U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: show opening,plexiglas, and Daniel Smith

Re: show opening,plexiglas, and Daniel Smith

Well, I'm not a big fan of glass, either-- although I would love to be able to afford museum glass. I have used plexi in only very few instances-- and, from my experience, the other problem with plexi is that it seems to offer a strange color cast, if you look at it the right (wrong?) way. And if you use it for anything large, it will sometimes warp. Maybe a different manufacturer wouldn't present those same problems, though; that's a good point.

I will say, though, in the 25+ years I've been exhibiting, the only time I ever had a glass break on a framed piece was in shipping once-- and even then, it didn't break in transit. It broke when the person who took the framed piece out of the crate, dropped it. Fortunately, it didn't damage the print. Of course, you're right about the damage to the body. I don't think I've ever framed a big piece without cutting myself. It's a wonder I still have all my fingers. But I do have to invest in a lot of band-aids and first-aid kits. Still . . . you couldn't pay me to use plexi on a regular basis. I do my own framing, too, and additional "patience and elbow grease" --above and beyond-- would probably just send me right over the edge.


On Mar 8, 2009, at 5:19 PM, David Ashcraft wrote:

I have used acrylic for almost 10 years and love it. Clean with Brillianize or Plus 210, both are anti fog and anti static. The latter is used for heavy cleaning and big scratches, add patience and elbow grease for the deep cleaning jobs and scratch removal. An old T-shirt thats gone thru the wash a 1000x's, its soft and lintless and does a nice job at a price even I can afford.

I have a carpet covered work bench for framing that I sometimes mist with the Brillianize to get rid of the static electricity sometimes generated there.

Also, if you're cleaning a framed piece just spray directly on the cloth not the acrylic to avoid the solution running into the bottom of the frame and soaking into the artwork. After hanging a show I use this technique to remove fingerprints and dust, plus it adds static protection.

I reuse acrylic often IF I have handled it carefully and stored it in a safe place.

Not all acrylic is equal, if you check with the different manufactures you will find that some have UV filtering ability which may be a consideration depending on what you're framing. Also they make an anti glare which I found useless because of the dulling of the image. Had a customer request it and later had to change it out when they saw effect it had on the print.

Glass can scratch but what's worse is when it breaks and gouges the print or your body!

David


On Mar 8, 2009, at 11:10 AM, Keith Schreiber wrote:

And yes, from me experience it does have the effect of eliminating the static charge - at least for a while. I don't think it is possible to eliminate it permanently. We used cheesecloth to apply it. Dryer sheets sound like a good idea to try too.