Mat Your Photo

So you picked out the perfect photo for your living room and decided all that framing stuff was a waste...why not just go to a dollar store and buy a frame?

Other than the obvious quality of the frame you might get at a dollar store, a good frame and mat are really protection for your photo. They are not a ploy to get you to spend more money.

Mats serve a few purposes. Probably the most obvious is it creates a nice little bordered off area for your photo. You didn't buy a photo to have it blend into the wall and a mat and frame help do that. It creates more of a "presence" on the wall. Which leads to... "What color mat ?" NOT the same color as your wall or sofa but either black, white( or off white) or the dominant color in the photo. If you want a little color, use a double mat and pick the dominant photo color for the bottom mat, the one with the smallest opening. Only a little will show when you put the white or black mat on top of it. Another nice option is a single mat with a core of another color. When cut, that mat has a thin bevel of the core color, such as a white mat with a black thin stripe next to the photo. Very elegant and understated. Take your photo along when you shop for a mat and see what you like best. That way you can be careful the mat isn't so colorful it overwhelms the photo.

Have you ever gone through a box of old photos and that one of Uncle Harvey and Aunt Penny on their wedding day is stuck fast to the glass? Or maybe it has some funny blackish moldy looking stuff growing on it? Willing to bet it didn't have a mat. Reason number two for a mat is since a mat creates a little air space, it helps cut down moisture and keeps the glass and photo from touching.
Purpose number three is protection from handling. Never ever ever touch the photo front with your fingers. You may not see the fingerprints then but the oils in the fingers of even the cleanest hands leave traces that eventually will degrade your photo. So be careful to only touch the edges or back, never the front surface. If you want to go crazy about it, or you just are a little klutzy and don't want to take a chance, you can buy special white cotton gloves for framing but at least be careful where you touch the photo.

Imagine this disaster...you have an unframed, unmatted photo. In comes little Fredricka, ice cream cone in hand , and naturally runs right up to your photo..Yikes! So before you display it, get it in a mat and frame. The mat also helps keep it nice and flat. You might want to save all the packaging your photo comes in and keep it there till you get it matted and framed. Easier to transport it to the store to check out mats and frames without spilling coffee on it, bending it, whatever your choice of calamity might be.

Ok, ok you'll get the mat, now what? ( cliffhanger music plays in the background) You'll have to stop back and see;)