I decided it was time to update my history to the current time.  To see the rest of the story visit
Sally Dallas, CPF.  The care and feeding of a Picture Framer

Stage 4:  On my own
In 1996 got an opportunity to purchase a building in Newberg, Oregon and took the leap, not to just owning and operating my own gallery and frame shop, but to property ownership and management (I had a tenant building on the property that sold in 2014).  Wow, what a learning curve.  To quote my mom "You couldn't just get your toes wet, you had jump in up to your neck"  Yup!
     I spent the next couple of years developing the frame shop and gallery following.  I started doing The Room about 3 years in an after that every quarter a different window theme went up.  I became known for those window displays as well as a to framer.  I entered competitions with fellow PPFA Chapter members, joined the (then Newberg Chamber) and served on their board for a term.  I really appreciated find a place in such a great community.   I had a client recommend me as expensive, but worth it.  That is one of the best things I ever heard. 
     In 2009, I joined with five other downtown shops to start ARTwalk.  Our goal was to promote the downtown and create awareness that we had a potential gold mine here.  Ten years later and we are still going. 
     In 2015, after a rough couple of years I made the major decision to lease out the main floor space and create My Personal Framer in the workshop space.  Roger Hirsch, retired, helped me to carve out a space for the design and business side  with the workshop on the other side of the wall.  It has been interesting going from 1900 sq feet of showroom to 250.  But it is what it is.  I struggled emotionally for the first couple of years after moving on from my dream situation.    Some folks wanted me to blame it on the 'Economy', but the reality is I wasn't able to adapt and change to work with the current economics. 

    I like my small space and really appreciate when clients new and old find their way to me. 

Needlework Framing

After investing so much time and effort into your needlework, framing is critical to both enhance and protect it for generations to come.

Conservation Treatment.  I utilize the highest quality conservations methods:  reversable mounting techniques, preservation materials, and glass that protects from damaging ultraviolet light. Our techniques protect against heat, light, humidity and insects.

• Before framing, most needlework will be carefully blocked and mounted to best preserve, support the needlework and to be as secure, square as possible.
• We use no tapes, adhesives or chemicals that could harm the fibers over time.
• To keep your project clean and maintain the integrity of its colors, we highly recommend placing it behind UV glass. With our careful framing, the art will always have room to breathe.
• For the best success in framing needlework, clean or have your work dry cleaned by a trusted cleaner.  The oils in our skin will alter the fabric and may show up over time.

Designed to Look Its Best.  We offer hundreds of quality frames and matting options and will personally guide you through the design process to find the combination that displays your art to its fullest potential. We even offer in-home consultations to assist you in making choices that complement your decor.

Bring your latest handcrafted project to My Personal Framer and let us help you turn it into a work of art.

Canvas & needleart

• Needle Art is mounted to Acid-free foam core, rag-lined acid-free foam core, or cotton rag foam board using stainless steel dress pins (no rust), lacing or couching whichever is most appropriate.  No tapes, glues or adhesives are used (these may stain or rot the fibers).  Glass should not touch needle art as moisture or condensation could collect inside the package, causing rot or mildew in the needle art fibers.  If no mat is used to separate the Needle Art from the frame (wood) the frame should be lined with a conservation quality barrier tape that has an aluminum or copper barrier to prevent bleed-through of acidic materials (Archival Frame Sealing Tape is one such item). In this case a spacer should also be used between the art and glass.
• Oils or acrylics on bars or boards: The same barrier tape may be used to line a  wood frame before inserting the artwork.  The latest thinking on canvases is to back the frame package with Archival Foam Board. This will prevent puncture and environmental damage.  If the piece is valuable or of high sentimental value conservators are now recommending some type of conservation glazing with a spacer between the art and glass, a foam rabbit tape can also be used to protect the face of the painting from pressure.

