Best glass/plastic material to use for photo frames?

[heks]

Hi all! My first post (hopefully this is the right place to post this question).

I have a large collection of woven textiles from native communities all around South America that I have collected over the years. I thought that framing them to go on the wall would be a nice way to show them off and preserve them.

I wanted to make some thick frames and attach the textiles to the backing material, with a clear layer of glass/plastic covering them. Which material should I use to cover them? There seem to be a range of options, plastic, glass, plexiglass...

These textiles are large (up to 1m x 1.5m) and I have lots of them so I want the cheapest possible option.

I only have a circular saw and no specialist tools for cutting any glass/plastic - I'm not even sure how I'd go about doing that - I'm hoping the company could provide them cut to size.

Thanks in advance!

 

[oakmitre]

Probably Acrylic - it is lighter than glass and has reasonable UV blocking. If these textiles are coloured with vegetable dyes then that may be an important consideration to reduce fading.

 

[dickm]

Don't know about the UV blocking properties of Acrylic or other plastics; you can get "museum" glass which is supposed to prevent fading, but it's not cheap and not all glass suppliers will get it. Will query suitable materials with my family glass expert!

 

[heks]

Thanks! Emphasis on the cheapest option possible really - I have about 10 lots of 100cm x 100cm textiles! Even just flimsy plastic will be OK.

 

[AndyT]

It's worth checking Ikea. Even if you buy frames just for the mounting board and the plastic and throw away their moulding, they could be a good source, if they sell the right size.

 

[Harbo]

For any mounting boards, make sure you get acid free.

Rod

 

[Rob Platt]

I use these;
www.trentplastics.co.uk
01427 611 668
Mostly 2mm Acrylic cut to size and delivered
all the best
rob

 

[Lons]

Just a word on plastics:

Non of the standard acrylics off the shelf will block UV neither will ordinary or picture glass as far as I know.

For best clarity with acrylic you need cast which also has a uv protection layer ( to protect the acrylic not the material behind ). Std extruded acrylic is cheaper but normally no coating so ok if indoors no sunlight or will degrade over time, also has extrusion lines in the material.
Another much cheaper option is clear styrene, similar to extruded acrylic but more brittle.
Can cut any if careful with a circular saw and fine cut blade or a handsaw. A better way with thin material is to score and snap which is easy for straight cuts.
There are several other suitable plastics like pvc which has a bluefish tinge.

Bob

 

[Eric The Viking]

It's worth checking Ikea. Even if you buy frames just for the mounting board and the plastic and throw away their moulding, they could be a good source, if they sell the right size.

That's pretty much what I do, but I buy their big clip frames, throw out the backing board and the clips, and cut up the acrylic ("Perspex") sheet to the sizes I want. It's had protective vinyl on both sides when I've bought it that way, so easy to cut on the bandsaw or tablesaw without marking it (tablesaw needs a plastics blade though). You are supposed to be able to minimise chipping by sandwich the acrylic between bits of plywood, but I've never needed to - the edges are hidden behind the frame anyway.

You can get quite a few frames from one piece that way, with little waste. I'm not convinced you'll get it cheaper from a specialist supplier, even in larger sheets, as it's 2mm, IIRC, and must be difficult to handle in bigger sheets.

E.

On UV: Ordinary window glass does attenuate (but not block entirely) UV, but acrylic doesn't (camera lens "crown" glass doesn't either, hence the use of UV filters on the front).

That said, you probably have a different issue, which I would be more concerned about: mould spores already in your fabric pieces, if they're "artisan" ones. Glass is hydrophilic (it attracts moisture). Perspex isn't. In a damp environment or one where the frame can cool there is a risk of condensation inside the frame, leading to mould growth. Given your cloth ought to be reasonably UV proof in the first place, I wouldn't worry about it, unless you intend it to hang in strong sunlight all the time. If that is the case, you do need UV blocking glass, available from good framers and used for watercolour frames (watercolour inks/pigments are notoriously bad for fading in sunlight), and the higher temperatures from direct sunlight will anyway probably mean mould can't get started. If you have enough fabric, test a small piece unprotected out of doors in the next few weeks, to see if it does fade. Any fading will only be reduced indoors behind window and frame glass (if you use glass).

 

[custard]

If it were me I'd be strongly tempted to follow the normal "oil painting" route for framing and not have any glass at all. I appreciate fabric samplers are often glazed, but larger fabric artworks are usually not.

And that convention assumes decent quality framing glass, given that acrylic will generally end up looking cheap and tatty it's even more reason to avoid glazing.

 

[dickm]

Most of what follows has already been said, but this was my reply from our family automotive glazing specialist.
I can't think of anything that would be really good at blocking UV and affordable in those kinds of sizes. Plastics tend to absorb UV and turn yellow - so protecting the stuff behind them but not making for a very attractive display. PVC would probably be the cheapest (just called vinyl). There are UV stabilized plastics but they are more expensive.

You don't need much special equipment to cut glass - but you do need a lot of practice (preferably with free glass!). But to get UV cut off and still almost colourless glass you need a coating so the cost goes up again.

Personally I'd say use the cheapest plastic and replace it regularly if you don't want to spring for the museum glass!

 

[heks]

Wow, I'm really blown away by all the detailed and friendly help, thank you!

I am not too concerned about UV (I live in a small-windowed cottage in England - land of the rain) but I am concerned about moths and mould and so wanted to put the textiles into a frame with some silica gel pouches hidden in the edges.

I think I will go with the plastic option and build the frames so that I can replace the clear material. most of the textiles only range in value from £40-£100 (but they are beautiful and intricate - I bought them off the weavers in the mountains of Peru, Mexico and Guatemala myself) so I don't want to spend the same again just on the glass.

 

[Lons]

Then if UV not an issue Heks, styrene is without question the cheapest or at least was when I was in the business, we sold cut to size but also 2m x 1 m sheets in 2 and 3 mm thickness. As I said it's brittle but snaps easily by scoring both sides against a straight edge and then simply snap by pushing or pulling against the same edge or a length of timber.

At my branch we cut it to size on a wall saw or tablesaw depending on sizes ordered but I've also used the snap method for many years and never had a failure.

Bob