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.