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Where is the best place to sign a overmat?

fatboy22

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Oct 15, 2005
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Iowa City, I
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Hi All,

Just wondering where is the standard place one would sign there name on a prints overmat? Would it be at the bottom of the window right side or the bottom of the matt right side?

Thanks,

Jamie
 
I sign mine on the lower right of the window.
 
I also sign mine on the lower right of the window.
This takes me back to my schooldays, and the old schoolboy joke " Where did they sign the Magna Carter ? " answer "At the bottom ! "
 
Negative exposure date bottom left, name bottom right, stamp on the back for other details: print description/name, negative number, exposure date, and print date. Oh, and my contact information.

I avoid print titles on the front of the print, since it affects a viewers interpretation. Different strokes....
 
Oh, one more thing - for B&W photographs, make sure you use a harder grade pencil, and print lightly. This is important, since your eye is drawn to the area of highest contrast, and if your name is black-black-black on a nice white mat board, guess where the area of highest contrast could be? Hint: it's not on the photograph.

I use a 6h pencil, and print lightly - like you could make it dark enough without embossing the mat board
 
fatboy22 said:
Hi All,

Just wondering where is the standard place one would sign there name on a prints overmat? Would it be at the bottom of the window right side or the bottom of the matt right side?

Thanks,

Jamie
Click to expand...

I never sign overmats. I sign the mat, just below the print on the right side. Cut the overmat so that it's larger than the print and float the print in the overmat's window.
 
Right, not the overmat. The overmat can be removed. I was referring to the mount board itself.
 
c6h6o3 said:
I never sign overmats. I sign the mat, just below the print on the right side. Cut the overmat so that it's larger than the print and float the print in the overmat's window.
Click to expand...
.

Absolutely, far as I'm concerned. Overmat signing always seems a bit hasty, artfairish, unprofessional.

On my unmasked zia contacts, taped loose to the back mat, no heavy border area showing, I sign my name and year taken in pencil, very small, within the image's extreme lower right corner (hell, if a painter can do it why can't I). Title and © are out of sight on the paper border so I duplicate that information on the back of any framed print.

Related but off-subject, I have found over time that, if you must protect a zia (or other P/P), TruVuUltraClear is the only grade of glass I've ever found that lets the nuances come thru. That greenish museum stuff smothers the 'look' and I figure not much need to worry about fade or oxidiation with noble metals.
 
I have enourmous respect for a photographer named Jay Dusard, his North AMerican Cowboy book was a result of his first Guggenheim fellowship, he has since recieved another.

When I asked him about signing my prints he said, sign them with the hardest pencil you can find, why, because it will leave the faithest of color so as not to detract from the image. Makes perfect sense to me, it's all about the image, not the maker.

Lower right, below the print, last name, # 4 pencil
 
c6h6o3 said:
Neither Office Depot nor Staples has any pencils other than #2s. Where are you getting #4s?
Click to expand...

Stationary or Art store should have a nice selection. Best thing about the # 4's, the graphite is so hard it never wears out. I just ligthly sand the tip and almost never have to actually resharpen the pencil.
 
I double mat most of my photos. I sign the work on the mat nearest the glass on the lower right with the title to the lower left and the copy number (edition #) closer to my signature. I also use the same information and location below the image of the board on which the photo is mounted (t-hinged). All the mat boards are t-hinged and I use an H pencil to sign everything. I find that softer pencils will smear.

Rich
 
Steve Sherman said:
Stationary or Art store should have a nice selection. Best thing about the # 4's, the graphite is so hard it never wears out. I just ligthly sand the tip and almost never have to actually resharpen the pencil.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll try Pearl.
 
When writing a date on the window matt, do you write neg exposure date or print development date?

Peter
 
Thankyou to all that have replied. The hard lead pencil sounds like a good idea, less chance of smearing.

Jamie
 
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