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.

Unique Wild flower Paintings by Linda Calvert Jacobson At PaintBox Soho

Linda Calvert Jacobson At PaintBoxSoho

                     

Wild Flower Paintings - 1

Wild Flower Paintings - 2

Wild Flower Paintings - 3

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 Linda Calvert Jacobson is a painter famous for her wildflower paintings, a new contemporary style that is uniquely her own. At PaintBox Soho, you can buy her unique paintings with custom frames and soho picture framing.

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Picture Framing For Black And White Photographs by Michael Magill

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                                                  Photograph by : Michael Magill

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Now-a-days, Black and White photograph is nothing more than a color image applied with some photographic effects. But still it is a stunning and rewarding art even for novice photographers. Sometimes the photo which is just ignorable will surprise you when converted to black and white while sometimes a great colorful photo may convert to a horrible work of art due to black and white effect. It gives freedom to explore a whole new aspect of object. The object which you never found so much interesting may become a matter of beauty when captured in grays.

So what is so special, the magical thing that works in black and white photographs? Well, i don't know. But still they look stunning and soulful. And when adorned by beautiful picture frames they become truly a soulful piece of art.

Canadian photographer-Michael Magill explored this fact when he discovered the work of Andre Kertesz, Berenice Abbott, and Alfred Stieglitz and some other 20^th century photographers, and he decided to move to New York to pursue a career in photography. Michael Magill is a self-taught photographer. He has been doing his own darkroom photography and capturing the photos of streets inside the New York City for more than 30 years.

 At Paintbox Soho, we sell original and limited edition framed art-works of creative artists like Michael Magill, Ed Heck, Nick paciorek, Matt Horner and Linda Calvert Jacobson. Though some photographs may look stunning even without frames but still getting picture framing is preferable as it protects the beautiful artwork, especially when framed by expert framers with high quality acid free material. Picture framing will add a big plus to the appearance of artwork when frame is chosen properly. That's why we provide assistance to our customers in choosing proper picture frames suitable to the artwork.

For Black and white portraits, generally we suggest white mat and black colored frames around the photograph. Though wooden frames or metal frames can also suite black and white photographs sometimes. To give a traditional look, Wooden photo frame is preferable as it has un-sharp edges and elegant look while metal frames are suitable for modern edge look because it has sharp edges and it looks bolder and stronger. For example a colorful photo of flowery gardens will look good framed in wooden while a black and white photo of the giant Eiffel tower will look good in metal frame. Most of the time customers’ confusion is about choosing the material of frame. It may be wood or may be Metal. Our experts provide them with a satisfactory assistance that is extraction of years long hand crafted picture frames experience.