The Framers Forum

Hi everyone

I have large piece that needs float framing. Everything needs to be quite substantial on this one, so I'm opting for wooden spacers, but they need to exactly match the Mountboard. I've peeled off the top layer of strips of the Mountboard and was going to stick this onto the spacers to ensure the perfect match. However, it's easier said than done.

The peeled Mountboard paper is rather stiff and heavy and it doesn't bend easily around the corners of the spacer strips, even when I've taken care to use a bone folder to ease the fold. Then we have the issue of what to use to stick it on with, as PVA isn't tacky enough to hold the paper unless you press it down with your fingers - and I don't have enough fingers to manage the 1 meter lengths I'm dealing with, even if my fingers weren't all covered in wet PVA.

Any ideas?
Thank you
Catherine

From my experience the best way to attach the mat/mount board paper surface to a deep spacer in a frame is to glue each rail of the spacer independently of the other 3 sections. Once the colored paper is attached to whatever you want as a spacer(wood or board(s) you can apply weight to the sandwich and let it dry. The paper can be cut larger than the spacer and folded over the ends and trimmed after it has dried. The spacers are cut and placed into the frame in a "pinwheel" pattern to clean up the corners. Covering the ends eliminates any of the spacer from being seen. The came can be done at the top of the spacer(touching the glass). This process can also be done if you want to hand wrap fabric to the spacers or a fillet(liner moulding).

Can you just paint the spacer to match?

Thanks, JFeig. Devil's in the detail, as always - and you've given some helpful tips here. Do you typically aim to wrap a 4 sides of the spacer? I feel this adds unwanted extra depth and wonder if I can get away with just doing 3 sides?

Timh - Yes, you can just paint the spacer and you can also buy spacers pre-wrapped in white, off-white and black. But it's almost impossible to get the perfect colour-match - and if you're using a textured Mountboard (as I am on this piece) then it's not really an option.

If you happen to be using LJ Hayseed, they sell 2"-3" roll of the face paper.
Why not make mountboard spacers? Glue some 3mm foam board to your chosen mountboard. Cut spacers out of it, secure in frame. It's the simplest way to do matching spacers.

Catherine wrote: Fri 09 Oct, 2026 7:14 am Do you typically aim to wrap a 4 sides of the spacer? I feel this adds unwanted extra depth and wonder if I can get away with just doing 3 sides?

3 sides for most projects. 4 sides will hide any unraveling of the fabric cut edge from being shown.