Matting & Design

Mats bring depth and focus to your artwork or photographs, adding to the viewing experience. Matting also plays an essential part in creating space between your photographs and artwork from the glass allowing humidity to escape. If matting isn't the right choice for your work, we can also accomplish this spacing with alternative means. 

As part of our commitment to protecting your artwork, all of our recommendations for matting are acid-free.

There are three main types of matting you should know about:

Basic Matting looks acceptable but is not acid-free.  It can, with time, damage the artwork or photographs it is housing.  You can identify acidic matting fairly quickly by looking at the cut edge.  If it is yellowed, more than likely it is acidic. Often when bringing in older work to us, if we identify the matting as acidic you can anticipate we will recommend replacing it for the health of your work. 

 

Conservation Mat Board is certified as acid-free and will protect your work for years.

Rag Mat is the highest quality mat board with 100% acid-free construction. This type of matting is often used for valuable pieces and museums ensuring the long-lasting protection.

We carry both Conservation Mat Board and Rag Mat.

We also carry fabric covered mat board, and many other fun textures.

We also provide brass and wood label plates to add to the quality of the piece we are working on when requested.

Custom Mat Cuts

We are fortunate to have a computerized mat cutter in our shop. It allows us to create a wide variety of matting styles to emphasize and customize any piece. We can not only cut fancy designs but we now also offer embossing and the use of pens on mats. See more custom mat examples here.

framing factoids

#4 Matting isn't always necessary. Sometimes using a liner or fillet or second frame layered together is more complimentary. 

#5 If it is an oil or acrylic painting and the owner has no intention of putting glazing over it, matting isn't generally recommended.  Fabric mats can hold up better, but paper mats are susceptible to splatters or cleaning spray damage. Usually, if we mat it, we have glass on it as well. 

#6 This has more to do with glass, but good to know. You can put glass over acrylic and oil paintings after they are fully cured to protect them from the environment. Burnt suppers, wood stoves, smokers houses, pet hair, dust, etc, can accumulate on the painting over the years and may require a professional to clean the painting down the road.  We see this with paintings over 50 years old and with the ones from the early 1800's it is almost always a need. Professional cleaning is risky and expensive, glass may protect the art from needing it for much longer down the road. 

#7 Canvas prints don't necessarily need glazing either.  It is good to note, the printing process and the canvas used for it have changed over the years and the modern prints on canvas usually resemble plastic more than fabric.  We recommend drymounting them often as the stretching process with the inks and the current canvas print substrate can lead to cracks in the image if tight or a loose looking fit if not.