The Framers Forum

Hello.

I've been asked to frame a large inexpensive poster. The customer wants a simple narrow frame without a mount. So the question is, is it ever ok to have the glass positioned directly against the artwork or should there always be a gap?

Thanks in advance.

Matt
Northwood Framing

In my opinion, no. Knowing that the piece could be damaged by doing this.
It comes down to value, in this case sentimental. If the customer values the poster enough to have it bespoke framed then the additional cost of mounting it onto board and separating with spacers shouldn't matter.

Justin is right.

But, I have framed literally 1000s of posters up against the glass in the 1980s 1990s 2000s, and 100s of low budget jobs since then. I've still got a few at home that I did 30 years ago, and they're still fine. We know better now, but it's not a heinous crime to do it.

In an ideal world I would space them from the glass, but if after I have explained the right and wrong way to the customer, and if they want a 'decorative piece' at a low price, then that's what I will do.

And I sleep soundly!

I never like to mount an artwork, so that it can touch the glass even if the artwork is of little value. It just does not look like a professional thing to do. The added cost of spacing the artwork away from the glass need not be particularly expensive. Also I see no point in spending more on the frame when, it means not spend enough to add spacers to keep the artwork off from the glass. If I need a low cost basic spacer, usually I rip down Simons moulding 000K/0262,which the inside face of the resulting slips being cut at 45 degrees on my tablesaw. The moulding is a 12mm deep obeche moulding and need almost no effort to smooth down the cut surfaces with a small piece of medium fine sand paper. A lot of customers like narrow black frames for posters and therefore a black painter sloped edge spacer, will usually look quite suitable as well.

I generally water down some black acrylic paint to a thin consistency and avoid those little shiney marks, where a painted surface is touching the glass which as a rule usually looks great. I like deep rebate frames for posters, as most customers like really skinney frames for posters and the added depth allows space for cutting down and fitting a relative low cost moulding discretely in place as a sub-frame, to stiffen the skinney frame and add some extra support. Low cost pine frames are much stiffer than using obeche frames for quick and easy sub-frames and I do this all the time. I have certain low cost pine mouldings which I order 200 feet at a time and these have a variety of uses and these are almost always in stock and therefore readily at hand for whatever use is needed.

That sounds like an awful lot of work to frame a cheap low cost item there Mark

I usually add a backing undermount and hinge the poster to that by folding paper strips over the top of the under mount and attaching them on the rear, this supports the poster from the top, stopping it from sagging, perspex is better that glass because it doesn't conduct heat in the same way glass does, then I clip it all in slightly loose.

Certainly not perfect but very little faf and it keeps the poster flat enough and the cost down, this method also works on OS maps

The actual contact with the glass is sort-of OK, if the frame is always kept in a stable environment. But there is
always the risk of condensation forming on the inside which can result in the poster sticking to the glass.
The bigger factor is that the poster WILL go wavy if it is not hinged with the edges not restrained.
Drymounting is an option if you have the capability and then it won't go wavy and can be spaced from the glass.
Extra expense though.

Customers often have the erroneous notion that putting the glass directly on to a large piece of paper will keep it flat.
It won't. Doing this is a sure-fire way of making it go wavy.

That largely depends upon how you do it. I like to add some thick paper tape behind a wide enough slip, leaving a gap for the poster to sit without it free movement being restricted, so that it can expand and contract with humidity changes and breathe a little. I like a wide enough overlap of the slip over the edges of the poster as this seems help keeping the poster in place. A narrower overlap is not always so good as large posters, somtimes do strange things and pop out from behind the slip.

Also those really thin glossy posters are a real nightmare to keep flat at all. I have never found a good way of making these stay flat, apart from mounting these between two sheets of acrylic and even then I don't think that it is necessarily an ideal solution from the perspective of being good practice. Holding these thin glossy posters against a single piece of acrylic using some thin polyester batting behind the poster might do a better job, as long as the polyester batting exerted only very light pressure, permitting the poster to still expand and contract freely.

Aren't these cheap glossy posters a PITA?

Thanks for all the comments, I think I'll add a spacer between the poster and glass just to be on the safe side.

Matt

I've often wondered about the addition of the spacer as a solution to this. Doesn't having the item effectively trapped all the way around by a spacer present issues in terms of future buckling?

Megan

Hi Megan,

Yes, you are right about this. Using just a spacer, tends to restrict the free movement of artworks on paper and it is better to build up a step at the back of the spaces and to create a pocket into which the paper artwork can loosely sit in place. Just in case you are thinking that this is really easy. I don't find it particularly easy and maybe you won't either. My method is to make out the size of the pocket on the reverse of the slip using a light pencil line. I find it much easier fixing a stip of paper onto the reverse of the slip when I have a pencil line to work to.

The paper strip needs to be thicker than the thickness of the paper used for the artwork and the marked out size of the pocket needs to allow a lttle extra for the expansion and contraction of the artwork according to changes to the preveilling humidity produced by seasonal atmospheric changes. I like a wide rebate in the picture frame, in order to accomodate a wider slip, so that I can allow a wider flat area behind the slip to accomodate the edges of the art work in a way the allows adequate support a assists in keeping the artwork nice and flat, without excessive width of slip looking too much.

I hope that this is helpful,
Mark.