Why should I care how my art is mounted?

At Materpiece Framing we mount according to the artwork in ways that are appropriate and best for the art.

All methods of attaching the fine artwork to the backing board (mounting) must be reversible without harming the artwork. The attachment should also be less strong than the paper of the artwork -- this allows the attachment to give before the paper of the artwork tears or is damaged. Archival corner pockets may by used on many types of artwork, others will need linen hinges, or mulberry paper hinges and wheat starch glues.

• Backing is a minimum of 3-ply rag, Alpha-Cellulose or at a bare minimum Archival foam board.
• Archival foam board  is not enough protection for fine art but may be used with less expensive or less valuable art. Archival foam board may be used in addition to the rag for maximum protection (in most frame packages regular foam core is used with the rag). The foam core acts as a stiffener to support the art and mat package and to protect it from the back. All frame packages (except metal frames-nothing to attach to) should have a dust cover to keep out bugs and dust.
• Posters and non-valuable pieces are usually mounted on FoamCore in a vacuum press for maximum flatness and eliminates wrinkles and ripples.

Exceptions and special cases

• Needle Art is mounted to Acid-free foam core, rag-lined acid-free foam core, or cotton rag foam board using stainless steel dress pins (no rust) . No tapes, glues or adhesives are used (these may stain or rot the fibers). Glass should not touch needle art as moisture or condensation could collect inside the package,  causing rot or mildew in the needle art fibers.  If no mat is used to separate the Needle Art from the frame (wood) the frame should be lined with a conservation quality barrier tape that has an aluminum barrier to prevent bleed-through of acidic materials (Archival Frame Sealing Tape is one such item). In this case a spacer should also be used between the art and glass.
• Oils or acrylics on bars or boards: The same barrier tape may be used to line a wood frame before inserting the artwork.