I had a couple of rush jobs come in this week which were interesting to analyse. Both original charcoal works on paper, the first picture (top 2 photos) was almost certainly framed originally in America, you can see the image had slipped down from the mount. The mount was a deep inner with a standard thickness outer, both of which were covered in fine material. This is common practice in the US but is currently not that popular over here, although I don't know why as I think the effect can look excellent. I do have three silk covered mounts to do in the coming weeks and it is something I would like to do more of in the future.
Anyway back to the first frame, (which was a lovely antique French Louis XVI profile) the glazing was Optium acrylic which is a high quality glazing offering anti-reflective viewing, high clarity and colour rendition, high UV filter level and is virtually unbreakable.
The picture was backed with Correx which offers good puncture resistance, rigidity, waterproofing, and is totally inert and free from impurities unlike MDF or corrugated board backings. The artwork was hinged to the backing undermount using a Japanese paper which is precoated with wheat starch adhesive - a good quality tape but this work really deserved hinges which were made using fresh wheat starch and Japanese paper hinges. The traditional method of fixing artwork on paper to a mount and undermount is to use two hinges at the top of the art.
The basic idea with hinges is that the paper is free to move with changes in temperature and humidity, and should the frame be dropped and the art be subjected to a forceful shock, the hinge should be weaker than the art paper and it will be the hinge that breaks, reducing any damage to the artwork. A hinge will sometimes fail during shipping as the art is handled and moved around, pictures should always be kept upright if possible as when they are put sideways stress is put on the hinge.
That is enough about the first picture, all I had to do was take it apart, and re-hinge it, I also added some loose fitting melinex corners which would add support to the art if the hinges failed again during shipping.
The second picture (bottom 2 photos) was to be fitted into a new frame, again it was a charcoal on paper, it came to me glazed with Tru Vue Museum glass which offers a high UV filter (at a sacrifice of colour transition) with good anti-reflection, but that is were the good points end as the paper was framed directly against the glass, this is very bad as moisture can condense on the inside of the glass and cause severe damage to the art. So I added a deep spacer mount, cut from museum board, a 2mm thick museum undermount, and a Correx backing.
Anyway back to the first frame, (which was a lovely antique French Louis XVI profile) the glazing was Optium acrylic which is a high quality glazing offering anti-reflective viewing, high clarity and colour rendition, high UV filter level and is virtually unbreakable.
The picture was backed with Correx which offers good puncture resistance, rigidity, waterproofing, and is totally inert and free from impurities unlike MDF or corrugated board backings. The artwork was hinged to the backing undermount using a Japanese paper which is precoated with wheat starch adhesive - a good quality tape but this work really deserved hinges which were made using fresh wheat starch and Japanese paper hinges. The traditional method of fixing artwork on paper to a mount and undermount is to use two hinges at the top of the art.
The Frametek website describes and illustrates this much better than I could ever hope to explain clearly:
http://www.frametek.com/HTML/Articles/Hinging.html
http://www.frametek.com/HTML/Articles/Hinging.html
The basic idea with hinges is that the paper is free to move with changes in temperature and humidity, and should the frame be dropped and the art be subjected to a forceful shock, the hinge should be weaker than the art paper and it will be the hinge that breaks, reducing any damage to the artwork. A hinge will sometimes fail during shipping as the art is handled and moved around, pictures should always be kept upright if possible as when they are put sideways stress is put on the hinge.
That is enough about the first picture, all I had to do was take it apart, and re-hinge it, I also added some loose fitting melinex corners which would add support to the art if the hinges failed again during shipping.
The second picture (bottom 2 photos) was to be fitted into a new frame, again it was a charcoal on paper, it came to me glazed with Tru Vue Museum glass which offers a high UV filter (at a sacrifice of colour transition) with good anti-reflection, but that is were the good points end as the paper was framed directly against the glass, this is very bad as moisture can condense on the inside of the glass and cause severe damage to the art. So I added a deep spacer mount, cut from museum board, a 2mm thick museum undermount, and a Correx backing.
