Aside from the attractive results you can achieve for the item you want to display, custom framing will also give your piece longer life. We use acid- and lignin-free mats and backing, and UV protected glass, all of which will protect your art from fading, discoloring, and cracking.  

     There are many biological and environmental predators ready to damage your photos or artwork, including smoke, damp, light from any source, and microscopic mites that love to eat paper! With tight joining of your frame or shadowbox, protective mats and glass, and a sealed paper backing you can stave off many of these problems for many years, even generations, to come.

     There are three basic levels of protection, the highest of which is museum-quality conservation. Needless to say, this can become highly expensive, and is unnecessary for normal home use. The two levels of conservation framing require 97% UV protective glass and special mats made from 100% cotton fiber, called Rag Mat or Photo Mat. They come in different thicknesses, have a low pH balance, and have special permanent white or cream colored cores. These are available only in limited colors, however.
     For home use, regular matboard is made from paper rather than cotton fibers, but is also 100% acid- and lignin-free. They are available in a larger range of colors, some of which can be ordered up to 40" x 60". Most come with a light cream core, but several are available with stark white cores. The core is the inside edge, which shows between the mat and the picture if it is cut on a bevel, which is the norm. The mat can also be cut with a straight edge if preferred, which would not show the core color. This is often done effectively with modern, stark, straight-line type artwork.

     There are also several mats available with a black core, which can be very striking and help to separate a light picture from the mat, thus delineating the artwork, and is especially stunning when used to bring out black highlights in the art. (There are several samples of this in our Examples of Ken's Work pages.) There are even a few mats with very bright colored cores to contrast with their top color or to set off their white or black top.

     It's also quite fun to work with the many specialty mats available, including faux leather and suede, real as well as faux linen, woven straw, and rice paper. There are many embossed and patterned mats from denim-look to leafy, and several which are marbled-looking and quite elegant. There are also geniune museum-grade leathers and suedes available, but again run very expensive, and are usually only used in conservation framing.