If a piece of art is worth framing, it is worth framing well. Good framing is not just about aesthetics - a quality frame should protect the work inside for a lifetime and beyond. This is known as conservation framing, a phrase you might be familiar with. In this post I will describe what exactly constitutes conservation framing, what distinguishes it from other standards of framing, and why it is important. The Picture Framers Guild of Australia recognises a hierarchy of fiv

I was recently asked to reframe an original piece of art which had spent the last couple of years inside a cheap, store-bought frame. When I removed the mat, this is what I found underneath: At first I thought the difference in colour between the matted area and the rest of the paper was caused by the mat itself as non-archival mat boards contain acids and other pollutants which can react with the paper. However, when I turned the paper over, I realised it was in fact the un-