Backing Board

Post examples...
Of framing styles or techniques that rocked your boat, and also of those that didn't
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Backing Board

Post by Pro-Am »

A customer dropped in an old frame to have the picture (circa 1940's) copied. On removing the backing paper I found this; a little acidic I think.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by sable filbert »

We used to see this all the time, sometimes damage was done, others not, surprisingly.
Getting less common now though.

And I rarely see the semi-opaque coating, patiently and methodically attaching itself to glass, that the smokers played at.
Yuck.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by prospero »

Don't chuck that old back out! Slice it up into strips and glue it to some square timber.
You have the makings of an awesome 'rustic' frame. Bit of wax and a yellow duster - bingo.
I always save old backs like that. Not often you see one all one piece. That sort of texture
is not easy to reproduce. Pure wood porn. :P

I've got a few bundles of fence slats in the shed waiting to be re-purposed. :giggle:
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Re: Backing Board

Post by vintage frames »

I wouldn't be inclined to throw that backing board away. Those in the antique trade call it split pine backing and was used extensively in early picture frames. As it's just a piece of pine, I'm not sure if it would have any detrimental effect on the frame contents. Either way it would be best to re-use it inside the frame, with a barrier board between the artwork, and this would preserve the integrity of the picture.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Jamesnkr »

I always save it. But seldom reuse it...
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Re: Backing Board

Post by prospero »

Hard to think that composite wooden boards are a comparatively recent innovation. :roll:
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Re: Backing Board

Post by hyperfocal »

The customer, against my advice, insisted I put it back as it was. Sentimental attachment won over good practice; surprisingly there was no apparent damage to the picture other than some slight fading.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by prospero »

Actually, it's not the old boards that are nasty as such. It's usually the board underneath that deteriorates.
On old pictures where a print is mounted to cardboard and there is a gap in the backing board(s), the exposure
to air though the gap makes the underboard go mental. So much so that a big brown streak will appear which
very often permeates right though the print. The parts covered by the slats is more-or-less fine.
The slats will go dark on the outside but on the other side they will look as good as new.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Steve N »

Course you can put it back on, just use a good barrier board between it and the artwork, done it many time


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Re: Backing Board

Post by Pro-Am »

The lady came back today, with the same frame and seven more of the same vintage; having decided to get them all copied, with the originals to be put into archival envelopes for storage and the copies to be framed. My recommendation must of sunk in.

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Re: Backing Board

Post by Jamesnkr »

What on earth is the point in hanging photocopies? You recommended that?
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Pro-Am »

Jamesnkr wrote:What on earth is the point in hanging photocopies? You recommended that?
No I have a professional photo lab, the pictures are scanned and the digital files are restored then printed on photographic paper.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Jamesnkr »

So that's not a copy and not produced by a photographic process.....

I repeat my question. What's the point in hanging a photographic copy; did you seriously recommend that? If somebody came in with the Mona Lisa would you recommend the same process?
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Re: Backing Board

Post by JohnMcafee »

Lots of folk with expensive artwork do precisely this. Keep the art in a vault and display a high quality copy on their wall.

Also I have had many customers ask us to provide this service for their rapidly deteriorating newspaper cuttings.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by prospero »

Another reason people hang a copy and archive the original is insurance. Keeping a Rembrandt on your wall
would cost an enormous amount to insure. Over a few years it would cost more than you paid for the painting.
Cheaper to out it in a bank vault. :D
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Pro-Am »

Jamesnkr wrote:So that's not a copy and not produced by a photographic process.....

I repeat my question. What's the point in hanging a photographic copy; did you seriously recommend that? If somebody came in with the Mona Lisa would you recommend the same process?
I must not be making myself clear, the original photographs will be scanned, tweaked and then printed on a digital photographic printer. The photographic paper is light sensitive and passes through a chemical process the same as it did back in the days of darkrooms. The paper we use has an archival rating of 100 years.

Most photographic labs use a hybrid system where the input is digital and the print is produced on a standard photographic paper. Although for good or bad the trend is moving towards total digital printing involving inks rather than chemicals. As an aside when my printer was originally purchased 10 years ago it cost me $165000, about the price of a reasonable family home back then.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by vintage frames »

I don't think the argument is quite hitting home.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Jamesnkr »

Pro-Am wrote:I must not be making myself clear,
I'm sure you're doing lots of clever things with your fancy equipment; I'm not trying to knock that at all, I have no doubt you are very well equipped and skilled. However I must not be making myself clear.

I just don't see the point in hanging a photocopy (no matter how expensive the photocopier) - and putting the originals in a drawer somewhere. Do you recommend that anybody who comes in with original art should have it copied and leave the original in a drawer?


If so, art dealers are all now out of jobs.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by prospero »

James. This is a common and accepted practice. Sometimes there are things that are so fragile
and beyond restoration that putting them in a frame would not be an option. The only option if
they are to displayed is to make a copy and frame that.
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Re: Backing Board

Post by Jamesnkr »

There went the last of the romantics!
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