There are a variety of choices.  We can show you samples of each and help you to decide which will work best with your project

• Conservation Glass filters up to 97% of Ultra-Violet light that may cause framed pieces to fade.  It is also available in Non-glare
• Museum Glass blocks out 99% of Ultra-Violet light and has an anti-reflective coating which virtually eliminates all glare.  It is almost undetectable.  This is the very best option
• Acrylic or PlexiGlass is a form of hard plastic and is much lighter than glass. Acrylic is almost impossible to break and can be treated with Ultra-Violet properties.  The reduced weight makes it a very good option for large pieces.  However, Acrylic does tend to attract dust, scratches easily and should be cleaned with special cleaners and soft clothes.
• Premium clear glass is an affordable option that will protect your art from dust and dirt, but will not protect is from UV light. This is also available in non-glare, which gives a matte finish.  Non-glare will also dull the image under the glass (more mats yields more diffusion).

Whether Glass or Acrylic it is best to use an Ultra-Violet blocking material  

Special Cases

Paper
At Materpiece Framing we mount according to the artwork in ways that are appropriate and best for the art.

Works of fine art on Paper
All methods of attaching the fine artwork to the backing board (mounting) must be reversible without harming the artwork. The attachment should also be less strong than the paper of the artwork -- this allows the attachment to give before the paper of the artwork tears or is damaged. Archival corner pockets may by used on many types of artwork, others will need linen hinges, or mulberry paper hinges and wheat starch glues.

Backing

• Backing is a minimum of 3-ply rag, Alpha-Cellulose or at a bare minimum Archival foam board.
• Archival foam board  is not enough protection for fine art but may be used with less expensive or less valuable art. Archival foam board may be used in addition to the rag for maximum protection (in most frame packages regular foam core is used with the rag). The foam core acts as a stiffener to support the art and mat package and to protect it from the back. All frame packages (except metal frames-nothing to attach to) should have a dust cover to keep out bugs and dust.
• Posters and non-valuable pieces are usually mounted on Foam Core in a vacuum press for maximum flatness and eliminates wrinkles and ripples.

Special mounting issues.

What are conservation or preservation mats and why should I use them?At My Personal Framer we prefer to use 100% conservation/preservation mat board.  

• All materials used in a frame package of fine, historical or personally important art are preserved best by using of Conservation/Preservation quality.
• Mats are purified Alpha-cellulose (either from Rag or Purified Wood Pulp). All mats are Lignin, Alum, and Rosin free.
• Mats are buffered to a pH within the range of 7.5-9.5. The alkaline reserve should be a minimum of 5%. The Alkaline reserve should be distributed evenly in all plies.

For more information read the Library of Congress Specifications for Mat/Mounting Board.  Check out Neilsen & Bainbridge Art Care System at Nielsen Bainbridge

A little about paper mats
 The standard paper mats do not protect your art.  They are non-purified wood pulp which can actually burn the paper they sit on.  The acids in the wood pulp board reacts with light and air to discolor the art. Have you ever seen old prints that have a gold rim on the paper just inside the ma?  This is caused by wood pulp acids attacking  paper.  Paper mat top colors are dyed and not pigmented.  Dyes are very light sensitve and fugative.  This means that the colors will fade significantly in short periods of time.  Next time you see a framed piece and the mat looks dull and muted compared to the art-that is fading. The colors fade in order of Yellow, then Red, Blue lasts the longest and you often end up with a blue print and mats that don't match the art anymore.

Conservation and preservation mats
 These mats are either cotton rag  or wood pulp mats also, but they have had all the nasties removed from them and then they are buffered to be neutral.  The top color of these mats are also pigmented.  Pigmentation means that the actual mineral is ground and mixed with a ground to stablize and make them adhere to the surface.


from Wikipedia  (Ok, this is the really technical stuff)Acidic vs. "acid-free"[edit]There are two main types of mat material: acidic, and "acid-free" (neutral pH). Older mats (wood based paper) are typically acidic, because acid-free paper was not widely available or marketed until recent years. While most newer mats are acid-free, there are some papers that contain acid and one should ask the picture framer about the acid content of the mats if the desired life of the piece being framed is more than 75–100 years.  (I use the term Preservation or Conservation instead of "Acid-free" as there is some confusion about what constitutes "acid-free")

The difference is important for the long term protection of the piece because acidic mats can cause what is called mat burn, brown marks that creep in from the outside onto the displayed piece itself. While mat burn is sometimes reversible through cleaning the piece, cleaning may not be feasible if the piece was executed in water-soluble inks or paints, such as watercolor. Thus, it is important to know if the mats used are acid-free if the piece is to be preserved for a long time.

