Noosa Conservation Picture Framing Services:

Expect twenty-five years stability and no need for internal maintenance whatsoever from Young Masters Gallery framed original prints and modern conservation framing. These characteristics may be expected provided basic precautions are followed.

• We suggest you always hang anything under glass on the inside walls of open space away from sunlight, bright reflected daylight or fluorescent lighting regardless of all the assertions made by any framer about the modern conservation characteristics of the materials employed. Managed air space in office buildings can be ideal provided there are not long periods of stale air due to AC shutdowns. (UV glass provides some protection against fading).
  

• Regardless of how much expense you go to, if you intend to hang your framed glazed original artwork on paper on the inside of a south side exterior wall in non-air-conditioned room, near a ventilator, in Queensland, the contents of the frame are highly likely to deteriorate rapidly. We would not give the mount; (cassette sub assembly of artwork and window mats), more than 3 years before visible deterioration is likely to be evident to the naked eye. This is simply because the best materials inside the mount will not stand up to the effects of wide temperature fluctuations or wall-damp, resulting primarily in condensation inside the cassette. This leads to rapid chemical change in all assembled materials in the cassette or the growth of mould. Where less expensive cardboard is employed oxidation of naturally occurring minerals, or reversal of additive pH neutral buffering, will lead to the development of brown spots in the artwork sometimes, and frequently on the cardboard mats. (You will even see mold grow on the inside of the glazing resulting in permanent glass damage. This goes to show how extremely aggressive the elements can be if you practice bad management).

• The staining mentioned above can never be removed entirely from the artwork through professional restoration procedures. It can however be bleached somewhat to a pale grey and the deterioration terminated. Staining of the artwork also occurs due to some framers employing low grade adhesive tape to secure artworks to mounts. The adhesive or tape react within the micro climate within the cassette under temperature fluctuations causing leaching in to the contact surfaces; (on artwork and on high quality backing to which the artwork is supposed to be secured). We can arrange for the execution of restoration work! We have considerable experience through hiring restorer services over many years. (This is not limited to works on paper).

• It is futile to compare the prices quoted by picture framers, for conservation framing of fine art. This is because you as the customer, don't know what you are getting unless the finished article is dis-assembled by an expert and assessed; something you simply cannot afford to do as a buyer. The fact is, framers realize prospective customers do not know exactly what is required to meet their needs, even though they, the prospective buyers, often go from shop to shop getting quotations. Framers therefore quote low prices to "get a part of the action". When the framer quotes a winning price, he still has to make what he considers is a reasonable profit margin and manufacture a seemingly functional product of acceptable appearance. If reasoning with the prospect does not have the desired effect, he sometimes employs cheaper materials, less materials or faster assembly procedures than he may prefer to use. For this reason alone, our prices are not cheap. You get however what you pay for. Expect to pay about 20 - 30% more than lowest price quoted by other picture framers, for any framing we execute.

• Our framing is performed in an air conditioned workshop. Under these circumstances, we feel that we add to the long life of works under glass. This is simply because, in particular during humid months, a preferred moisture level is maintained in assembled materials. Beyond this, only relatively dry air is trapped in the air space within the cassette. For the alert viewer, it is that trapped moisture which lends the characteristic film to the inside surface of the glazing. (Of course, that film can also be due to condensation as mentioned above).

• The backing plate choice is not as simple as one may think for the following reasons:

1. If there is a breeze in the room a lightweight backing may permit the whole frame to drift around on the wall.
2. Lightweight plastic backing of any kind cannot breathe. Subsequently, condensation, however minor, forms on the inside face in contact with the cassette. Responsible commercial framing should include a heavy moisture barrier, preferably ragboard to which the artwork is hinged; (something left out of low quotations, unseen and unbeknown to the buyer).
3. A hardboard backing plate certainly is heavy and "ancient" however it does hold it's flatness, enabling high compression of the window mounts (cassette) against the glazing. This has obvious advantages. Beyond that, hardboard breathes allowing slow absorbtion and dissipation of moisture and heat; (e.g., Latex paint breathes, protecting stucco from rotting).
4. Fomecor (R) and polypropylene composite Core Flute though relatively stiff, are not as rigid as hardboard. Limited stiffness allows unwanted partial separation of cassette elements, clearly visible on larger frames. (Although double-sided adhesive tape is employed to build a cassette of window mounts one on top of each other, summer temperatures and humidity are sufficient for the adhesive to lose it's strength with subsequent failure of the partial laminate). Permanent compression of the layers is therefore essential and offered with hardboard. The problem with plastic backing is that tensile strength is lost over a shorter period of exposure to the elements. Fomecor (R), being so soft, provides in addition little mechanical protection against impregnation from sharp objects and denting in storage or showroom.
   

• Finally, it cannot be more severely stressed, the importance of the taping over the joint between the stiff backing plate (mentioned in the preceding paragraph), to the mount (cassette), and the frame body. This has raised concerns as long as framing of works on paper has existed. The tape usually fails for the following reasons:

1. The surfaces are not flush resulting in bad solutions at the four corners in the external (pseudo-flat) plane.
2. The tape is not strong enough to resist puncture and subsequent ingress of organisms or moisture in to the joint and the cassette.
3. The tape is not flexible enough to bridge undulations without springing away from the surfaces to which adhesion is presumed.
4. The adhesive breaks down quickly under extremes in temperature and humidity, resulting in viscous sticky drift and poor appearance.

• Naturally, although framing of works on paper is for us a specialty, we cover the entire plethora of picture framing, whether tapestries, stretch canvas, stretcher frames, certificates, awards, gilding, plaques, you name it, we frame it, professionally, to last.

General: