Quick answer: Framing art prints, posters and limited edition prints starts with one decision: whether the paper is attached in a way you can undo. Hinge mounting is reversible and protects the value of a signed or numbered print. Dry mounting is permanent and flattens the sheet for good. Everything after that, mat, glazing and moulding, follows from that first call.
Paper is not canvas. It swells when the room is humid and shrinks when the furnace runs. A frame either allows for that movement or fights it. Our workshop sits on Tomken Road near Derry Road, the same northeast corner of Mississauga as Malton, and most of what crosses our counter is paper: gallery prints, film posters, screen prints, a child’s first watercolour.
Why is a work on paper framed differently from a painting?
Because paper moves and a stretched painting mostly does not.
Press a sheet flat against glass and that seasonal movement has nowhere to go. The paper cockles and the high points press against the glazing. Moisture condensing inside the glass cannot evaporate, and the print surface can eventually bond to it. Lift it off later and ink comes away.
The Canadian Conservation Institute puts it simply in its guidance on basic care of works of art on paper: “Window mats offer space between the image and the glazing in a frame.” That is the mat’s real job. It looks like decoration. It works as a spacer.
With no mat we build the gap using a hidden spacer strip under the rabbet lip, the recess cut into the back of a moulding that holds glass, mats, mount and backing. Glass resting on paper is never an option.
Should your print be hinge mounted or dry mounted?
Hinge it if it has value. Dry mount it if it does not.
Hinge mounting attaches the sheet with two small hinges along the top edge only. The print hangs from those points and stays free to expand and contract downward through the year. Release the hinges and the sheet lifts away with its margins intact.
Dry mounting does the opposite. The print goes into a heated press with adhesive tissue behind it, and heat and pressure bond the whole back surface to a board. Dead flat, never ripples, permanent.
Permanent is the problem. Dry mounting is what destroys resale value. A print carrying a signature, an edition number or a plate mark loses most of its market value the moment it is bonded to a board, because the sheet can no longer be examined from behind or remounted. Dealers treat a dry mounted edition as damaged.
So the counter rule is blunt. Signed, numbered or old: hinge it. A twenty dollar poster you want dead flat: dry mount it.
| Print type | Mount method | Mat | Glazing | Reversible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signed or numbered limited edition | Hinged at the top edge only | Window cut larger than the sheet, or float mounted | 99% UV coated glass | Yes |
| Open edition art print or reproduction | Hinged | Single or double window mat | UV coated or non glare glass | Yes |
| Photographic print on paper | Hinged or corner mounted | Window mat acting as the spacer | UV coated glass | Yes |
| Film or band poster you want flat | Dry mounted | Optional | Regular or non glare glass | No |
| Large poster for a busy public room | Vacuum press film, no frame | None | None | No |
| Map, document or certificate on aged paper | Hinged | Window mat | 99% UV coated glass | Yes |
How is a limited edition print matted?
By showing the whole sheet, not by cropping it.
An edition carries its identity in the margins. Along the bottom edge you will usually find three things in pencil: the edition number on the left, the title in the centre, the signature on the right. The number reads as a fraction: 12/150 is the twelfth impression from a run of 150. Etchings carry a plate mark too, the shallow embossed rectangle the metal plate pressed into damp paper, and handmade sheets often have a deckle, the feathered edge left by the papermaker’s mould.
Every one of those is evidence. An appraiser, a buyer or an insurer looks for them first. Crop them under a mat and the proof is gone.
So editions get a window cut larger than the sheet, or float mounting that raises the paper so its edges throw a shadow. Both keep the pencil markings, the plate mark and the deckle visible.
Window size, overlap and the wider bottom border
Everything else gets a window cut to overlap the image. We cut it about 3 mm smaller than the image on each side, one eighth of an inch, so the mat covers the ragged edge of the printing and no white gap appears if the sheet shifts. Less overlap and movement shows as an uneven line. More and you start eating the picture.
Mat width is proportion. An 8 by 10 inch print looks right with a 2 to 2.5 inch border. A 24 by 36 inch poster needs 3 to 4 inches. We cut single, double and triple mats in many colours with custom cut windows, and the usual upgrade is a second mat showing 5 mm of a darker tone underneath.
Borders are not equal. Cut all four the same and the picture looks like it is sliding out the bottom, because the eye reads the visual centre as slightly above the physical centre. Add 10 to 20 percent at the bottom, so a 3 inch mat becomes 3.5 inches along the bottom edge.
Which glazing belongs over a print?
