Framing your artwork exactly enhances your parcel and prolongs the lifetime of your creative work.
When you've worked hard on your art piece, you want it to remain perfect in the frame -- without buckling, "Newton Rings," wet spots, image transfer, dirt, staining or mold. Using a spacer when framing keeps the art from touching the glass and allows the piece to expand and contract with changes in humidity and temperature without being damaged. The spacers should be "archival quality," which means non-acidic and with chemical stability, just like the other parts of the framing materials. Place double-sided tape on all edges of the dust cover, turn the dust cover so the taped side faces the back of the frame and adhere it to the back of the frame.
Wear safety goggles. Break off with pliers any points of glass in the corners caused by poor cutting. Optionally, you can also break off a small piece of glass from each corner so excess glue inside the corners of the frame does not cause the glass to crack from too much pressure.
2. Swipe the edges of the glass with two or three light strokes of a carborundum whetstone or a diamond, tungsten or hand seamier. Swiping the glass helps the spacers adhere more easily and reduces injuries from the sharp edges as you clean and work with the glass.
3. Cut 4 inches of commercial spacer and push its groove onto one edge of the glass near a corner so at least 1 inch hangs out past the corner. Use this piece of spacer as a gauge for placing a spacer on the edge of the glass that is at a 45-degree angle to it.
4. Push the groove of the spacer onto the edge of glass so it is butted up against the gauge piece. Cut off with the anvil shears the excess spacer when it reaches the corner using the glass edge as a guide.
5. Place a spacer on the next edge of glass, butting it up against the space of the previous edge. Cut the spacer when it reaches the corner. Repeat the procedure for side three.
6. Remove the spacer gauge. Put a spacer on the last edge of the glass. Clean both sides of the glass with the lint-free cloth and glass cleaner. Anti-reflective glass requires a cleaner that is ammonia-free. Put on the white cotton gloves.
7. Place the matted artwork face up on a clean surface. Fit the frame with the glass side facing up over the matted artwork and backboard. Check to make sure there is no remaining dust or fingerprints on the glass.
8. Insert glazing points into the rabbet, which is the opening in the back of the frame, to hold the backboard in place. Allow a slight amount of space between the backboard and glazing points to allow for expansion due to environmental conditions.
9. Turn over the frame. Spacers can give the illusion that the artwork is floating in space. They will enhance the display and longevity of your creative work.
