Another question about fillets.

[Magnolia Framing]

We have been having a dilemna at our store, that I hope some of you Grumblers can help out with.

We get a number of framing jobs with double mats, a fillet between the mats, and a silver or gold plaque with the print/artist name. In order to look the best we also like to put a fillet around the window holding the plaque (with a little bit of the lower mat showing around the plaque).

The issue is how to determine the amount of bottom mat to design into the package.

My wife was designing the package with 3 inch borders around the mat, which definitely was not enough. My first inclination was to ask the design girl (my wife) to at least allow for a 4 inch border on the bottom. This seemed to help out at first when the fillets used were about 3/16 or 1/4 inch wide. Then we had some jobs where the design included fillets 1/2 or 5/8 inches wide. It was a chore to fit those wider fillets into the package without going with a very narrow top mat border. (We were dealing with a frame that had been ordered chopped.)

Anyone out there have some good guidelines that would help the design people ensure they allow enough bottom border when using fillets and plaques?

 

[RoboFramer]

I simply add the title aperture height, plus fillets, to the bottom mat margin.

So if you needed a 1" aperture with a 1/4" fillet around, that would be 1 1/2" extra, if you also wanted to show say 1/4" of the bottom mat then that would be another 1/2" to add.

I'd postion the aperture with more mat below than above.

 

[Jack Cee]

No matter how you measure it, it may look out of proportion. In a case such as yours, we sometimes suggest that as a last resort, no fillet be used on the print. You can also place the plaque on the surface of the top mat without cutting a recess into either mat, that doesn't look bad. Plaques can be ordered with nail holes and they look pretty good.

Jack Cee

 

[Framerguy]

Anyone out there have some good guidelines that would help the design people ensure they allow enough bottom border when using fillets and plaques?

My first reaction would be to not sell wide fillets or to make the mat margins wider for any/all mats with a brass nameplate. Most of my mat margins are more towards the 4" range and larger anyway as that seems to have been the trend in the past few years. (Ever wonder why the matboard companies started sending out 4" samples a few years ago???) Increasing the mat margin would probably be the easiest but there is no "easy pill" to administer for dealing with readymades that are brought in by the customer. You have definite limitations that will determine if you have adequate room for that style of nameplate opening cut into the mat.

I have stopped cutting windows for nameplates many years ago and install them on the face of the glass. I have done many many of these and have had the ?pleasure? of trying to remove some of them when the glass became cracked. Simply put, they DON'T COME OFF!! I know it isn't as complicated looking nor as "matchy" when you adhere them to the outside of the glass but most framers don't charge for that opening or the fillet and the rest don't charge enough for them so you really aren't losing anything by eliminating the need for an extra opening and putting them on the glass.

There are many other ways to glitz up a matboard presentation that will give a unique look to the frame package, are easy to do, and will make you a nice upsell on the frame package.

Good luck.

Framerguy