What’s your frame made from?

To really understand the value of your frame it’s really important to know what your frame is made from.
Expert custom framers know and understand the different materials used for various different framing purposes. If you don’t ask enough ‘what’ questions you may end up with a frame that does not meet your expectation, you may not like the yellow look of a regular matboard or become concerned with a particular finish. So if you don’t ask what type of materials your framer is using and how they will be using them, then you may end up with an inferior finished product. Or worse still a frame that causes damage to your precious artwork.

The importance of ‘what’ questions

Moving on from asking the ‘how’ questions of last week’s post come the ‘what’ questions. These two things are closely linked. It is important to know that your framer is fully knowledgeable about the materials they are using. It is also very important to ascertain that your framer knows which materials are appropriate for which type of framing and how they will react placed under certain conditions.

Some questions to remember to ask your framer

Here are some questions to quiz your potential framer with:

1. Do you use museum quality cotton rag boards or conservation boards for all original artwork?
2. What types of glass do you have here?
3. What materials do you use to stretch fabric over?
4. What exactly does acid-free mean?
5. What happens if I hang my picture above a fireplace?