Use Quality Mat Board For A Professional Picture Framing

Mat board is one of the picture framing supplies that you will want to choose carefully and use purposefully as part of professionally framing your artwork.  There are several types of mat board available, but they all serve two primary functions:  decorative and protective. 

Matboard can be used to help decorate your artwork within the frame.  One way that a mat board can do that is through the use of color.  Paper mat board comes in a host of colors, and it makes a particularly attractive choice for use with paintings.  The color chosen can be used to contrast or complement the colors used in the painting, to help add to the overall effect of the presentation of the piece of artwork.  Paper mat board of descending sizes can also be layered, one on top of the other, to create a multi-colored effect that also helps to bring the focus in to the artwork in the center of the frame.

Photographers will often frame their art photos, and especially black and white photographs, using thin black metal frames with wide and thick white mat board to frame the picture.  The white matboard is used so that it does not detract in any way from the print, and it also helps to focus the viewer's attention on the photo within the frame.  Museum curators whose focus is photographic art will also use wide white matboard and simple but elegant black frames to frame all of their photographs for a unified look in a gallery setting. 

While it can be decorative, mat board also serves an utilitarian function in terms of protecting artwork.  Every artist wants to keep the glazing from ever touching the surface of the artwork, and a paper mat board can work well in this regard.  A paper mat helps to keep the air flow working within the frame, and proper air flow is important because without it, condensation can develop inside the frame.  Moisture can easily damage the surface of a painting, and this is especially true with photographs. 

A custom or pre-cut mat board can also help to keep the artwork centered in the frame, to protect it from wrinkling and other surface damage.  Artwork can be glued to the mount board, but this is not a good option if you ever want to change the frame, mat or mount boards out in the future.  Instead, many artists choose to use mounting tape to tape the mat to the mountboard, or they use photo corners whereby the artwork is placed inside the corners, and the corners are then hidden by the mat.  All of these materials can be made out of archival quality materials, such as those used to produce Bainbridge mat board.  Conservation materials are decorative and will help to prolong the life of your artwork.