How do you display and pack your ready cut mounts?

[Not your average framer]

I find displaying and packing mounts a big problem because customers seem to damage them while browsing.

Generally I try to produce mostly double mounts. I think that they are more appealing to the customer, are easily distiguished from mass produced chain store mounts and have more going for them after they've been there a while and start looking a bit tired. Following and earlier tip from Kev, I always try to back the mounts with a strongly contrasting bit of mountboard showing through the aperture. (Thanks Kev for a great tip, which help to get mounts noticed).

I am yet to do this, but I've been thinking about getting some of Lion's black kraft paper to show through the mount aperture in stead of using mountboard.

Before shrink-wraping them I back them with MDF, (sorry I'll wash my mouth out), and lightly sandpaper any sharp edges off the MDF, so they don't cut through the film too easily. To be honest even this does not stop them from being ruined by browsing customers.

So I'm wondering how others do this.

[JFeig]

That seems like a lot of materials and effort.

I have thousands of Ready Made mounts in flip bins and peg board racks. They range in size from 5x7 to 16x20, singles and doubles, rectangle and oval openings plus special cuts. They are not packaged nor have backings. I also have a acrylic sheet with the standard openings etched so that customers can place this sheet over a piece of art. They also place the mats over the art to see what the final item looks like.

My prices range from $.90US(5x7 old cream core board) to $12.70US (16x20 Moorman Suede).. All the mounts are made from shorts and discontinued board.

[kev@frames]

cellophane wrap for larger ones, its very durable. clearface bags (the white back bags) for smaller ones, and ive found that stacking them unwrapped in vertical piles sorted into size and colour reduces rummaging.
if you trade off the loss/damage against the time spent wrapping the vertical piles work out well.
i tried shrink wrap once, shrink wrap machines are a snip on ebay but it wasnt very durable, does the job though, quickly and cheaply.

[Merlin]

Like Kev, we use the cellophane wraps (from rolls) on the larger mounts.

Tried using the shrink wrap, it just ended up bending the mounts when the heat gun was applied, plus after a while it became quite brittle so the sharp edges on the mounts broke through.

In the end we started using the polythene bags (as used in the food industry) and got an 18" heat sealing machine from ebay (£24 is). Any excess is then cut off using the heat sealer. We have literally hundreds along our RM shelf in all the standard sizes. If any show any sign of wear or tear then its just a matter of replacing the bag and heat sealing. Very cheap as well, plus the bags come in the standard sizes as well, so not a lot of wastage.

This gives a nice clean presentation, plus it allows the customer to place the image behind the mount during the decision process. We tried the clear face bags (as Kev described) but ended up ruining quite a lot as the customers want to see what the mounts look like over their image, which of course they cannot see with these.

[Not your average framer]

i tried shrink wrap once, shrink wrap machines are a snip on ebay but it wasnt very durable, does the job though, quickly and cheaply.

I find it's not too bad if there are no sharp corners to cut through the film while shrink wrapping, or later when being handled. It only take a quick stroke on each corner with a sandpaper block to make quite a difference.

The other thing which helps is to weld the film together leaving plenty of space around whatever you are shrinking, so that the film has already thickened up before tightening around the object. Also the rate of shrinkage becomes less when it has already shrunk a reasonable amount before tightening around the object.

Whilst it takes time to shink wrap the mounts, I think it's worth the extra trouble to avoid mounts with dog eared corners and childrens sticky finger marks, etc.

[Merlin]

Again. Polythene bags and a heat sealer.
That way you can seal close to the mount and it does not need any type of shrinking.

Mark (NYAF) not withstanding your system. When we used your way with the shrink wrap, it actually looked quite a mess and unprofessional when you have about 20-30 mounts stacked on the shelf. the edges just looked a little ragged. We do not get that with the poly bags. A nice sharp heat seal, close to the mount.