To determine the pH of an older mat with a white core, look to see if the core (visible where the mat has already been cut) has turned brownish or yellowed; if so, it is acidic. If the core has not changed color, one can determine the pH by using a pH tester.

There are several categories of mat board and they are all separated by the level of protection offered the art work or artifact being framed. While some say that acidic framing materials should be avoided for all but the most temporary frames, it is not safe to say that all "acid-free" mats are recommended for long term preservation use. The hierarchy of mat board quality is as follows:

I. Museum Board - The highest quality material available. It is constructed of 100% cotton fiber, is Archival and will protect and preserve the contents of a frame. While it is the most expensive material available, the difference in actual material costs relative to the cost of framing is minimal.

II. Museum Mat or Rag Mat - Still a good quality choice for conservation, it is constructed of cotton linters (short cotton fibers)[1] and cellulose (wood pulp) middles. The cellulose is a less expensive raw material but offers sufficient conservation properties for most works.

III. Conservation or Archival Mat Board - Constructed of 100% pure high alpha cellulose (wood pulp) and treated to be inert for up to 300 years. This is the highest qualitypaper matboard available.

IV. Acid-Free[6] or Acid Free Lined - This material is usually lined with a wood based liner on one or both sides that has been treated[7] to prevent "short term" acid burn and the core is either recycled fiber. Eventually the acid in the core will leach out to the surface which can harm the artwork.

Caution must be exercised in selecting the type of framing desired. Art work that is desired to last long term (more than 75 years) can be damaged by improper mat boards that are used intentionally to lower cost. However, non-archival quality mat boards may be suitable for a photographic print, laser print, etc. that is not meant to last long term. Additionally, prints made with traditional chemical processing of photographic film (i.e. dark room development), as opposed to computer printing, are already slightly acidic by nature and therefore are much less likely to be damaged by non-archival mats.

In addition, correct "conservation" framing includes all components,[8] not just the mat board used directly behind the glass. Until recently, there were no truly "archival"-qualityfoamcore boards available, though a number of foamcore brands exist with buffered surfaces and the Nielsen Bainbridge company now produces one [2] that is claimed to both block the intrusion of airborne pollutants and to avoid the problem of outgassing that non-archival foamboards may fall prey to; for this reason, and due to many smaller frames' shallow depths, it is not uncommon to see mat boards used as backing for a picture frame as well, though foamcore and mounting boards tend to be stiffer. It is also important, if long-term preservation is of concern, to make sure the framer is using good conservation framing technique.

 A pigment is a material that changes the color of reflected or transmitted light as the result of wavelength-selective absorption. This physical process differs fromfluorescence, phosphorescence, and other forms of luminescence, in which a material emits light.

Many materials selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light. Materials that humans have chosen and developed for use as pigments usually have special properties that make them ideal for coloring other materials. A pigment must have a high tinting strength relative to the materials it colors. It must be stable in solid form at ambient temperatures.

For industrial applications, as well as in the arts, permanence and stability are desirable properties. Pigments that are not permanent are called fugitive. Fugitive pigments fade over time, or with exposure to light, while some eventually blacken.

Pigments are used for coloring paint, ink, plastic, fabric, cosmetics, food and other materials. Most pigments used in manufacturing and the visual arts are drycolourants, usually ground into a fine powder. This powder is added to a vehicle (or binder), a relatively neutral or colorless material that suspends the pigment and gives the paint its adhesion.

The worldwide market for inorganic, organic and special pigments had a total volume of around 7.4 million tons in 2006. Asia has the highest rate on a quantity basis followed by Europe and North America. In 2006, a turnover of 17.6 billion US$ (13 billion Euro) was reached mostly in Europe, followed by North America and Asia.

A distinction is usually made between a pigment, which is insoluble in the vehicle (resulting in a suspension), and a dye, which either is itself a liquid or is soluble in its vehicle (resulting in a solution). The term biological pigment is used for all colored substances independent of their solubility. A colorant can be both a pigment and a dye depending on the vehicle it is used in. In some cases, a pigment can be manufactured from a dye by precipitating a soluble dye with a metallic salt. The resulting pigment is called a lake pigment.


Mounting:  why is it important 

What does this mean?