The one that blocks ultraviolet, unless the budget says otherwise.
The Canadian Conservation Institute states that “exposure to light (natural as well as artificial) causes colours to fade and the paper to discolour and, in some cases, become brittle”, and it recommends glazing that filters ultraviolet light. Its preventive conservation guidelines for paper objects set the target higher: “aim for no UV”.
We stock three glazings.
- Regular glass. Clear, cheap, reflective, no useful ultraviolet filtering.
- Non glare glass. The surface is etched, so reflections diffuse instead of mirroring the room.
- UV coated glass, which the owner describes as 99% UV coated. This goes over anything signed, aged or irreplaceable.
Tru Vue publishes the numbers for its Conservation Clear glass: up to 99% of 300nm to 380nm UV rays blocked, with more than 89% of visible light still transmitted. That is the trade: a slice of brightness for nearly all of the band that does the fading.
Non glare glass carries its own trade. The etched surface scatters light, and the scatter grows with the distance between glass and art. Sitting close, the image stays sharp. Lift it 5 mm on a single mat and the image softens. Lift it 12 mm on a triple mat plus a spacer and fine detail goes fuzzy. Deep mats and non glare glass work against each other.
The poster route with no glass at all
Not every print needs a frame. We print posters in house on a wide format printer that runs up to 44 inches wide and about 7 feet long, and we can finish them two ways that skip glazing.
The laminator seals a clear film across the face of the print. The vacuum press does something comparable, applying a thin protective film over the surface so the piece hangs without glass. Either way you get a sealed panel that will not tear at the corners and weighs a fraction of a glazed frame.
Two cautions. Both processes are permanent, so they belong on material you can reprint and never on anything signed. And a surface film is a finish, not ultraviolet protection. Sizes and stocks sit on our poster printing page, alongside our digital printing options.
What happens when you bring a print to the counter
- We unroll it and read the edges. Deckle, plate mark, pencil signature, edition number, old tape, foxing, a previous dry mount.
- We agree on reversible or permanent. One question, asked out loud, written on the order.
- We size the mat. Image measured, overlap set at 3 mm per side, borders drawn with the bottom weighted, mat count and window shape chosen.
- We pick glazing. Where the piece will hang decides this: which wall, which way the nearest window faces, how much evening light.
- We choose the moulding and check the rabbet. The range runs from a polystyrene economy line to premium wood and composite profiles, with the owner putting the difference at roughly two to three times. The rabbet must hold the whole stack without pressing on it.
- We assemble, seal the package and fit hanging hardware sized to the finished weight.
Bring your prints to Tomken Road
Bring the piece flat if you can, rolled in a tube if you cannot, never folded. If it is signed, say so first. Our picture frames page shows the moulding range, and custom picture framing covers mats, glazing and construction across everything we frame. You can also request a quote with photos and measurements.
Supreme Pictures
7025 Tomken Rd Unit 4, Mississauga, ON L5S 1R6
Phone: (905) 956-7400
Hours: Monday to Friday 10:30 AM to 7:00 PM; Saturday 10:30 AM to 5:00 PM; Sunday closed
Frequently asked questions
Does dry mounting ruin a limited edition print?
It ruins the value. Dry mounting bonds the whole back of the sheet to a board with heat and adhesive, permanently. A numbered or signed print can then never be examined from behind, remargined or remounted, so dealers and appraisers treat it as damaged goods. Hinge mounting at the top edge is the reversible alternative.
Why does my framed poster have ripples in it?
Paper expands and contracts with room humidity. If the sheet is trapped tight between glass and backing with no room to move, that movement turns into cockling, which shows as soft ripples across the surface. A window mat or a hidden spacer creates the air gap the paper needs.
How much of the print does the mat cover?
About 3 mm on each side, roughly one eighth of an inch. That overlap hides the ragged outer edge of the printing and stops a white gap appearing if the sheet moves slightly. Limited editions are the exception: the window is cut larger than the sheet so signatures and margins stay visible.
Is non glare glass better than UV coated glass for an art print?
They solve different problems. Non glare glass scatters reflections but softens the image as the gap between glass and paper grows, so it suits shallow mats. UV coated glass tackles fading instead. Tru Vue rates its Conservation Clear at up to 99% blocking of 300nm to 380nm ultraviolet.
Can you print and hang a poster without any glass?
Yes. We print up to 44 inches wide and about 7 feet long, then finish the sheet through a laminator or a vacuum press that lays a thin protective film over the surface so it hangs without glazing. The finish is permanent, so we use it only on reprintable material.
