Understanding Picture Frame Matting Basics

Custom framing is an art of framing which requires skilled craftsmanship, years of experience and gives the option of customizing your frame as per your requirement. It also helps in protecting your art and displaying it in the best way possible. In custom framing you are free to choose your material, design and layout to show your picture as per your liking.

Often Matting is used in custom frames which is probably the most complicated part of buying a frame. Mats can be made of cardboard or other materials that can serve as a frame within a frame. The frame separates picture from direct contact to the glass. Small air space between photograph and glass also prevents moisture build up. A mat can be decorated as per photograph’s specification- colored, decorated or pure white.

Preservation Grades
Mats should be made of acid free material. Everything that is in contact with the artwork should be acid free. Mats should also, not only be acid free but should have the quality to absorb has air-born contaminates that has the ability to damage your art.

There are 3 grades of a Mat

Grade 1: Untreated Acid Core
This is a basic mat in which only surface is treated to reduce acidity but the core is untreated. So if a mat is cut or damaged from any side then the acid can leak from the mat and render the artwork yellow. This type of mat is best used for temporary framing for about 1 year.

Grade 2: Treated wood pulp interior
This is made of wood pulp fiber and is chemically treated to reduce acid property of the mat. They offer medium level of protection and are suitable for items which are valuable but not irreplaceable.

Grade 3: Cotton Based
These mats are not made of wood pulp but of cotton which are naturally acid free. This is best kind of material that can be used to create a Mat . They often come with lifetime warranty and the artwork is the safest when this kind of mat is used. However, they tend to be quite expensive.

What is a Ply?

Ply represent an important part of Mat. Normally mats are made of 2 core layers, and a backing; or 4 parts, hence the word 4 plys. However most mat board today are made with just 3 layers, and backing.

Color of a Mat

One very important point to consider while choosing mat color is that, your Mat should primarily compliment the picture, and only then the other aspect such as color of wall, furnishing and decor should be taken as a factor, while deciding the color of the mat. Other important rule while choosing mat is that, mat should draw the focus of the image to the viewer’s eye.

Choose the Best Shade for Your Frames - Using Color Wheel Tool

There are various techniques that are present today which professionals employ to shorten the process of choosing the right color for frames, especially matting. A color wheel is great tool to make correct decision about the right color to choose. With this color wheel artist and framer can choose the correct color for their Mat or color for other components of the frame.

A color wheel also known as color circle is a pictorial representation of colors arranged according to their chromatic relationship.

Primary Colors: They are the basic color and are used to create other by mixing them together.

Secondary Colors: They are attained by mixing two primary colors.

Tertiary Colors: They are achieved by mixing primary and secondary hues.

Complementary Colors: As shown below they are located opposite to each other on a color wheel.

Analogous Colors: Colors that are located close together on a color wheel are analogous colors.

Active & Passive colors
A color wheel can be further divided into ranges that represent active or passive color. When passive color are placed against active colors they seem to advance and passive colors seem to recede.

• Hues that are advancing have less visual weight than the ones that are receding.
• Warm, saturated, light value hues are "active"
• Cool, low saturated, dark value hues are "passive"
• Tints or hues with a low saturation appear lighter than shades or highly saturated colors.
• Some colors remain visually neutral or indifferent.

Color Relationships

They are represented on a color triangle on a color wheel

Painter’s Triangle: In this red, blue and yellow are primary hues. This triangle is most often used in art classes.

Printers Triangle: This color is used in printing process and magenta, cyan, and yellow are primary hues.

Nine-part harmonic triangle of Goethe: They are basically printer's primaries; the secondaries formed are the painter's primaries; and the resulting tertiaries formed are dark neutrals.

Complementary Colors

A color wheel is a great tool the see the relationship among colors. The colors that are opposite to each other are complementary colors.

Complementary colors when used are able to bring out the best in each other. When saturated complements are used they create vibrant and interesting effects.

For framing use color wheels to choose the right color balance between the art and framing that surrounds it. The best idea is to identify secondary color in the art and use it as the value and temperature of the art as a whole.