Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

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Jamesnkr

Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by Jamesnkr »

Somebody here recommended using foamboard for spacers in box frames. Seems like a great idea as it's easier - and cheaper - than using (painted) wood. I have done this for a few frames. Anyway, this week I picked up a bit of left-over foamboard which I had saved expressly for this purpose. Half has been exposed to (dim) light, the other half had something else against it. And it has yellowed; horribly on the exposed half. This being Daler Rowney, which describes itself as having a ph neutral surface.

What should I have used?
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prospero
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Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by prospero »

Face it with mountboard scraps. :wink:

Not a smoker are you James? :roll:

Sounds more like atmospheric pollution than acid-burn. Is the board anywhere near a kitchen?
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Jamesnkr

Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by Jamesnkr »

No, I'm so dull I never even tried a fag behind the bike shed!

I am in the middle of London so lack the pure clean Lincolnshire air, but it's not *that* polluted down here...
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Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by prospero »

You would be amazed at the gunk that is floating about. My kitchen light has a plastic diffuser and that
has gone a nice shade of orange over the years. Strangely enough the ceiling is still white. :roll:
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Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by Tudor Rose »

We've never used foamboard spacers on their own, we've always faced them with mountboard strips as Prospero also suggested. That would certainly solve your problem of the foamboard facing paper changing colour. Having said that we've got a whole load of foamboard - full sheets and scraps kept in various places around the workshop; I can't remember ever seeing much of a colour shift in the facing paper. Maybe it was a dodgy batch.
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Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by poliopete »

My foamboard has a drawer to it's self in my plan chest so have never noticed that problem :lol: After reading your post I've set a piece up in a spare bedroom under the same conditions to see what happens to it :o

Your right about our "pure clean Lincs. air" on the other hand we are a sea of mud at the moment because of the Sugar beat being lifted :head:

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Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by Not your average framer »

I have seen discoloured facing papers of very old foam board framed years ago, but at one time the only foam boards there was only the foamboard primarily produced for the construction industry. As far as I am told, the foamboard available from framing suppliers are not much like these original varieties at all. However, I have seen older framed items, where spray mount, or something similar has had a very serious effect upon the whatever the foamed material in the centre of the board happened to be.

I don't think that most of us would even dream of using spray mount on anything these days, because of the damage which can occur in some cases, usually without remedy. I would think that you would be safe to use PVA glue and probably acylic based versions of finger lift tape, but I would think twice before using any solvent based adhesives. Considering that the framing industry has been using foamboard for years, I think any serious issues would already be well known by now and that you should not need to worry about using foamboard under normal conditions at all.

As for any apparently contaminated stock that you may have, I would at the very least avoid using this in direct contact with an artwork and personally I would not use any which is in any way suspect for framing my customers work, after all it sounds like it's only one sheet that you are taking about and the cost of discarding just one sheet is almost nothing. Most of us regard our reputations as quite valuable in comparision, so better safe than sorry.
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Re: Foamboard as a spacer in a box frame

Post by Steve N »

never had any problems with discolouring, but I have found that there seems to be shelf life to foam board, when cutting a bit that has been around for a while, it seems to cut fine one way across the board, then if you turn it 90 degrees and try to cut, it tends drag the inner foam, so bits come out, but if you put a brand spanking new blade in, no problem, don't know why it's only one direction it happens with a slightly warn blade :o :?:

we always face our foarcore spacers with mountcard, normally cut the foamcore slightly under size, so it's the mountcard that produces the correct depth, stick both with a few dabs of PVA ,with a few bits of d/sided tape to hold until the PVA dries
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