintain art in as close to its original condition as possible.
When should I ask for Conservation Framing?
Value is, at best, a subjective thing. If it’s worth framing, it’s worth protecting.
How can I be sure that I am getting Conservation Quality?
Let your framer know that you want Conservation Framing employed on your project. Specifically, request the following:
1. Specify Tru Vue ® Conservation glass with UV protection.
Ultraviolet light rays are one of the most dangerous elements that your artwork can encounter. It will not only cause your colors to fade to a mere shadow of their former glory, but will cause the materials themselves to begin to break down right in the frame.
Conservation Quality picture framing glass is specially formulated to protect framed works of art from the damaging effects of ultraviolet light. By specifying conservation glass, you are insuring that at least 98% of these most damaging light rays are filtered out before ever coming into contact with your valuables.
2. Specify Conservation Quality Matboard.
Ordinary pulp-based matboard contains acids and lignins, which, over a period of time, damage the artwork they come in contact with.
When going over your matboard options with your framer, ask him or her to show you only conservation quality matboard. Conservation quality matboard is free of all acids, lignins and other impurities found in ordinary “pulp” matboard. The result is an inert or pH neutral board which will cause no damage to the artwork it encases as time goes by.
3. Request a careful adherence to proper conservation techniques for mounting the artwork (sometimes called “hinging”) and sealing your artwork.
The framer you patronize should be fully versed in the specifics of conservation hinging. Be sure to impress upon him or her how much the piece means to you, and demand that proper conservation standards be upheld.
But even if a piece has value of a more personal nature, it may deserve Conversation Framing. Most pieces we bring to a framer should be framed with conservation in mind. As a rule of thumb, if the item you are framing is an irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind photograph, document or piece of memorabilia, or if it is an original work of art or a limited edition, it should be framed using conservation techniques and materials.
The cost premium for Conservation Framing is marginal — and certainly well worth it.
Where do I go to receive Conservation Framing?
The framer that posted this information did so because he or she believes in and practices Conservation Framing. It is important that you entrust your valuable framing projects only to a trained professional who cares about the conservation process, has experience and the necessary skills and techniques, and who is committed to using high quality conservation materials throughout your entire project.
All Glass is not Created Equal
The single most important step you can take to protect your framed artwork from harmful UV light rays is to specify the use of Conservation glass featuring UV protection.
What are you really buying when you use the services of a custom framer?
Talent... yes, and the knowledge and ability to select the proper framing materials for your particular project. This means helping you choose the right colors, the right frame style, and most importantly, the right materials to protect your art, photo or memorabilia. There’s the matboard, the frame, the backing board and the mounting materials to consider. And of course, the glass. And glass is glass, right? Wrong. All glass is not created equal. In order to preserve, protect and get the most out of your artwork, you have some choices to make. And with a little knowledge, those choices will be very easy.
What determines the glass I should use?
Your custom framer should help you select the right glass for your project. The very fact that you are having this item framed denotes its value to you. The best choice for any framed item is to use glass featuring UV protection.
Many framers are conditioned against using reflection control glass. This is the result of the poor quality glass that has traditionally been available. These low-tech “non-glare” glasses have a highly frosted appearance because they are etched on both sides. The resulting fuzziness and distortion created dissatisfaction among many framing customers, which soured framers on the idea of reflection control.
Conservation Reflection Control glass employs etching on only one side, eliminating the reflection problem with only a subtle softening of clarity. (This “soft focus actually enhances some images such as portrait photography and impressionist landscapes, where an atmospheric effort is desirable.)
Ask your framer to see a sample of Conservation Series ® Glass over your artwork and judge it for yourself. The most important thing to remember when framing your artwork is to consult with your custom framer. The more he or she knows about your project the better they are able to use materials that will ensure your enjoyment for years to come.
What is Conservation Glass?
We’ve all heard about the dangers of ultraviolet light rays — particularly to organic materials. Exposure to UV light causes organic material to break down. This is visible in the form of fading colors and embrittlement and yellowing of the materials that bear the artwork. These effects, once started, are cumulative and irreversible.
The best way to preserve your art is to protect it from exposure to UV light from the outset. For starters, don’t hang your art in direct sunlight or light it with fluorescent light. Ask your framer to use Conservation Quality Glass, such as Tru Vue ® Museum Glass ®, the highest quality glass available.
