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Mounts - not the horsey kind!
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Message
Posted
I mostly use 26x36cm (10x14") paper but I'm hopeless at knowing what size mount I should use. If, and it's a big if, I would be lucky enough to sell any paintings, I would like them to be mounted but without a frame.
I was hoping you knowledgeable people could advise me and put me on the right road.
Posted
Ok Margaret, I'll kick off on this one.
There is no hard and fast measurement, to some extent it all depends on your painting size and for a 10 x 14in work I would opt for 2.75in (70mm) all round. You can add a few mill extra on the bottom surface if you wish but this practice has largely been dispensed with, I don't bother myself. Don't forget to cut your mount less than the image size or you may be thinking of buying your mounts, I have a really good supplier if you need one, normally a minimum of 10 though.
What I do then is cut a backboard (or buy them from the same supplier) and hinge the mount and backboard together, then position your work under the mount and fasten it down to the backboard with masking tape (or whatever) to the top edge only. Close the whole thing together and pop it all into a cellophane sleeve, this will all look very professional and write your description on a label and attach it to the top front R/H area.
Basic idea's only so work from this as a starting point, it's all about what looks right, I sell most of my watercolours unframed this way. Let me know if you need more info.
Posted
Thank you Alan. I will probably buy the mounts, I'd be too afraid to attempt to cut them myself! I think your suggestion of 2.75" sounds good to me. I will have a trawl on the web to look at sites and prices and will come back to you for your suppliers name if needed. It's so good to be able to ask someone who knows all about it!
Posted
Just on another note Margaret, if you are selling your work it is important to keep the outer dimensions to a standard size, this will give your buyers the choice of an off-the-shelf frame from say Dunelm or Hobbycraft, a far cheaper option than a professional framer although many will prefer the latter choice.
So, in your case the paper size being 10 x 14 won't quite work out, the nearest standard size frame is I think 16 x 20in which is made to fit a quarter imperial 11 x 15in piece of artwork making allowances for the artwork being encased under the mount. There are ways round this by making the mount width wider, just something to consider perhaps...
Posted
I hope that I haven't complicated things Margaret, perhaps best to forget the ready-made frame scenario which makes things less complicated.
Lesley, the company that I use is based in Cardiff, it is www.cadremont.co.uk They will laser cut your mounts to any size and supply the backboards to fit.
Posted
Good subject. There are endless minefields with mounts and frames. Off the shelf mounts often have the hole in standard sizes e.g. A4. If you have used A4 paper, then the hole will be too big, as there needs to be an overlap. So to use these mounts would have to use paper, the next size up. When you look at your stocks of paper, you will probably find A3, which is almost double the size of the hole.
I could go on, but I won't. Perhaps this is why I prefer to paint on canvas, than paper.
Posted
I made my own mounts and frames for my paintings once I changed from oils to acrylics. 6 years on I have considerably weaker wrists which make all the sawing and cutting more difficult. The advantage of now returning to oils is that I can go back to stretched canvas - much less trouble as Splosh has said.
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