Color of matting for brown toned images

[Bob Carnie]

Our rule of thumb is that coloured boards are not archival, my observations are based on that alone, you may be purchasing archival boards but we have used coloured mats only a couple of times in over 12 years and maybe the selections today are considered archival. I have not looked into the Crescent line for years.

Bob?

Do you see something I don't? I use all archival quality materials. The mat board I purchased locally were of acid-free, archival quality boards. They are made by Crescent and I use their SELECT series.

http://crescentpro.com/select.html

 

[tkamiya]

I read your post and Mark's post carefully, then went to Crescent's site again.

I understand that ones with less bright colors and ones that are colored all the way through are perhaps more archival than others. Crescent says their Select boards all meet the current archival and conservation standards. Having no ways to test this myself, I will have to take vendor's word for it.

 

[Vaughn]

Crescent Select:

Produced using only 100% virgin alpha-cellulose
fibers for lasting quality.

Acid-free and lignin-free for maximum artwork protection.

Above is from their website -- so I would say that its archival properties are not as good as a cotton based board.

Also from their website about their cotton based board:

Cotton is nature's purest form of cellulose. It is inherently free of lignin, acid and other non-cellulose contaminants found in wood pulp. Cotton fiber pulp is reliable, sturdy and far superior to bleached, chemically processed wood pulp used to produce other conservation boards.

And then on the same page they state: "Only cotton should touch the art"

 

[fdi]

I read your post and Mark's post carefully, then went to Crescent's site again.

I understand that ones with less bright colors and ones that are colored all the way through are perhaps more archival than others. Crescent says their Select boards all meet the current archival and conservation standards. Having no ways to test this myself, I will have to take vendor's word for it.

It is very hard to get real good data on this because there are too many variables. What I have noticed is that custom framers will almost never use paper mats (wood pulp) to frame anything because even though customers want it framed cheap, they dont want the customer suing them because the artwork was permanently damaged in few years. They will however use alpha-cellulose products such as the Crescent Select and the Bainbridge Alphamat. A believe that this type of mat is generally considered good for a lifetime. A museum will mostly use Museum Rag mat board because they need the artwork to be good for many lifetimes. My guess (and this is a guess) is that many customer framers would have no problem using alpha-celluslose mat boards on limited edition artwork, but will hesitate if it is one of a kind, and hesitate even more if it is very valuable one of kind artwork that future generations of family are looking forward to inheriting. Of course if it is limited edition but at price points over $1K per edition, then it will make sense to consider Rag even though it is not limited edition.

As far as our customers are concerned, most of them selling their work will use Alpha-cellulose except those selling in more at the flea-market level than artshow or gallery level. Flea market price points demand inexpensive paper mat to maintain margins. We also sell a lot of rag mat but it is roughly double the cost of alpha-cellulose so it is mostly going to be photographers that are able to sell their work at the higher price points so they can maintain their margins.

I have noticed that a lot pre-framed artwork at department stores such as bed-bath-and-beyond used mat board with a cream colored core. This indicates that it is not only paper mat board, but the least expensive paper mat board. It will also have a cardboard backing which is full of acid.

 

[tkamiya]

Mark,

Thank you. I am thinking, from reading product literature and listening to you and Bob (who do this for business), my use of Crest Select or Bainbridge Alphamat is sufficiently good enough. If I had ready access to better materials, I wouldn't hesitate to use them and at the quantity I am needing, price difference plays minor role in decision making.

I use all 3 types of mats you sell but I only use paper mat for very limited purposes such as showing someone my portfolios. I never permanently mount anything in these. In fact, all of them have photo corners and they are tossed when they get dirty.

It'll be really great if you can figure out a way to ship small quantity of mat boards inexpensively then I'd buy from your rag board each and every time. I'm sure you've already tried though. Right now, I'm limited to what I can buy locally. Anyway, thank you for the education.

By the way, I spent 6 weeks and many MANY hours of work on this print stressing over every step. In the big scheme of things; however, I doubt there is any value to my prints. So far, no museums have called and my phone has been turned on...

 

[Vaughn]

When I sell a print, it is with the idea that it might be handed down a generation or two, three, or more, so I use rag board only. After all, the print has the capability of lasting several hundred years without fading or discoloring. The image can outlast (unchanged) even the paper it is printed on.