Museum Glass effectively blocks a minimum of 98% of the dangerous UV light — protecting your artwork without affecting the visible light spectrum so your colors show truly as nice in a year as they do the first day you frame them.
What You Should Know About Light and Your Artwork
The Blessing and Danger of Light
Without light there would be no art, as light is what allows us to see and appreciate color. It is one of the great ironies that the very thing that lets us enjoy color also works to destroy it.
Have you ever seen a faded gum wrapper, lying in the sun, bleached to a mere fragment of its original color? Perhaps the paper had become brittle as well — ready to break apart at the touch of a finger. The damage you saw was caused by the sun … specifically, the sun’s damaging UV, or ultraviolet light rays.
Ultraviolet light rays are the same villains that your doctor warns you about. They cause breakdown whenever they come in contact with organic materials, burning noses, bleaching gum wrappers and ruining your son’s first finger painting. The damaging effects of UV light on artwork are cumulative and irreversible.
UV Protection for Your Artwork
All this talk about invisible UV light rays would seem to spell certain doom for artwork, but thankfully that is not the case. A proprietary development in glass technology by Tru Vue ® has resulted in a product called TruGuard ® UV Protection, a coating which effectively blocks out a minimum of 98% of all harmful UV rays.
The cost premium for using Conservation Glass is minimal, and the benefits of its use cannot be ignored. Tru Vue ® offers four types of glass available with TruGuard ® UV Protection.
All four types block a minimum of 98% of harmful UV light rays.
MUSEUM GLASS ® Anti-reflective technology with UV blocking properties
CONSERVATION PERFECT VUE Proprietary technology improves transmission and clarity
CONSERVATION REFLECTION CONTROL ® Single-sided etched non-glare
CONSERVATION CLEAR ® Essential for conservation framing
Proper Lighting Techniques
· Choose subdued lighting effects that will not reflect into the glass, especially when you are not using reflection control products.
· Add a sense of atmosphere by using wall lights or sconces on either side of your framed piece.
· Add emphasis to framed pieces by adding individual picture lights — see your framer for details.
· Do not hang your valuable artwork in direct sunlight. Even with protective UV-blocking glass, prolonged exposure to the sun’s heat can destroy your art.
· Use incandescent bulbs to light your work. Incandescent lights have only 4% of their rays in the damaging UV range. (Fluorescent lights, on the other hand, have a high concentration of UV rays and should not be used to light your work.)
· Illuminate your art at the lowest light level possible for enjoyment.
Unfortunately, the sun is not the only source of harmful UV light rays. All light sources, whether natural or artificial, have some of their components in the ultraviolet range. The most drastic visual effect of exposure to UV light is the dramatic fading of colors — especially those colors that contain red.
Other effects include the yellowing and/or bleaching of paper fibers, sizing dyes, brighteners and fillers. Some pigments may experience the opposite effect and actually darken to black when exposed to UV light. The materials that make up your artwork — the paper or fabric, on which the image is displayed, may become brittle. Photos may appear yellow or stained with ghostly silver deposits rising to the surface.
Once damage from UV light has occurred, it can never be reversed. That’s why it is important for you to understand what you can do to prevent this type of damage in the first place.
Framing Photography
Your most precious photographic memories should be given the same treatment and protection that a piece of fine artwork receives.
Some of life’s most precious memories are captured in the photographs that we take: a child’s first birthday, your parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party, your daughter’s wedding portrait. Yet, more often than not, we display these memories by simply placing the photo in a frame or sticking them on the pages of a self-adhesive album. While this treatment is appropriate for most snapshots, your truly special photos, especially those with historical merit or those that may be irreplaceable, deserve so much more. That’s where your custom framer can be of assistance.
Special Characteristics of Photography
The very nature of your photographs will dictate how they must be framed. Some photos are printed on papers which do not take well to regular heat-activated mounting techniques. Others, especially antique photos, are very sensitive to alkaline-based framing materials and therefore must be mounted and matted using special non-buffered boards.
All photos should be framed using conservation quality matboard or glass spacers. This will ensure that the photo emulsion does not touch the glass. If it does, temperature and humidity changes may cause it to stick. This can potentially ruin the image.
