The next thing is to make sure you pick quality
materials for your framing, which are acid-free.
Picking acid free materials to prevent pre-mature decay of
your art is very important. For example, should the matting
you choose have an acid content you will start to see ugly
yellowing appear around the exposed areas of the
matting eventually eat away at the color fastness of
your art. So when picking out your frame, please be sure
to ask your framer for acid free samples only.
After a visit to Paris, Humphrey Davy, the noted
English chemist was asked what he had thought of the
Louvre and the city's other art galleries. Humphrey replied,
"The finest collection of frames I ever saw."
The bottom-line is, if you see the framing first and
the artwork second, know you've overdone it. The art
should be the focus, not the frame.
When it comes to framing some people will opt for
very elaborate framing. The options on framing are virtually
endless and tempered only by good taste and finance.
However, most people will go with four basic layers to their
frame.
There is the outer frame, which is the frame itself.
Then there is the inner frame or liner . This is a raw
untreated wooden frame. On this raw wood the framer can
wrap various types of cloth. Anything from hemp to the
finest hand made water silks, depending on what you like
and what you want to spend.
The third component to your frame is the matting.
Matting comes in all colors and is usually placed on top of an
artwork to separate it from the glass. The colors of your
matting can be used to accent the colors of your
painting. The fourth component to frames is the filet.