Need advice on mat size

eoren1 · April 6, 2009

I just printed a 30" x 15" photo that is to be donated to a silent auction. I'm ordering the frame from framedestination.com and cannot decide on a border size. Any thoughts on 2" vs 3" borders? Planning on profile 506 from there which is a black frame with a 1 3/8" border.
Greatly appreciate your advice!
E

Art Scott · April 7, 2009

I think I would lean towards a 2" mat.....if it was taller I might go 3" but as it is just 15" tall then 2" would be my suggestion..........

Ann McRae · April 7, 2009

Hi Eyal

I have just had some framing done, much of it with double mats. I framed (2) 12x36 photos and used a 3" mat, with probably a 1/4 inch inner mat and a nice wide frame. Looks fantastic. I suspect 2" would be on the small side!

Hope that helps.

ann

eoren1 wrote:

I just printed a 30" x 15" photo that is to be donated to a silent auction. I'm ordering the frame from framedestination.com and cannot decide on a border size. Any thoughts on 2" vs 3" borders? Planning on profile 506 from there which is a black frame with a 1 3/8" border.
Greatly appreciate your advice!
E

ewold · April 8, 2009

Not the same size, but I just framed three 16x20 prints and went with 3inch mats. I really liked the way they turned out, but I think I could've even gone wider. I don't think I would've like 2inches at all.

eoren1 · April 9, 2009

Thanks for the replies everyone. I took a tape measure to it and think I'll go with the 3" mat - just seemed too tight with 2" but was worried about the size at 3"...

Also, as a separate issue, has anyone come up with good ways to take advantage of these silent auction opportunities? I'm selling the print with frame at cost to friends who are then donating it for their kids' school's auction. However, they asked if I wanted to use the opportunity to publicize/sell prints. I was thinking of printing a few good ones to put on the table. Not sure if it would make more sense to put together a fake mat and frame in photoshop and print that way to 'sell' the prints. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks again,
E

BradfordBenn · April 9, 2009

What I did on my one and only framed image

Hey you gotta start somewhere. Was I went in and created the Matt for viewing purposes only in Fireworks (you can use PS or other image editing tool) so I just sized the image to be the right size and then sized the Matt the proportional amount. I then messed around with color also. It really helped me to decide.

Travis · April 10, 2009

eoren1 wrote:

Also, as a separate issue, has anyone come up with good ways to take advantage of these silent auction opportunities? I'm selling the print with frame at cost to friends who are then donating it for their kids' school's auction. However, they asked if I wanted to use the opportunity to publicize/sell prints. I was thinking of printing a few good ones to put on the table. Not sure if it would make more sense to put together a fake mat and frame in photoshop and print that way to 'sell' the prints. Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

First off, i'm glad you posted this because I'm in the process of framing 30 prints and the mat question drives me crazy!

I did a silent auction a few months ago and it was an outstanding success. I donated 4 prints and got a frame shop to donate the matting, backing, and packaging. All sold for more than their estimated value. In front of the prints, I spread out 4x8" flyers with samples of my work and moo business cards with multiple images. Ended up getting multiple sales following the event.

eoren1 · April 11, 2009

Hey Travis,
Thanks for the advice.
I ordered the frame, mat and mounting board from framedestination who turned the order around in 1 day. I ended up with a 2 3/4 inch mat to allow 1/4 inch overlap for mounting the print in place and a 1 5/8 inch face for the wooden frame. I'll post a report when it arrives. I've had good luck from them in the past but went with a different frame 'profile' this time.

Also going through my landscape photos now and going to print some samples with my website and contact email on them.
i'll let you know how it goes.
E

eoren1 · April 18, 2009

Mounted and Framed
So I decided on a 2 3/4" mat which gave me 1/4" overlap on the print. With the photo being 15x30, that ended up being a 20x35 mat size. Got a frame with a 1 5/8" face and 1" rabbit.
Quick shot of the finished product:

I think the mat and frame sizes ended up perfect for this.
All material from framedestination. I was very happy with the quality. The frame looks like pressed hard wood from the back and has a very smooth matte black finish all around. This is their profile 880 one. Also got a UV filter acrylic instead of glass.
Hope that info helps,
E

Blaker · April 18, 2009

That looks great! It's sure to draw in lots of bids for the silent auction!

Was the frame easy to assemble? I've looked into using framedestinations but haven't tried them yet.

eoren1 · April 18, 2009

Very easy
i ordered the mat - using a custom size, mounting board, frame and acrylic. The frame is made. All you have to do is mount the mat to the mounting board which I do by running a length of linen tape between the two ends. Then you mount the photo (I use a hinge mount). The hardest part is getting the backing off the acrylic (it has a protective sheet on either side) and cleaning it (you need a special acrylic cleaner). I'm not actually sure that it needs to be cleaned after taking the backing off...
Then plop down the acrylic followed by the finished mat/photo/mount board. When you order all the pieces from them, they include the wire and brackets so that it can be hung easily.
That's all there is to it.
E

Travis · April 18, 2009

That came out looking great! I think it would be actually hard for me to hand it over to the client and not hang it on my wall.

Thanks for the specs - they help a lot.

Need advice on mat size

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