Wood Frames, Foamcore & Foamboard

Wood Frame and other Picture Mounting Techniques

Wood Frame and other Picture Mounting Techniques that can be used to mount photographs and artwork with conservation guidelines in mind.

A mounting technique is the process of securing a photograph or other picture to a mount or display board. There are more than one way to mount pictures and you have a choice of materials to select from when mounting a picture.  Which you select is determined by several factors such as convenience, equipment and skill available, cost, and the level of conservation desired.

Art Conservation

Conservation guidelines exist for museums and is it these guidelines that we adhere to. True conservation frmaing requires that the mounted photo or picture must be able to be removes from the mount board without any damage to the photo or picture. It is common that materials used by most framing shops are acid free, unlike times past. Acids and other pollutants will gradually work their way into the frame from the air and walls and they will contaminate the frame and the artworkd which is mounted. When this happens the artwork must be removed and reframed with fresh materials.

Most people do not need to go the the extremes that are required for museum guality mountings, however, care should be taken to insure that household items such as rubber cement are not used. Most common glues and tapes contain chemicals that can harm the mounting, frame, or artwork over time. It is best to restrict your mounting materials to acid free, archival quality materials that are obtained from a reputable frame shop.

The list of materials that will be needed include: photo corners, hinging tapes and tissues, and mounting corners. All are available in acid free, archival quality as products that are safe for mounting your artwork.

Archival Hinging Tissue and Photo Corners

The materials included in a quality wood frame photograph, or any other framed art work, all have different coefficients of expansion. Materials such as paper, glass, foamboard, tapes, wood, and metals each expand and contract at different rates when they heat or cool. Even the gradual temperature swings in the average home throughout the day and over the course of the annual seasons causes significant expansion and contraction stresses on the materials that are aggregated into a wood framed artwork.

To allow the artwork to expand and contract without direct stress is it best to have the artwork connected by two or more points where the direct connection to the mounting board is limited. This allows for the artwork to ‘breath’ (move) as expansion and contraction occur. The two primary ways used to achieve this results is to mount with photo corners or to mount with hinging tissue. One of the primary compenents of conservation framing guidelines is that the artwork must be able to be removed without any change or damage to the image. To allow the image the maximum amount of expansion and contraction movement range (breathing) it should only be hinged at a couple of points along the top edge of the artwork.  Larger images may require three points of connection. 

For the maximum level of conservation there are special papers and tapes manufactured in Japan that are made of water soluble wheat or rice starches as the mounting adhesive.

Picture mounting – hinging photograph to mat

The most common way of mounting a photograph is to use an acid free hinging tape or tissue. Lineco Self Adhesive Hinging Tissue is a good choice. Use it to attach the image directly to the mat. This method offers the advantage that the image will stay centered under the picture mat opening and you will not need to hing the mat to the mounting board.  The downside of this method is that it may become difficult to change the mat depending on the hinging product that you select.  If you are going to sell your product matted but unframed we recommend against using this method because your client will run the risk of damaging the image when mounting it.

Here is an easy mounting technique suggestion: Place your image face down on a glass table with the top of the image hanging off of the edge about 1 or 2 inches. Lay your mat on the top of the image and center it.  Apply two pieces of hingine tape or tissue or acid free tape to the photograph and mat from the bottom. Lift the mat up with the image hanging down then place the mount board or frame backing board behind it. Then, lay your glazing on top and insert into the wood frame, or other type of frame, that you have selected.

Offered by Frame Destination wood frames, foamboard, foamcore, mounting supplies and products represent just a small part of the selection available. For more information please visit our website or call us at 1-877-5FRAMES.