Bring the Memories to Life
Photographs can really bring back the memories and feelings of a special time. Why not add an extra element to your memories by placing a treasured memento in a shadowbox presentation with the photo?
For instance, a photo of your son’s high school graduation can be brought to life when paired with his mortarboard and tassel. Or your daughter’s dance recital portrait will do a grande jeté when framed with her ballet shoes and a program from the event.
These are just a few examples that can help to enliven your still shots. Ask your custom framer to help you find the special touch that will bring your picture-perfect memories to life!
Lacquering - vs - Glazing
Many times, a photographer will recommend that you lacquer a photo in order to protect it. This process is accomplished by applying coating directly onto the photographic image. The lacquer seals the photo against dirt, moisture, and in certain cases, ultraviolet light damage. While this does protect the photo to an extent, it also causes a permanent change to the image. In years to come, the lacquer may yellow or crack, thus ruining the photograph.
A protective measure that is more in keeping with the methods of Conservation Framing is the use of UV-blocking glass which effectively blocks a minimum of 98% of the most damaging ultraviolet light rays. And like all other glass, it helps protects the framed items from outside impurities which might otherwise damage it.
How to Properly Hang Your Artwork
Properly hung artwork combines concern for the safety of the artwork with the aesthetic concerns of lighting and visual balance within the room.
Protection
Care should be taken to hang artwork in an area where it will not become damaged by heat, ultraviolet (UV) light rays or humidity. Hang your artwork out of the line of direct sunlight. We recommend that you always ask your framer to use Conservation Glass which will filter out most of the harmful UV light rays. Never hang your valuable artwork over a heat source or in an area that will be high in humidity (such as a bathroom). Heat and humidity can cause serious damage to your art.
If It’s Worth Framing ... Frame It To last!
Lighting
There are two basic lighting techniques available for your home: ambient “room” lighting or “spot” lighting. Domestic lighting is often preferable for the home, because it allows the work of art to blend in with the rest of the room. Spotlights, on the other hand, make a piece “pop” — a nice touch for really special pieces. Spot lighting can be dramatic (using can lighting or light strips that affix right to the wall or the frame itself) or subtle (using room lamps strategically placed to give ample direct light to the piece). When using spotlights, be careful not to create shadows by using strong lights on a deep frame. Remember to keep your wiring as “invisible” as possible.
The Secret to Attractive Artwork Display ... Location, Location, Location
Hang your artwork at the eye-level of the “average” person in the room. If you are hanging the art in a room where more time is spent seated than standing, “eye-level” should be lower.
Hang smaller, more detailed pieces in small spaces such as hallways and corridors, where impact is less important than content, and the art can be enjoyed up close and personal. Larger, “atmospheric” pieces require more room for the viewer to stand back and enjoy — hang these pieces opposite the entrance to a room or at the end of a corridor.
Groupings
Unless you are striving for an eclectic “antique shop” look, groupings should look as though they belong together. Select frame styles that are compatible, and matting styles that will work well together and create a balanced, unified look to the group as a whole.
Spacing is an important element in a grouping. Each picture should be placed not too far from, nor too close to its neighbor. The most commonly recommended way to create balance in a group is to place the entire layout on the floor. This will allow you to get a sense of how the grouping will look on the wall, allow for adjustments and accurate measurements. Another tip is to align the tops or bottoms of the various pictures in the group.
Take care to use the proper hanging hardware for your type of wall and that will bear the weight of the framed piece. Plaster walls and drywall require different types of hardware. (Artwork that falls off the wall is not only a danger to itself, but to everyone that visits your home.)
If you are uncertain what type of hanging hardware you should be using, ask your framer for advice. Tell him or her what type of walls you will hang the piece on — most framers have an array of products designed for nearly any type of hanging situation.
Use two hooks to hang anything larger than 8”x10”. When determining where to put the hooks, use a carpenter’s level to ensure that the picture will hang straight. This will help distribute the picture’s weight more evenly, and your picture will hang straight without constant vigilance.
This information was provided for your assistance courtesy of Tru Vue® glass manufacture.
Contact Gina Hurst today to transform your interior space into a showplace.
Gina@GinaHurst.com or (256) 361-4960.