Saturday, April 10, 2010

Glass and pictures

Tommy asks:
I want to frame pictures that will be measuring from 3 to 8 feet in width and about 7.5 to 20 inches in height. I understand that the picture cannot come and stay in contact with the glass and that’s the problem. With smaller pictures, the use of matting takes care of this. But, with larger images such as I’m dealing with here, how do you keep the picture away from the glass. Matting just doesn’t, that I’ve found anyway, come this large and would be extremely wasteful anyway.

Any suggestions?

10 comments:

Michael said...

Have the image mounted something like the traditional dry mount used for photographs.

Leave an extra margin around the image, about mat sized or so. Then use strip spaces to keep it off the glass. The strips are 1/8" (3mm?) wide and up to 12" (30 cm) long. These thin strips go at the edges of the mount board. The wide is the traditional rabit size used in frame making.

I guess any size could be used as these would be completely custom frames.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

How *thick* are they? Or is 1/8 inch the thickness?

Bronislaus Janulis / Framewright said...

They are sold under various names, and used to keep the art away from the glazing. Competent frame shops will either have them or able to get them. Something that big, even I as a frame maker would take it to one my framer customers; let a pro handle it.

Robb in Houston said...

E.I. Du Pont makes a product called Duraflex. It can be used as reflective display are - or trans-illuminated. Printing an image directly to Duraflex might be your solution.

Duraflex is seen in those large display boxes advertising hotels and local businesses in airports.

Fuji has a similar product, but DuPont's is better in durability and color fastness over time.

Unknown said...

If you want to cheapskate, see B&Q, look for window or door insulation tape? Soft rubber, sticky one side, should give you a 5mm stand-off.

HTH Dave

Tommy said...

Thanks for the responces, folks. I really appreciae the help.

Michael - "Then use strip spaces"
What are these spaces? Are they simply strips of regular matting material? Or are they purchased indiviually? Where can I find them?

Robb - "Printing an image directly to Duraflex"
Can I assume that the outfit doing the printing would need to have a special printer for this?

As a follow on question, if were have the print mounted directly to a backer board, is there a recommended way to protect the surface? Also how do I protect it from the effects of the sun?

I appreciate your help, Tommy.

Michael said...

Tommy -
Not regular backer board. Mpix.com mounts prints to Gatorboard and MDF. There is a company that prints on aluminum sheets. These materials can actual be hung (with mirror hardware) by themselves. There are several water based UV protections made for the sign industry but not sure about the archival nature.

The strips look like a plastic (at least the ones I saw) with one sticky side. I am not sure regual mat board can be cut that size and be useful.

Robb in Houston said...

Tommy: Duraflex is a print medium and yes, the company who prints it does indeed have DF equipment. Think of it as a really large format display transparency...

It's usually mounted in a rigid frame and either backlit, or left as a large print would be, as a reflective display medium.

Anonymous said...

Customers? Your work is too amateur, Bron.

Pascal [P-04referent] said...

I don't know, Anon... I think Bron's avatar image right here is quite perfectly framed.