Preserving Your Artwork

Today's artwork could be tomorrow's heirlooms.

You might think that framing is a simple matter of putting a piece of board behind it, a piece of wood around it, and a piece of glass in front of it, It's not quite that simple, especially if you want to protect a piece of artwork and lengthen its life. This is where conservation framing comes in.

If you look at old etchings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they often seem to be in better condition than prints from the nineteenth or even some modern limited edition prints. This is because the old etchings were printed on paper made from rags, whereas most of the newer prints make use of paper made from wood pulp. Most wood pulp papers use alum in their manufacture; the atmosphere in many urban areas contains sulphur dioxide from the combustion of coal or oil. Put alum and sulphur dioxide together and you get sulphuric acid, which causes paper and card backings to yellow and become brittle.

‘Foxing’ (little brownspots on the paper) and larger areas of damage, eg. Brown circles or lines, are caused by a combination of acid from the backing boards and damp. The use of acid free conservation materials can help overcome these problems, so the first question you ask your picture framer is "Do you use conservation boards?" The conservation boards I use are acid-free, have the lignin fibres taken out and have a white core. They are not to be confused with the ‘pH balanced’ board, which is not guaranteed to stay acid-free forever.

Next, ask what tape the framer is using, and how he is using it. Once again, it should be made of acid-free conservation material and the adhesive should be acid-free conservation and water soluble. Most importantly, the picture should be attached at the top only with hinge mounts to allow movement within the mount and frame as atmospheric conditions change.

A customer came to me once with a limited print worth £1200 which had been ‘conservation framed but had buckled badly. When I opened up the frame I was horrified to find that the print was held on all sides with masking tape!! No wonder the print was buckled. The use of such tapes for mounting can also cause irreversible staining on the artwork.

Thirdly, if you are buying a new painting or print, is it on acid-free conservation or rag paper? Most publishers and artists are now realising the importance of using this type of paper.

Fourthly, make sure that the mount is thick enough to keep the artwork from touching the glass. Otherwise you could have problems later on with mould growing as a result of direct contact with condensation on the glass.

Fifthly, it is now possible to get glass which filters out the ultra-violet light which is one of the causes of fading. Of course, no valuable piece of art should be subjected to direct sunlight (nor to fluorescent lights, which also produce ultra-violet rays), but however much care you take there is always a risk of some fading, so this new development in glass manufacture is to be welcomed.

You should of course take a close look at the framers previous work. Are the corners well- mitred and without gaps? Is the moulding undamaged? Is the glass clean and free of blemishes? Are there any foreign bodies? Have any marks been left on the mount or artwork? Is the back nicely finished and are the fixings strong enough to keep it on the wall forever if need be? Remember the old saying that a picture falling of the wall means a death in the family!!

A good framer should be able to advise you on the type of frame and mount that would suit the picture best. Between you, you must also decide what would look best for the decor and the furniture in the room where you plan to hang the picture. A visit to my dentist the other day was made a bit less painful when after my treatment he said, ‘If you’ve got a couple of minutes come and see how well those pictures you framed for me fit into our lounge’.

As well as the anti-fading glass, you can also get non-reflecting glass. I use it when I have to, but I find that it tends to flatten the affect, while clear glass adds a sparkle and seems to liven up the colours in the picture. To cut out reflection, try not to hang your picture opposite a window, and use a picture-light with a low-wattage bulb directly above it.

Needlework needs special care when framing. Our grandmothers’ samplers and other embroideries have become family heirlooms and so will modern ones. It is sad to see some of our beautiful work of yesteryear stained brown by acid burn. We are lucky to have the materials to prevent this from happening to the heirlooms of the future.

Needlework should either be laced over a piece of acid-free conservation board (a time-consuming and therefore a costly process) or glued very carefully around the edge on to an acid-free conservation board with a water-soluble, acid-free conservation glue. Both methods are reversible. Some people dry-mount needlework, but this is generally irreversible and also flattens the work.

The main purpose of any picture frame is to take care of the artwork and to show it off to its best effect. Remember that works of art can grow in value but only if they are kept in pristine condition, so proper conservation framing is an essential way of protecting your investment.

A very useful document is the Fine Art Trade Guild’s ‘Approved Code of Professional Practice for Custom Framing’, available from any framer who is a member of the Guild.

Finally, any picture framer who is as proud of his work as he should be will be pleased to invite you into his workshop. Whenever I ask a customer to come and see me at work, the reaction is usually ‘I feel much happier now that I’ve seen the way you do it’ or ‘I didn’t realise how much went into picture framing – I thought you just popped a frame around it’ !! I hope that I have shown that there is a little more to it than that

Peter Hayton - 1994

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