What to use to clean frame glass

howdy,

I am mounting up a few photos and have noticed that I have the glass horribly dirty.

What would be the best thing to use to clean the glass, that will not effect the image behind it? I notice that Ilfotol has directions for cleaning the glass on the bottle. Would this be the safest thing to use?

Cheers

i worked at a frame shop for some time
and we used regular old glass cleaner ( like windex ).
we also blew the glass with compressed air, and wiped
the glass with newspaper.

have a clean cloth / towel to put the glass on .. clean one side, then the other.
make sure the glass is completely dry before putting your mat or print against it
or you will have problems ...

have fun!
john

Screen wash is very good for cleaning dirty glass, it's cheap too.

Ian

OK, that straight forward? I just wanted to make sure that what ever I use doesn't deteriorate the picture behind the glass.

Excellent

jnanian said:

make sure the glass is completely dry before putting your mat or print against it...
john

Click to expand...

I once saw some black spacing material (long narrow strips) for use under the concealed edges of a frame between print and glass--this would be especially helpful with some pieces I don't plan on matting--do you have a name/source for the material I'm remembering?

Any help you could give would be appreciated.

best,

rternbach said:

I once saw some black spacing material (long narrow strips) for use under the concealed edges of a frame between print and glass-do you have a name/source for the material I'm remembering?

Click to expand...

These are not black (or maybe you saw clear ones that looked black because of what they were in front of?) but must be basically what you are talking about:

Econospace Spacers

http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/item.action?itemGroupId=559

is one source. Not cheap considering what they are (boils down to strips of plastic), but they can be cut to fit many frames, are convenient with the adhesive and are ph neutral for archivalality. I just made that word up.

I did some matt-less framing and used them, simply enough, they work (I'll take their word on the archival properties. I'll get back to you in twenty years if there are any issues!)

A quick web search shows some cheaper prices at less well-known suppliers.

To continue the above thought:

Dead Link Removed

compares Econospace with FrameSpace. That site sells both and has a lot of info. FrameSpace comes in black.

billbretz said:

...Dead Link Removed
compares Econospace with FrameSpace. That site sells both and has a lot of info. FrameSpace comes in black.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll get some. Saves a lot of trial and error with homemade solutions.

Best,

Windex does work just fine, but if the humidity is low (dunno about Adelaide; at my house it is often below 20% relative) make a final wipe with a barely damp cloth just before sandwiching the glass and mount. You don't want to trap ammonia, etc. in the assembly, but you don't want to capture every bit of lint in sight due to the electrostatic charge generated by wiping. This is particularly true if you use acrylic instead of glass. Windex, at least, is conductive enough to suppress the problem for a short time.

One other thing---in a dry room, an air hose and a piece of acrylic make a fine way to collect a sample of the dust in the environment. Don't ask me how I know this.....

greybeard said:

an air hose and a piece of acrylic make a fine way to collect a sample of the dust ...

Click to expand...

Where lenses are concerned vacuuming is usally better than blowing to remove dust and isn't the framed glass a type of lens?

I use a plexiglass cleaner -- it contains an anti-static solution. Can't remember the name of it. Since I sometimes use plex, it is nice to have around.

Vaughn

I used to use glass cleaner, but not any more. The ingredients list on "Glass Plus" really doesn't give you any idea of what they have in there. I've switched to using 91% Isopropyl alcohol, on these little round cotton pads my wife uses for skin care or whatever. Both are available at any drug store. The alcohol has no fragrance or other additives, (the inert ingredient is purified water), it cleans quite well and evaporates very quickly with no residue. The added bounus is that I can use the same alcohol and pads to clean negatives.

Regards,

Dave

Dave, regarding the 91% Isopropyl alcohol, I would be cautious of using that on the emulsion side of a negative.

With 9% water, you are effectively wetting the emulsion slightly, this can make it swell ever so slightly, but more importantly, it can then be attractive to dust particles.

If this happens and the emulsion dries with an embedded dust particle, then things are possibly a bit grimmer than before you started your cleaning regime.

I too have some Isopropyl alcohol, but mine is 99.5%, which is closer to the last of the Kodak film cleaner that I have. I have never used this for film cleaning, probably never will, as it is used for my work.

I also use Windex, have so for decades on various exposing units where we were making duplicate film copies for lithographic film separations. I use it in my work for the manufacture of film negatives in rubber stamp manufacturing, lastly I use it for my contact frame in the darkroom when making contact sheets, or any other contact darkroom procedure.

For framing, I use Windex as well, however in all cases you really do have to wait until any residue has dried up, then re-wipe with a lint free cloth. The best lint free cloth I know of is any genuine linen tea towel that is worn and well used and of course clean.

Mick.

I own a picture frame company and my employees prefer to use Sprayway Glass Cleaner. It is avaiable at Walmart. The most critical aspect is that you use an ammonia free glass cleaner because ammonia is harmful to most artwork. Sprayway is a foam style cleaner that helps reduce streaking.

For acrylic we use and sell Brillianize.

Cheers,
Mark

For glass -
Whatever is used for the actual cleaning of the glass, I have always found that a soft cotton (cheese-cloth, an old but clean T-shirt, etc) cloth with a light dampening of water (you'll figure out how much) will remove any last streaking from chemical cleaners. As you use a cloth with Windex, etc. on multiple sides and pieces of glass, it's easy to start transferring grime. The clean cotton / water final wipe removes this.
For plexiglass (lucite, I think is the generic term)-
As Mark says, Brillianize is best, at least for me, and can be found in some hardware stores. It leaves a nice finish, and removes static charge. When matting and framing, I do the matte, get all the layers together, and assemble the frame. Then I take the protective covering off the lucite on borh sides and clean with the Brillianize. Then align the edge of the lucite along the edge of the matte / print stack, like a hinge, with the print lying on its back on the table. Then blow off the facing sides of lucite and print (the cloth dampened with Brillianize serves as a nice picker upper for final lint off of the lucite.) Then carefully lower the lucite onto the matted print. At this point, you can slide it into the frame and put on the 4th side.