Archival Mounting Methods

One thing I noticed in my work as a professional picture framer is that a lot of artwork brought in to be framed or re-framed was not mounted properly. Archival mounting means securing the artwork to the matboard, and/or backing board using completely reversible (no damage to the art) acid-free materials. Proper archival mounting is essential when framing a piece of artwork. I'll go over some of the basic principles involved and two different methods of archival mounting here.

As I said, archival mounting needs to be completely reversible. This means no permanent mounting methods like spray glue (even if it's acid free) or drymounting. For older, fragile, ripped apart material that you don't value price-wise, go ahead and have it drymounted, (glued to a backing board using a heat press and thin plastic sheets called drymount tissue). Let's say you're a photographer though and you want to use acid free spray glue with acid free mat backing or foamcore, that is up to you; some frame shops will refuse to permanently mount any photo or original art, even kid's art.

One of the best ways of archival mounting is to use acid-free photo corners, found at most craft and art supply stores. (Rule of art supplies - if it doesn't say acid-free don't trust that it is). You use one photo corner for each corner of the art, centering it on your backing board. The backside of the photo corner sticks to your acid-free foamcore backing and you slip the corner of the artwork in the front flap. Your mat should overlap your art enough so that it covers the photo corners. Use double-sided sticky tape to secure the mat to the backing board, careful not to get any near the art.

An easier method of mounting your paper artwork is to attach it to the back of your mat using acid-free tape (solid white), or even better - archival quality hinging tape. (I recommend linen hinging tape for heavier paper like watercolor. And again - all materials used should say acid free or archival). This is easier than photo corners but could cause some slight tear damage if you ever take it off. The proper hinging method is to have two strips along the top of the paper with half on the mat and half on the paper. You only hinge the top and you leave a gap between the strips of tape because this will keep your paper from having a slight ripple. Then you lay another piece of tape vertically across the first one on each side. Finally, you use a bone (it's like a shoehorn, or you can use any small round blunt object) to firmly press and secure the tape down onto the art and mat.

These two methods are for works on paper that are going to be matted. Acid-free foamcore should always be used as your backing board, (found at your local art supply or frameshop - it has a creamy color, regular foamcore is solid white). All of the materials described - the foamcore, photo corners, sticky tape (or ATG tape), hinging tape and matboard all come in acid-free versions (if not at an art supply store, then at a crafts or scrapbooking store). For really heavy pieces on paper there is a more-in depth way to mount the work using special rice paper, but that is a whole other post! A high quality archivally mounted piece of art might cost a little more to produce, but is so worth it in the long run. Done right, you should never need to unmount it, (but if you do you can with little or no damage to the art - this is the goal of archival mounting).

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