Through Your Looking Glass
This part of our tour brings us to one of the most
important components of protecting you paintings.  The
glass you choose to have set into your frame is both
the keeper of your work as well as the glass through
which you will view it. Depending on what you're striving for
and how much you're willing to invest, you can find yourself
with a huge spectrum of choices.
The most common form of protective glass is just
this, ordinary glass. It tends to be heavy and add weight
to your frame, but it doesn't bow or warp in the heat or
cold. Plexiglas maybe a more appealing choice to some
because it's lighter, it doesn't shatter and is usually lower
priced than the same size in glass.  The no-shatter
benefit is big because if you have glass over your
artwork and it drops to the ground those broken
glass shards can go in and cut right through the
canvas or paper of the art behind it.
If you are going to go with glass go for a UV
inhibiting glass.  Even though it's more expensive than
regular glass, it will lengthen the lifespan of your art.
Plexiglas is also available in UV inhibiting options.
The next issue when viewing your artwork is the glare
created by glass or Plexiglas. A standard non-glare glass
will probably cost you 20% to 30% more than a normal
piece of glass, but will block glare from appearing on your
artwork. The trouble with the basic non-glare glass is a
color or hue distortion created over the image.  An
immediately noticeable grayish blur is cast over the
painting and the more layers of framing material stacked
between the artwork and the glass, the more pronounced
this effect will be.