mounting

M O U N T I N G T E C H N I Q U E S
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Mounting is THE single most important step in your frame job. When a person looks at a piece of art, the FIRST THING NOTICED will be if the print is "rippley", "crooked", "creased" or "wavy".

Mounting is basically the manner in which your art is "attached" to the backboard.
When a print is mounted correctly, you never notice.
Therefore, (and rightly so), the customer sometimes questions whether the added expense is necessary.

There are several different mounting techniques.
These vary depending on the thickness and composition of the art or item being framed or displayed.

HEAT MOUNT (dry mount)
Dry mounting requires the use of a heat press. This technique bonds your art to a backboard by way of :
a)."melting" a mounting tissue between your art and the backboard or...
b). using the heat to activate a "pre-coated" adhesive that bonds to your print.
Dry mounting is the most common mounting technique and is generally used on posters and lesser expensive art forms.
Today more & more people are coming in with "ink jet" prints. THESE CAN NEVER BE MOUNTED USING HEAT.

Below left is our "Hot & Cold" Vacuum Press. This press can "dry" or "wet" mount.
Below right are the layers described in "a" above..art / tissue / backboard.

VACUUM MOUNT ("wet" or "spray" mount)
Another common mounting technique that incorporates a "spray adhesive" or a "paste" that is applied to the backboard.
Your print is then placed on the backing and "smashed" in a vacuum (or mechanical) press making the art "stick" to the backing.

A print being "spray" mounted
using spray adhesive.

CONSERVATION MOUNT (hinging)
This is a technique commonly used on the more expensive stuff or pieces that may need to be "removed" from the frame later for re-sale or ??? This technique requires an "acid-free" backboard and one of a trillion types of "acid-free" tapes.
The tape is made into a "hinge" that attaches TO THE BACK of your art, and is (supposed to be) fully "reversible"
(able to be taken off). Art should NEVER be "bound" with hinging anywhere but AT THE TOP.
Art expands and contracts with the temperature and humidity, and will "buckle" or "wave"... (vertically / up and down) if bound on the sides or (horizontally / across) if bound on the top & bottom.
***See our section on "Conservation Framing" for more than you cared to know about preservation.

Print being "HINGED" with
acid-free linen tape.

Art being stabilized by using
"Acid-Free Photo Corners".

This is a good method to use
if you need to remove your
art from time to time.

HEY!!! Don't forget to sign our GUESTBOOK before you bail.