Mountboard

[Apollo]

Hi Everyone,

I noticed at the spring fair that a lot of art was mounted using a heavy textured board, normally white but sometimes cream. It gives a really classy effect, especially on double mounts. I have looked at the colormount board that I have and it doesn't really seem as textured. The lion value range is better but I am unsure of its qualities and, to be honest it seems a little bit harder to cut.

Is there an industry standard for this type of board? There seems to be a lot of it out there.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

[kev@frames]

the difference is that they have different suface papers, most of the colourmount are a more traditional ingres paper, some of the Arquadia boards have a very heavy pattern in comparison. Most of the colourmount textured boards have a subtle "laid" pattern like you get in some papers (Conqueror paper for example) so lend themselves very well to framing documents, certificates, watercolours, pastels, drawings etc.

The Arquadia "dimple" type of face paper lends itself to more modern stuff, abstracts, anything geometric, photos, etc.

We sell both, and many people do seem to like the textures, specially on the creams, ivory and whites. But the dark textures also sell well (bottle greens and dark blues).

One thing we have noticed is that colourmount seems very consistent, while sometimes arquadia will seem "flattened" (maybe it actually is, and we get the pack from the bottom of the stack!)

Top of the charts round our way:
Colourmount antique white and off white textured, and acres of Arquadia textured white (hayseed), these are our top three sellers, followed by smooth cream (Ivory), smooth white, and smooth black. At number 7 is Colourmount Nightshade (Dark textured blue) which is a big hit with our customers having papyrus framed, 8 is Colourmount Beaujolais (smooth), and at number nine, dropping from number four last year, colourmount bottle green. Finally scraping in at number ten in the moonshine hit parade of colours is Colourmount Maple green.

[Apollo]

wow! Thanks for that Kev. Its good to know what other peple are using as it may give me a bit more confidence to try other colours myself. I use a lot of the colormount greys myself for certificates and my clients really seem to go for that over and above whites and off whites when they actually see it.

I haven't actually tried any of the Arqadia board myself yet but the hayseed sounds really interesting.

I use Lion for all my supplies as they are local, really convenient and they are only too pleased to help despite the fact that I sometimes only go in for a couple of sheets of board. I may have to try other stockists in future, however, to widen my choice.

[Moglet]

Hi Apollo!

Colourmount 3973 Iced White is another very useful board. Like Kev, I also use a lot of CM Antique White (2nd best seller).

Arqadia's Larson Juhl Artique board range has some very useful colours: Raven is a conservation grade black (and a very 'black' black!), and Artique Chestnut is an excellent dark brown.

I got a sample of the embossed boards from Lion. They look gorgeous, but I decided not to carry them because the majority of them were cream core. Pity.

[Roboframer]

Is there an industry standard for this type of board? There seems to be a lot of it out there.

There is an industry standard for types of board, but regards quality rather than finish.

I don't worry about them - it's either preservation quality or not.

Nielsen-Bainbridge have some interesting finishes in their artcare range and the protection element is unrivalled.

The basic range is textured, then there are 'fossils' (well, one - Arabian Fossil) Leather effects, rice papers 'Grotto' and 'porcelina' (Sp) ( those are patterns not textures)

Plus others including suedes - coloured cores too.

Arqadia have some nice suedes too and Crescent have a bewildering array of textures - not cheap, available through Wessex.


This is an artcare rice paper 'Lamplight'

[Apollo]

Gosh, Robo. That frame is stunning! I think that I have unleashed a lion here(no pun intended!), as I know realise that there are more boards than you can shake a measuring stick at!

I almost wish that I hadn't asked now as I will not sleep knowing that ther are all those other lovely alternatives out there.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I will try to blag some samples.

[Mary Case GCF]

Like John we use almost exclusively Bainbridge Alphamat Artcare. In the process of weeding out the other makes, though I will miss SH 3973 - Iced white- it has been a very successful colour for me.
Unfortunately my wholesaler doesn't at present stock the whole range, but they have agreed to order boards in for me. I've got more room now that I have bought an extension to my mountboard storage unit. Good to see ricepaper Lamplight in the flesh. That's one I have already decided to stock, but haven't ordered yet. I didn't know they had suedes though. I thought I had the most up-to-date colour chart - a sort of pinky coloured one. I was just going to stick with Ardadia's range of suedes

[Moglet]

For what it's worth, Apollo, if you're looking for a "main stock range," I'd really recommend going for Bainbridge Artcare from day one. The colour/pattern choice is superb, and the active artwork protection afforded by the range will be a significant, caring, value-add for your customers.

When I first started up (just over 2½ years ago), I didn't know that Artcare existed, so I have a (being truthful) daft amount of Colourmount and Arqadia boards to work through before I can standardise on Bainbridge. If I had my time again, I'd go for Artcare from day one, supplemented by Arqadia suedette boards, plus some cherry-picked "useful" colours from other ranges.

