How I mat and frame my prints

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I just added a new page to the tech info pages on my website. How I mat and frame my work.

http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com/technical/framing.php

[cliffpov]

Thanks Chris, I will use this for future reference. Much appreciated.

[leica M2 fan]

Thanks Chris, very classy and informative reference. Framing and matting are two so important parts in the presentation of photos, one has to get it right.

[deirdre]

Thanks. What are you using for glazing btw?

[gb hill]

Thanks for the info Chris. I've been interested in wanting to learn this. In the spring I want to get my spare bathroom turned into a darkroom & start doing b&w prints. I already have all the tools I need to print & develop, just need to black out the window & build a table to work on. Wish I had the funds & the time to come up to Fort Wayne for some tutoring you offer. I know that would be a big help. Right now my wifes car is being repaired so that will be prob. $200 +. Oh well...life goes on! I really hope one day it will happen!

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks for the info Chris. I've been interested in wanting to learn this. In the spring I want to get my spare bathroom turned into a darkroom & start doing b&w prints. I already have all the tools I need to print & develop, just need to black out the window & build a table to work on. Wish I had the funds & the time to come up to Fort Wayne for some tutoring you offer. I know that would be a big help. Right now my wifes car is being repaired so that will be prob. $200 +. Oh well...life goes on! I really hope one day it will happen!

Thanks Greg. I wish I lived closer to everyone, seems like most of my RFF friends are all on the other side of the country from me! There are a couple other Hoosiers here though :)

[deirdre]

Another question. You say, "On a 6x9 inch horizontal image, I use a 14x16 inch frame. The opening is cut 9.5 inches wide and 7 inches tall."

What size paper are you printing that on, though?

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Another question. You say, "On a 6x9 inch horizontal image, I use a 14x16 inch frame. The opening is cut 9.5 inches wide and 7 inches tall."

What size paper are you printing that on, though?

Letter size paper. 8.5x11 inches. I print it slightly above center so there's a little more room under the image to sign and title. The paper can be smaller than the backing board (in fact it needs to be or you have no room to mount it) as long as it is bigger than the opening in the overmat.

About glass, glass shops sell glass made for framing pictures. It is thinner than window glass, so it will fit in the frame along with the backing and mat and still leaving room for the retaining clips that hold it all in the frame.

[deirdre]

Thanks!

I wanted to be a part of an art show in May and realized I really had no experience doing some of this stuff. I used to have a really nice mat cutter but sold it when I moved cross country. So that I have experience with, but really I bought it for hanging my own stuff in my own house, not for an exhibition.

Now it's a simple matter of figuring out how much space I want to pay for, how much work that'll mean having to print, and then what I want to put there.

[raytoei@gmail.com]

thanks chris!

[vdonovan]

Thanks. Your generosity toward your fellow photographers is really remarkable and much appreciated.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I'm going to add some more photos of the process of measuring and cutting mats eventually. I need to sell another framed print, then I'll have the chance to do one and will photograph the process.

[taylan]

thank you chris for your reference. i want to ask some thing about mat cutter. i am planning to buy logan 301. do you have any opinion about that model?

[fuji645]

Thanks so much for your info on matting & framing. I haven't cut a mat in quite a few years and found your info rewarding. Any thoughts or comments on pre-cut mats?

Thanks

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

thank you chris for your reference. i want to ask some thing about mat cutter. i am planning to buy logan 301. do you have any opinion about that model?

It doesn't have a squaring arm, so cutting the outside of the mats boards to the right dimensions is nearly impossible. You can measure and set up a cut without it, but it is so much more labor intensive. I would find it maddening to work with. Also, it isn't wide enough to cut full sheets of mat board lengthwise, which may be a problem sometimes. The price is cheap; 1/3 the cost of the model I use, but if you will be cutting many mats the bigger 750 is worth it. Mine literally paid for itself the very first time I used it because I was a student at the time and my professors required the students to turn in their pictures matted and mounted. The savings of doing them myself compared to paying a frame shop was so extreme that the $250 I paid for the cutter at the time plus the cost of the expensive museum mat board I used was less than the cost of having the pictures matted at a frame shop!

Here's something to think of too. A lot of guys here complain that they don't want to spend money on something like a film scanner or a printer or monitor calibrator, but they have high-end cameras and lenses that cost thousands. A few hundred for a mat cutter is less than even a cheap lens costs! Not as fun or sexy, but very important to have. :D

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks so much for your info on matting & framing. I haven't cut a mat in quite a few years and found your info rewarding. Any thoughts or comments on pre-cut mats?

Thanks

Most pre-cut mats I have seen are made with non-archival mat board that will damage the print over time. There are pre-cut mats available made from museum board or acid-free cellulose fiber (wood pulp that's been treated to remove the acids), and they're archival..but more expensive.

The big problem with them is they never really correspond to the size picture you have. They're usually made to accommodate 'standard' print sizes like 8x0 or 11x14 inch, but you may never actually print a print in those sizes. If you shoot 35mm, like most RFF members do, and you want to print the whole negative, you will be printing a 6x9, or a 7x10, or an 8x12 print. I suppose you could print the photo 9.5 inches wide and the extra width and height of the precut opening will give you space for the borders and signature area.

If you shoot a Hasselblad or Rollei or a Mamiya 6, you can't use precuts at all if you want to print the whole square picture. I like to custom cut my own so that no matter what size print I do, or how I cop the image, or what camera format I used, I can make a perfectly sized frame and mat. The metal frames and many wood frames are sold by the inch in custom sizes, so the frame is never a limitation.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The stuff I'm saying about using higher-end mat cutters and avoiding precut mats applies most to those who want to publicly exhibit their work and sell it. Presentation is literally something that will make or break you if you have those ambitions..so don't pinch pennies. None of this stuff is really super costly, not like a new Leica lens.

If you just want to frame pics to hang a home or give to family or friends, then precut mats (as long as they're the archival kind) might be fine, and cutting your own with a cutting system that's hobbled by the manufacturer (by lacking basic stuff like the squaring arm) will still give great results (but at the cost of more work to get those results). That's why I tell people who want to exhibit and/or sell to avoid them. If you cut a lot of mats, the limitations will begin to really bug you because it'll slow down your workflow, and framing is gruntwork anyway. I don't do it for fun, cause it isn't. I do it because frame shops are bloodthirsty with their pricing and I have always been disappointed with the quality of mats I didn't cut myself...and I am very obsessive to a probably unhealthy degree...

[tj01]

Great article. What do you use to sign your work ? I've always wondered if there are alternatives to a dark pencil.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Great article. What do you use to sign your work ? I've always wondered if there are alternatives to a dark pencil.

If you print on matte surface paper, then pencil is what you should use, because it is more resistant to fading than any ink. It'll outlast the image on the paper!

Pencil won't write on glossy papers and RC type papers, so i use an ultrafine point sharpie pen for those types.

[Juan Valdenebro]

I use pencil too (I print on matte fiber only) but for ink use I've heard you should use acid-free ink... Hope this helps...

Cheers,

Juan

[Pickett Wilson]

Wow, Chris. Very timely. I have a Logan Simplex Plus 750 I've had for awhile and just made room to set it up and do some matting.

I appreciate your info about your processes on your site!

[dfoo]

As usual a great article Chris.

[oftheherd]

Thanks for your time and effort to share this. I'll come back to it when I start printing again.

[ellisson]

Thank you for another great technical overview, Chris. I'm ready to try this and had a question about the backing used for pring mounting. Do you just use mat board behind the print, or foam board for a more rigid backing? Or both?
Gary

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thank you for another great technical overview, Chris. I'm ready to try this and had a question about the backing used for pring mounting. Do you just use mat board behind the print, or foam board for a more rigid backing? Or both?
Gary

Gary,

For small prints I just use mat board. For large ones mat board behind the image then foam core behind the mat board. That won't fit in standard metal frames, too thick, so you have to get frames with a higher profile that gives more space for thicker materials. Neislen makes one like that that looks just like the standard style 11 but is a little taller, but I can't remember the style number.

