WHAT'S THE MOUNTING ALL ABOUT?

I expect most people know that prints are best displayed mounted (in the USA this is called 'matted') in acid-free mountboard but here’s what we do and what else we can do. Apart from the large prints & posters all Artists UK prints come ready for framing (or if you want to pick a standard frame from the shop see our Standard Frame Mounting Service under the Additional Services section or below).

The mounts are different sizes mainly depending on the size of the image and the colour of the mount usually reflects a main colour tone in the image. The only truly neutral mount colour is black but although black does not change the colour balance it does make an image look more stark (great for a Giger or Royo, but not for a soft watercolour!). Cream is a safe mount colour but does little for an overall blue or green image for instance. Brown tends to dull the image so we rarely use it. The inside of the mount around the image is bevel cut at a 45 degree angle to show the inside of the mount and frame the image. It helps to “bring the image out”. Two other neat tricks are ‘double mounting’ and ‘mount decoration’. In the first we lay another mount over the first one leaving a 1cm or 2cm gap between the mounts and often using two colour tones from the image (eg, a burgundy inner and a black outer). With mount decoration one or more lines are drawn round the mount a short way out from the bevel cut (eg. Silver lines on black are great!). Here are some mounted prints as examples so you can see what I mean. If you want any of these special services then let us know by E-Mailing us after you've placed your order.

Standard Frame Mounting Service

A lot of people like the individuality of picking an image, buying a print or limited edition and sorting out the frame they like to match it and which suits their home. Some people find this a tiresome business and want something a bit more straightforward. This is for those people. We can mount your prints to fit into the standard frame sizes on offer in the shops (usually 254 x 204mm (10”x8”), 240 x 300mm, 300 x 400mm or 400 x 500mm). All you need to do is tell us when you order that you want SFMS (We add a small extra amount per print to cover the extra work). If you take a look at the image and overall sizes given in the catalogue you can probably get some idea how it will work out. Do remember that limited editions will often have a border between the image and the mount for signing and numbering. Just subtract the Image Size and Mount Size from the Overall Size to find out the border if you need to know. SFMS works best if the top and bottom of the mount work out larger than the sides. A print that has a 30mm mount width top and bottom and 80mm on the sides can look a bit odd. If you want to specify how we do it you can, or leave it up to us to work it out. Any questions, give us a ring or E-Mail us.

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