Dear Bainbridge:

Framar

WOW Framer
Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Posts
26,420
Loc
Buffalo, New York, USA/Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada
I have a brilliant idea for you! Since several folks around here have mentioned that they are including removal instruction sheets for the FFA (Future Framers of America) on projects mounted on Restore, and since the adhesive side is so subtle one might get it mixed up with uncoated ArtCare Foam Board, and since there will be unused portions (aka scraps) floating around, why don't you simply print "Restore" in some sort of faint yet pleasing pattern all over the back of every sheet?!? I think this would help both current and future framers!

No need to print instructions because current framers, having bought the stuff, will know the instructions; and future framers will be very familiar with this well-known and ground-breaking product!

If you seek a proper reward to bestow upon my humble self for this aforementioned brilliant idea - please tell your esteemed associate Nielsen to bring back profile #98!

End of transmission. :cool:
 
I think that's an excellent idea, Mar.

I carry several fomeboard products. Full sheets are stored in the original boxes, but good-sized cut-offs are very difficult to distinguish from one-another and are rarely interchangeable.

Manufacturers may be reluctant to have any printing on the non-adhesive boards, since that would effectively make them one-sided, but it makes sense to print some identifiers on the back of the Speedmount-type boards.
 
Are we forgeting the labling of rag board? I know there is no "back" of a rag board but I for one will gladly trade the 10-30 min a week sorting the rag colors from my orders for a probably never used inch of board.

BTW, I would be so happy that the first vendor to do this will be my first exclusive mat supplier.
 
Some of my distributors write the number on rag boards with pencil WAAAAAY up in the corner where it won't trouble anybody - and where I won't see it until I've spent 20 minutes trying to figure out which white rag it is.

I guess I'd be supportive of printing numbers on rag backs as well.
 
Originally posted by Ron Eggers:
Some of my distributors write the number on rag boards with pencil WAAAAAY up in the corner where it won't trouble anybody - and where I won't see it until I've spent 20 minutes trying to figure out which white rag it is.

I guess I'd be supportive of printing numbers on rag backs as well.
I write on the back of mine when they come in, then when I cut it it almost always ends up on the face!?! I'd prefer it if I could blame Bainbridge instead of myself! (What about labeling the shudder black cores, eeeek)
 
When I order matboard, my funky system prints a sheet of labels with the names and numbers of the boards and an indication of whether it's a stock or special-order board.

As I check in the boards, I attach the labels to the back upper corner. It makes no difference whether it's black-core, rag or whatever.

(I avoid stocking most black-core 'cause they scuff the face of the next board in the rack - and the shopping box, for that matter.)

I still have to figure out which rag it is before I stick the label on, though. And I have received mislabeled boards.
 
It would seem like it's a no-brainer: IF THE BOARD IS ONE-SIDED - LABEL IT!!! If it is two-sided - no need for labels (except maybe peel-off labels for those pesky whites!).

I have spent the last two days reorganizing my matboard samples! Yikes! How many whites do we need??? I could fill up one rack with them! It is ridiculuous! And I find it impossible not to offer a board if I think I can use it.

And I am still trying to figure out which is the "right" side on those sheets of Bainbridge Alphamat Spanish White Vellum. I know my eyesight is worsening but I can't even FEEL any difference! And I have been handling matboard for 35 years!!! Shouldn't I be able to "feel" the vellum???

Please - Bainbridge - help us poor saps! Thank you! (It would actually be nice to hear your explanation why you DON'T label your boards.)
 
Framar,

Last year we did that 'go through the samples' dance. We pitch 163 WHITE samples.

No blushes, no creams, no kindofs ALL W.H.I.T.E.!

How many whites do the suppliers think we will use. I sell the white my hand falls on and the customer says 'yeah'.
 
And now for the mandatory opposing viewpoint:

I use white mats - often "paper-base" white, maybe with a colored bevel, a second mat or a line-or-two.

Since there are lots of different papers, I need lots of different whites. I especially like white rag boards so I'm not dealing with a different white for the bevel.

I just had a look at the new Artique white (digital white?) and it is VERY white.

I think I stock about 20 whites (not counting all the "near-whites") and sometimes it's not enough.
 
Granted that some boards need to be labeled...

PLEASE do NOT start labeling Speedmount and Restore as was attempted in the past. The stick-on labels were always in the wrong place, they also debossed/embossed the adjacent boards in the box and they were not removable like postit notes. Using a "black light", it is quite obvious which side has the adhesive.... the same blacklight that I use to demonstrate the UV blocking properties of Conservation glass and UV acrylic.

The heat activated adhesive in the past was quite subtle, but the current adhesive has considerably more tooth than the slick side for Speedmount and the Artcare side of Restore. We're currently trying to justify only stocking Restore and using the non-adhesive side for the many times when we need Artcare w/o adhesive. Even faintly labeling a perfectly good surface would ruin it for mounting purposes.
 
Rick - You have brought up a good point. However, I do not see how printing on the back of Restore would cause a problem if you are going to use it for other purposes. I have used Artcare Foam as my default mounting/backing board since it came out - perhaps now the Restore could fill that function - but why pay more for times when it is a backing board?

I can see using the Restore SCRAPS for fillers, etc. but I am now thinking that I do not want to pay extra and will stock both Restore and Artcare Foam. And speaking of using Restore scraps with printing on the back, is there any reason anyone can think of not to use the adhesive side facing in? I mean, unless the customer takes the framed piece to someplace that is 150 degrees, the adhesive would not become activated, right?

Or a simpler solution that would satisfy everyone would be for Bainbridge to make up some permananet stickers that WE can attach to the backs of a Restore mounted piece - for the eyes of the next framer only! There are many times when I have hand-written little notes to the FFA about peculiar techniques I have used on certain items. But I do not think I should be responsible to print up or write "Restore" on every project!

I still want ID on matboards!!!
 
Or a simpler solution that would satisfy everyone would be for Bainbridge to make up some permanent stickers that WE can attach to the backs of a Restore mounted piece - for the eyes of the next framer only!
That is a great idea! Just like the TruVue stickers that come with UV glass. Only those would be under the dust cover.

That is a perfectly simple and doable solution.
 
I was just doing some mat cutting in the workshop and as I used the mat, I turned it over and wrote the number in pencil on the upper corner. Wouldn't that be easier than a sticker? Small, will erase and will show the back. