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mat board...who has the best prices?

RobertP

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Who has the best prices for 4 ply cotton rag board these days. Full sheets 32x40. Thanks in advance, Robert
 
Conservation Resources in Virginia. Ask them to pack it well. I don't know if the damage occurs at Nielsen or at C.R. but the first two shipments I got were dog eared like a st. bernard.
 
I've also had good results w/ framingsupplies.com great prices and their packing is incredible!
 
I hadn't thought of Conservation Resources. I ordered my film boxes from them and they were great people to deal with. It looks like they beat the competition by about 2-3$ a board. Thanks for the heads-up. Robert
 
Might want to check a couple local independant framers also. I will usually sale to local artist for pretty close to my wholesale cost.
 
kcc008 said:
I have used redimat.com for the past few years. I have never had any problems and their prices are great.
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I, too, have used redimat with great results. They stock a very inexpensive mounting/backing board that, though it has a grey core, is acid free and worthy of not overly expensive prints. They also have a complete array of the best rag mat, and crescent select board at excellent prices. Since I cut my own windows, it's great to have good prices on blanks (which I detest cutting, 'cause I always mess up the full sheets into 16x20s and such).
 

For the selection and pricing they come highly recommended. I prefer to not cut so just get pre-cut sized. Usually 18x24 for prints on 13x19 paper but for those that do cut their own the blanks of all sises are available.
 
In general, our customers have told us that our prices are some of the best they have seen and they appreciate our high quality. They have also commented that we have great packing to protect the mats during shipment. Our archival mat board is very high end so you can easily find lower prices if you consider lower quality products, but it will be difficult to find a better price for the same exact product. We also have qty discount that start at qty 4.

Cheers,
Mark
 
Is your high end board Alpharag? If not, what manufacture's board do you carry? Also do you carry high end non-buffered board 4 ply in various colors for mounting prints like albumen? Thanks, Robert
 
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You might find that cutting them yourself is not the answer, unless of course you going to mount on 32x40. Try the link above , the guy is a great guy and service is very good , I have gotten frames , boards , glass all tha stuff for less money then I could have done all myself from scratch....
 
RobertP said:
Is your high end board Alpharag? If not, what manufacture's board do you carry? Also do you carry high end non-buffered board 4 ply in various colors for mounting prints like albumen? Thanks, Robert
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Our highest end mat board is Bainbridge 8-Ply Alpharag mat board. It is a full 1/8 inch thick and we cut the bevel at 45% so the bevel ends up being a 1/4 inch which is very impressive. I brought in computerized mat cutters from Switzerland to ensure that we could get very high quality corners. We also carry Bainbridge Alphamat which is also a museum quality mat board. In order to keep our margins sustainable with low prices we have to be very efficient with our inventory. Although we have a lot of professional photographers as customers most of them that are reselling their work are using more traditional printing methods as opposed to the less common acid processes that require non-buffered mat board. We have had almost no requests for non-buffered mat board so we do not carry it.

Although we don’t have the new banner finished for APUG we are running a 10% off sale for APUG members through March 18th. The website promo code is: APUG9677 This discount is in addition to our double digit volume discounts starting at qty 4.

Cheers,
Mark
 
ilya1963 said:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)


You might find that cutting them yourself is not the answer, unless of course you going to mount on 32x40.
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Since buying a mat cutter about 8 years ago, I've more than recouped the investment in it by saving the cost of custom orders. As I tend to size prints to best suit the image, having the option to cut the mounts for them individually has been a huge advantage. Besides, I've learned a new skill I'd not have otherwise known. It's not really very difficult, but there is a learning curve, and doing it well takes a lot of practice, and the willingness to sacrifice some mat board without shedding too many tears.

I'd love to buy from Frame Destination, but until they begin to sell blanks, it aint' gonna happen.
 
jovo said:
I'd love to buy from Frame Destination, but until they begin to sell blanks, it aint' gonna happen.
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We do. Just leave a note in special instructions during checkout that you want blanks or uncut. Later in the year I hope to have direct support on the website.

Cheers,
Mark
 
fdi said:
We do. Just leave a note in special instructions during checkout that you want blanks or uncut. Later in the year I hope to have direct support on the website.

Cheers,
Mark
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Do you have 4-ply rag board (bright white)? I think that would be the most common board for photographers.

Jon
 
Jon Shiu said:
Do you have 4-ply rag board (bright white)? I think that would be the most common board for photographers.

Jon
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We carry the Bainbridge Alphamat 4-ply mat board which is equivalent to the Crescent Rag board. One is made of alpha cellulose the other is made of cotton. Both materials are naturally inert. Both mats are very archival, both are buffered, but only Bainbridge also has the Artcare zeolite coating. The Bainbridge Alpharag is equivalent to the Crescent Museum Rag. Probably 95% of our customers are photographers.

Probably half are pro’s selling in galleries and artshows and the other half are amateurs framing their own work. The pro’s just tend to place larger orders and get larger discounts but we do not have any min order size or fee.

Cheers,
Mark
 
RobertP said:
Is your high end board Alpharag? If not, what manufacture's board do you carry? Also do you carry high end non-buffered board 4 ply in various colors for mounting prints like albumen? Thanks, Robert
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Not to many places have the un-buffered museum mat board as it does have a very specific use. You can find a selection of it here. Un-Buffered Rag

Most people do not have a reason to use anything but the regular museum rag matting.
 
fdi said:
The pro’s just tend to place larger orders and get larger discounts but we do not have any min order size or fee.
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Now that is a foursquare inducement to buy if there ever were one. When the blanks are easily available, I'll absolutely consider Frame Destination for mat board.
 
fdi said:
I brought in computerized mat cutters from Switzerland to ensure that we could get very high quality corners.
Cheers,
Mark
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No affiliation with FDI, but I have seen these machines in action and they are impressive! For what it's worth ...
 
You can check out Goldenstateart.com. They have the best price in the US market. I love their custom cut.
 
I'd love to buy from Frame Destination, but until they begin to sell blanks, it aint' gonna happen.
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You can currently get any size blanks you need from the folks at www.Redimat.com

Their outside cuts are all straight cuts. With a few suppliers over the years, I have seen some selling their drops (the beveled cut from the inside of the window mat) as blanks and that's not the same thing if you have to worry about trimming the outside off before you can even cut a window in it. Even worse, I have seen so called mat cutters that are selling cheep window mats that are beveled on the outside as well.
 
From my location (near San Francisco) I've been ordering from Dick Blick, taking advantage of their occasional coupons and free shipping.

Another secret weapon I've recently developed are my kids. I taught my twelve-year-old daughter to use the Logan 650 (very quick study) and my ten-year-old helps with cutting bards down and general assistance. We cut sixteen mats with backing board last Friday in a little over an hour. For some reason I go insane trying to cut mats so this has worked out very well for me--the cuts are perfect.

Dick Blick has also been good. One of the boxes of 25 full boards came in with a serious ding and water damage. Most of the board was still usable. They told me to keep it at no charge and sent out a new one--they had just changed to better packaging, too.

--Darin
 
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