Art is fragile, especially art on paper or canvas.  Both are friable (they tear easily), scuff, stain, discolor, and fade.  Some damage is inevitable (especially fading) even with the best of materials.  BUT, we can reduce or eliminate much of the potential damage that can happen.  

• Preservation:  Minimizing environmental damage to art
  
• Conservation:  Measures taken to restore or repair damaged art and sometimes the frame, usually undertaken by a conservator .
• Restoration:  usually applies to photographs and sometimes frames.  This may involve replaceing missing pieces on a frame.  Photographs the photo is scanned on a high resolution scanner and then retouched either by hand or by computer.  This completed restoration is then printed and framed.  The negative created in the process is given to the customer.

What I and most framers do is Preservation Framing.  If conservation is needed I take it to a conservator.  I know several:  Paper, works on canvas, and frame.  I also work with photographer David Krapes and Jan Mathis of Studio 315 in Newberg, Oregon.

Conservation/preservation mats
Mounting
Glazing; glass, acrylic or none

Black and White, or any High Contrast Art


High contrast art is sometimes the hardest to design. 
The question is, "What combination brings out the most details of the art and helps me to see the art first".

• The most logical 'maybe' is to use white or black mats and frames.  But, ask yourself this.  How much of the Black & White  photographic/etching/monopriny....  image has areas of pure white or pure black?  Often it is a variation of grays. So frame it in the gray that most makes the artwork come forward (neutral to the art).
• A light mat on a very dark photo or picture will make the picture appear darker and decrease the visible detail by having too much intensity for the subtleties of the photograph or artwork. Vis-à-vis the dark mat on a light artwork. If the photo or artwork has large areas of darks or lights use a mat that blends with the largest amount of color (black, white, or gray).
• Several shades of white, grays or blacks can be tried until the balance is correct and the eye travels first to the photo.

This also applies to any art form that is extremely dark or light

What do you want your framed piece to look and feel like when you get it home? 

• Design comes down to a gut feeling, you can hear it in a person’s words “This feels right”, or “That feels wrong”.  I tell my customers that “your instincts are right 90% of the time — so trust them”.  It often when the brain and logic get involved that design mistakes happen.
• When the art and frame design are balanced and well thought out – the viewer  will first see the whole presentation as one piece, second the art and third the framing. It is custom and each frame package is designed and hand-crafted for a specific person — there is no mass production here.
• For instance:   the client wants to fit the art into a room where there are no colors in common with the desired artwork and wants to frame the art to match the room.  This person may get a few compliments on their art – they might hear ‘what a nice frame’, 'nice picture' or nothing at all.  No raves here!  So where is there somewhere else this artwork would show better?
• Another example:  the artwork and framing style are out of sync with the rooms design and feel.  The room is very modern and the art and framing is very traditional or vintage  This technique and the reverse can work but, it has to be done with care.  The boldness may be hard to live with for some of us.  If the framing is picked to compliment or enhance the art by using elements within the art—that customer will get multitudes of compliments on their artwork. 
  
• Most admirers won’t notice that it’s not the exact same shade of ‘blue/red/whatever’ used in the room.  It doesn't need to match, just go with.
• When art is bought because it resonates in the buyer, the art can then be the jump off point for the room's design and colors.  When done this way the art, the room, the furnishings, the accessories and the owner end up being comforted and comfortable within the environment they have created around their art.  If you absolutely love the artwork and don’t want to change your décor—you may have to find a new location for the art.  Then look for artwork that you may not love but that goes with your décor.
• Another strong reason to frame to the art is that you will generally change the wall colors, buy new furniture or rugs before you will re-frame your art— most art has a minimum of 10-15 years before you may outgrow it. When the art is framed to the décor -  re-framing to fit the new décor will become a necessity.  When you frame to the art it will always look good.   You may have to move the art to a new location or room—but you won’t need to re-frame. 
• So, you wish to match your décor, especially if you love to follow trends – frame using inexpensive, decorative posters and decorative framing or choose art that will compliment your decor and won't hurt as much when you get tired of them and want to dispose of them.  This art would be bet as filler or as an accent/trend piece.

After all you frame that expensive fine art to highlight your local framer, right? — OR is it to highlight your good taste in art!