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Framing Guide
Picture framing brings together three key elements to protect and beautifully present your artwork, photo, or print.
Glass
The glass is the clear protective layer that covers your artwork, photograph, or print. It shields your piece from dust, moisture, fingerprints, and UV light, helping to prevent fading over time.
Mount
The mount is the colored or textured border that sits between the glass and your artwork. It creates a visual frame around your image, giving it space to breathe and enhancing its presentation.
Frame
The frame is the outer structure that holds the glass, mount, and artwork securely together. It provides protection and completes the overall look of your framed piece.
The Glass
When framing pictures, photos, or artwork, the glass plays a key role in protection and presentation.
Here’s a straightforward guide to the main types we offer:
Plain Glass
Standard 2mm clear picture glass
Plain glass offers basic protection from dust and damage but has no special coatings. Expect visible reflections and no UV protection. Ideal for everyday posters or low-value prints.
Conservation Glass
Reflect UV Light to Reduce Fading
Conservation glass features a special coating that blocks up to 99% of harmful UV rays from sunlight and indoor lighting. This helps prevent fading, yellowing, and damage to inks and pigments.
A reliable choice for preserving valuable photos, prints, and original artworks.
Art Glass
AR Coating to Reduce Reflection
Art glass has a multi-layered optical coating that dramatically reduces reflections, making the glass nearly invisible. Your artwork appears clearer and more vibrant, with minimal glare. Perfect when you want the viewer to focus purely on the piece without a "glass barrier" effect.
Museum Glass
Conservation and Art Glass Combind
The premium option that combines the best of both worlds: high-level UV protection (typically 99%) plus anti-reflective coating. It offers excellent conservation and an almost invisible look. Recommended for important originals, limited editions, and heirlooms where maximum protection and clarity matter.
Acrylic / Perspex
(Plastic Alternatives)
Lightweight and shatter-resistant
- Standard Acrylic: Provides good UV protection and basic durability. Great for larger pieces or high-traffic areas.
- Art / Museum Acrylic: The high-end version with strong anti-reflective properties and up to 99% UV protection. Ideal when weight or safety is a concern (e.g., very large frames or public spaces).
Diffused Glass
Acid-etched on one side to soften reflections
Diffused glass reduces glare from lamps or windows, but the textured surface can look slightly hazy and is not recommended for box (shadowbox) frames where the glass sits away from 3D objects.
The art, museum, and conservation class options, we use premium Tru Vue glazing products for superior clarity, UV protection, and long-term preservation of artworks and artefacts.
Why Tru Vue? Trusted by museums worldwide, these glass and acrylic solutions offer up to 99% UV blocking, anti-reflective coatings to eliminate glare, and durable, non-degrading finishes that meet strict conservation standards.
The Mount
We offer premium mounting solutions tailored to your needs.
Choose the right mount type and material to ensure a perfect fit.
Framing Styles
Many inside fillet colours available to choose from
Box Shadow
Frame
A deep box-style frame that creates a floating or shadow-box effect, ideal for adding depth.
Float Forward
Frame
A modern style where the artwork appears to “float” inside the frame with a visible gap around the edges.
Mount Options
Single Plain Mount
A basic single-layer mat board
Different colours available to choose from
Double Mount
A double-layer mat that can include decorative lines or a gold accent between layers.
Different colours available to choose from
Different colours and styles available to choose from
French Bound or Gilt Slip Mount
French bevel or gilt (usually gold) slip mount for a bevelled, elegant edge.
Different styles available upon request
Decorative 0r Wash Line Mount
A decorative mount includes added design features like lines, patterns or layerd colours to make the picture more visually intresting.
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Acetate wrap — Protective clear plastic (acetate) wrapping for delicate items.
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Dry mount — Heat-activated mounting of the artwork onto board.
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Open up & refit frame — Taking apart an existing frame, adjusting or replacing contents, and reassembling it.
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Tapestry stretching — Stretching a tapestry or fabric artwork onto stretcher bars.
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Baton back — Adding wooden supports (battens) to the back of a canvas to add strength,
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Stretch oil on canvas — Stretching an oil painting or similar onto a canvas stretcher frame.
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Captions — Cutting out a window in the mount to include information about the art or photo.
Extra Services
The Frame
We provide an extensive collection of frames to complete your setup. With so many styles and options to choose from.
Many of our plain wood frames are paintable and fully customisable to match your unique style.
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Extra Services
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Painting — We can hand-paint using premium Farrow & Ball paints to perfectly match any colour. (Plain Wood Only)
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Staining/ Waxing — We can custom-stain and wax lighter woods to enhance the natural grain and achieve your preferred tone.
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Custom Acrylic Box frame — Available in clear or coloured acrylic. Ideal for larger objects, 3D artworks, memorabilia, or flat art requiring extra depth and protection.