[ellisson]

Thanks Chris. After paying over $200 to my local frameshop for archival mounting and framing of a single 13 x 13 image, I'm ready to do this myself.

[sonofdanang]

Very, very, generous, Chris. On behalf of everyone who has struggled with a mounting, I thank you.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

One thing I would reccomend:
Rather than using Lineco Self-Adhesive Hinging tape use their Gummed Linen Hinging tape.

The gummed version requires water and is a bit more difficult to use. This version is recommended for more valuable art work by Lineco. I use linen "T's" made of two pieces of tape, at the top rather than corners, which eventually come loose.

The advantage of the "T" is you can add more tape, without disturbing the existing tape if you move the image to a new board.

When framing a Cindy Sherman and the like with have very high value, it is important to never use anything but water based adhesives.

Fred,

I was just using the tape to hinge the mat to the backing board; I don't use it to hold the image to the backing board. Lineco makes plastic corners that hold the image without any adhesive at all touching the print, so that's what I use to hold the print in place. I have used the taping method you describe to mount drawings and etching that I did in school. I didn't know about the gummed tape back then, and didn't now either, so thanks for the info. I have some other old artwork I need to frame someday, so i'll try to get some of that tape when I do that.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks Chris. After paying over $200 to my local frameshop for archival mounting and framing of a single 13 x 13 image, I'm ready to do this myself.

That's why I learned to do this too. In school, I was required to turn in my work mounted and matted. The prices for this at frame shops just blew me away; I was a student from a middle class family, not a rich kid. I couldn't afford it for the number of prints I had to turn in! I paid $250 for my mat cutter (I think they're a little over $300 now) and it literally paid for itself the first time I used it.

To frame a 6x9 print the way I describe on my webpage takes about half of a $14 sheet of museum board to get the back and mat boards. The frame cost $20 and the glass $4. So, total cost $31. Most of the framers where I live want about $130 for that.

[Zonan]

Thanks for the info and post. I'm about to get in to this, and wonder whether to go with the UV and/or anti-glare plexiglass (or just go with plain old glass). From what I've read, it would seem the UV would be the way.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!

[charjohncarter]

Thanks Chris, I bookmarked you site.

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Thanks for the info and post. I'm about to get in to this, and wonder whether to go with the UV and/or anti-glare plexiglass (or just go with plain old glass). From what I've read, it would seem the UV would be the way.

Your thoughts?

Thanks!

UV glass is fine, its supposed to help prints last longer. Non-glare is bad though, it has a texture that actually obscures print detail.

[Andy Kibber]

Thanks for the information Chris. Very interesting and well-written.

Ctein has an article on TOP today about print longevity. In his opinion UV glass isn't necessary.

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2011/02/how-to-display-inkjet-prints.html

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Even glass is not necessary. The current Philip-Lorca DiCorsia show at David Swirner in Chelsea (NYC), shows large "archival ink prints" framed in wood without glass.

Glass does protect prints from dust and such, so I'd disagree. Just because someone famous does something doesn't mean its the right way.

[snausages]

Detailed, instructive, and generous, as always, Chris, thanks.

That same $30 frame you're making can easily cost $300 in NYC. But, after reading your tutorial, I think I'm ok paying the extra $270 just to avoid the madness of getting the glass perfectly clean. I would surely leave a thumbprint or dust or dirt each time I tried and slowly lose my mind. $270 might actually be less than the therapy it'd take to recover.

[jimrohrer]

Thanks for a very interesting article and thread... I'll be saving it for reference. Personally, I dry mount my prints and I've had excellent results with a Logan mat cutter.
-Jim