What are your favorite specialty mats?

[Jana]

My favorite specialty mats at the moment are Bainbridge's...Victorian Cameo, Rococo Cream, Antique Sienna, all the leaf ones (ex. Garden Walk), and the rice papers, just to mention a few.

They might be trendy, but they are pretty and versatile. I noticed when I designed framing for some of my own antique postcards, I used all mats from this line.

Don't worry. I don't use these for every design! Sometimes an elegant off white rag mat is the only thing that works.

[Barb Pelton]

Jana,
I'm with you! I love the Alphamat Traces line and the Heritage collection. We use tons of Imperial Mauve why did they name it that?), Victorian Cameo and Baroque Black. I simply would be lost at the design counter without the Tru Vue Faux Leather line.

[Leslie S.]

Of course, being in a "ranchy" area, I use lots of those TV faux leathers. I only wish the LJ Dallas warehouse stocked these in black core...it's a pain painting them when I know I shouldn't have to. I love all the Bainbridge Fabrics, especially the denims. I like the new Crescent acantha pattern in the dark green, but wish it didn't only come in Antiquarian, because I hate mixing cores. I ordered an "Imperial Mauve" yesterday, and the (male) order-taker started laughing....In my next life, I want to be a color-namer. :D

Leslie

[Kit]

I may be standing alone on this one, but I like the Tru-Vue dots.

The brown one looks great on photos of the football team and I've used the other colors on aboriginal art.

I'm also very fond of the Elizabeth Dow 'Net' and 'Screen' series and I'm getting to like the one where all the lines are crooked.

The Bainbridge Leaf mats were nicer before they changed them; I didn't keep the replacement samples.

And I like the look of TruVue black leather on diplomas and other documents. How could I resist a mat called Kerouac Black?

Kit

[Jana]

Kit, I was going to ask you what the Tru Vue dots were, but it just dawned on me, after rereading your post, that they are the ones that look like a football's surface. Thanks for the suggestions of how to use them.

How were the Bainbridge leaf mats changed? The thing I've noticed is that the colors are a bit different from our samples. Our samples are about a year old.

In one of the framing magazines I saw one of those Elizabeth Dow crooked patterns used as an undermat. It looked really good.

And Imperial Mauve, Gothic Green, Baroque Black, Equestrian Brown, Empire Gold, Moon Flower, and Lunar Grey are goodies. I like the names, too.