The Framers Forum

Hi all,

I'm trying to find the whitest possible conservation mount. I've searched all the LJ, Colourmount & Daler options to no avail.
The glacier, arctic and snow whites look creamy, pinky or yellowy against the extremely white picture border I have in for framing.
Any suggestions please ?

Also the customer has selected an mdf frame and given the processes that mdf goes through is mdf suitable for conservation framing ?
If so do I need to provide any additional protection (e.g. lining of rebate) ?
Customer has also asked if mdf frames are stable (i.e. will they warp) ?

Many thanks,

Neil

Have a look at this thread, might explain, the paper might have been treated as per the thread, so it's bright white, had a design/photorapher come in to me and want a mount to match his paper, he had to compaire them outside in the daylight

https://www.theframersforum.com/viewtop ... 15#p125815

Bright white paper or board will contain optical brightening agents (OBAs) so you're out of luck there. If your idea of conservation is in line with the FATG standards then the board can't contain OBAs:

"2.17. The stock must be free of optical brightening agents."

Having said that, the print border will also have OBAs in it if it's that white! It's always difficult to match colours (especially whites) and sometimes just better to have a contrasting colour/shade IMHO

As for MDF I can't say if it will warp in time but lining the rebate is a good idea.

The effects of OBA's can be greatly reduced by blocking the UV falling onto the paper...

Canson/Arches new BFK Rives PW is supposedly the brightest non-OBA printing paper, using a suspected blue pigment in the coating. You could bond that atop of whatever is the brightest archival board.

In general MDF products are not considered a product appropriate for conservation use.

It a fairly universally accepted fact that MDF normally contains a significant amount of formaldehyde. Formaldhyde is a very powerful ingredient and highly invasive chemical product which is definitely not a conservation friendly material. Formaldehyde is a major ingredient in expoxy resins. Normally, most MDF mouldings are finished with a silicone coated paper wrapped covering which is applied with a self adhesive backing.

Unfortunately MDF is a hydroscopic material and absorbs humidity from the air and expands, creating tension between the MDF and the paper wrapping, then all is needs is a few hot days in the summer and the self adhesive of the paper starts to creep and then the unsightly gaps start to appear at the corners of the frame as paper is able to return to it's original dimensions.

You often can see how awful such frames can look after very little time, by looking at such frames in your local charity shops. Such moulding are mostly used for contract framing jobs, when quality is of secondary importance to getting the lowest possible prices. Even many super markets are not display MDF paper wrapped frames these day and they have largely been replaced by polymer mouldings (similar to Polcore) instead.

It may not cost you much more to switch to polymer mouldings yourself!

Pheww, found the same moulding in obeche so the mdf issue has gone away.

Thanks all !

Neil

Obeche is also kinder to you Morso blades as well!

Hadn't thought of that Mark, thanks for the tip.

OBA's will eventually become less effective as time goes by, it's a basic limitation of this type of technology. OBA's work the same way as the flourescent coating inside fourescent lighting tubes. Big stores companies will often replace their flourescent lighting tubes in as little as 6 months of use. It is said that this is how long it takes for the initially light intesity to decline to 50 percent of the flourescent tubes original level. The reality is that the tubes are still consuming the same amount of electric power, but the flourescent coating inside the tube is now not delivering the same level of light. This is not just bad economics for the store, but these stores are very dependant of well light in store advertising and product prominance in good levels of lighting to maintain sales levels. The same can also be true with intense white light LED's, which also convert an intense ultra violet LED light in to a white light by the same principle.

It is not difficult to understand the comments about discolouration of the mountboard, as it's the same principle which applies is this situation as well and I would suggest that it is possible that this so called discolouration might be due to nothing more than a simple loss of flourescence from the OBA's. As far as I am aware most of these flourescent materials are concerned, they are based up on naturally occurring mineral semiconductor compounds and as such these compounds are pobablly not very likely to add any additional pigmenting to the paper whatsoever. If anyone is interested to carry out a little experiment with their UV lamp and and a decent quality of Titanium White paint, I'd be interested in hearing if this also flouresceces. Titanium White contains titanium dioxide which is a very interesting material and has some interesting properties which also makes it very usueful in electro optical applications. I am expecting these OBA's to be either colourless, or perhaps white.