Mary, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know what Bainbridge board you find to be the best sub for 3973 (it has to be the most useful board I've come across to date).

[kev@frames]

LOL, Robo, no wonder you never got to see us in penzance if thats the map you are still using
unbelievably I framed an identiacal one this week
In Arquadia cream inner, colourmount 3975 (nightshade) outer, and a black half inch hogarth. sigh.

Apollo: A note about colourmount (and others): Whilst almost all the pale colours (creams, whites, off whites) will be available in conservation (preservation) standards, (which is pretty much a default minimum quality over the shop counters amongst us now) and are suitable for framing most things you'll have to frame, one or two of the darker colours do not have proper "conservation" face papers. So keep it in mind when using old offcuts for liners/undermounts that might be in contact with the back of the artwork, specially if you are framing old maps or documents like Robo's up there.

[Apollo]

Thanks for the info guys. Very illuminating. Does anyone know of any other stockists other than Lion in the Middlesex area? Possibly for the Bainbridge boards.

I assume that most manufacturers can supply a sample chart FOC if I ask.

[absolute framing]

hi,

I use a lot of the Daler - conservation Pro - Textured board

Really nice texture, and unlike colourmount boards the texture is the same whether viewed portrait or landscape.
Maybe it's just my eyes but the colourmount textured seams to have lines embedded in it when you view it from an angle

Lion stock daler as well as colourmount.

Dont use lion for mountboard as i'm here in ireland

For any Irish members/lurkers Daler boards are available from AMD
There in Rathcoole, Co. Dublin 01 4010130

[WelshFramer]

Thanks for the info guys. Very illuminating. Does anyone know of any other stockists other than Lion in the Middlesex area? Possibly for the Bainbridge boards.

I assume that most manufacturers can supply a sample chart FOC if I ask.

I buy direct from NielsonBainbridge. Orders arrive within 48 hours and the minimum order is 10 boards.

P&P is quite reasonable - I think it's about £10 for orders under something like £130 otherwise free.

If you do start buying from them it's best to open an account. They will take cash orders but don't seem to keep any record of them which means giving all of your details each time you order and chasing a problem is next to impossible.

[Mary Case GCF]

Mary, I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know what Bainbridge board you find to be the best sub for 3973 (it has to be the most useful board I've come across to date).

Aine, I'm going over to Bainbridge Chalk B8438. The only thing is that it is not textured, but the colour is very close. We all have our favourite colours. I love Bainbridge Green Whisper but it is only whitecore and the last batch was a different shade from my sample, which gave us a bit of trouble with a particularly difficult picture on yucky (technical term)green paper. I'm saying goodbye to many favourite colours, but the choice in the artcare range is so good, I don't think I will miss them for long. We all have to learn to move on and not hold on to the past. Wish I could do the same at home. All 4 of us are hoarders

[Roboframer]

LOL, Robo, no wonder you never got to see us in penzance if thats the map you are still using
unbelievably I framed an identiacal one this week
In Arquadia cream inner, colourmount 3975 (nightshade) outer, and a black half inch hogarth. sigh.

You must have missed it 1st time around Kev - it was a double sided job.

http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=1558

[Moglet]

Thanks, Mary!

I must confess that I plan to continue stocking Iced White and probably use Artcare undermounts and barrier boards for lower value work. For people who don't want to go "whole hog" I feel comfortable with the compromise.

On hoarding, you're certainly not alone!

[fionnuala]

as ye are on the topic of mountboards.

we stock colourmount and we recently got an order for a print to be done with museum mountboard. so i just ordered the colourmount because the supplier we use will send us done a few sheets and not a whole pack.

but as i see moglet you are thinking of changing to bainbridge. should i be rethinking this. is colourmount museum good enough?

p.s who is the supplier in ireland for bainbridge??

[Roboframer]

Alphamat artcare (non cotton) outperforms other makes of cotton boards.

AlphaRAG artcare is cheaper than some other cotton boards and comes in some very nice colours too.

Some highly qualified/experienced people in the USA do not differentiate between alpha cellulose and cotton boards.

I'll see if I can find a link later on.

[Roboframer]

As promised

Further discussion

See why I don't worry about FATG levels? A bit outdated I think.

[fionnuala]

Geez!! i read through that thread, john and a lot of it went over my head. its soo technical. i guess i need to reread it and hope it will sink in!!

there is soo many different brands and grades it gets quite confusing to someone new to the field.

better get back to my reading...

[markw]

Artcare antique white was always one of my favorites - Artcare French white is a very close replacement - although the texturing on recent boards seems to have become less pronounced.

Suedes can be fun to cut on a cmc - they need to be cut face down or the jockey wheel crushes the finish.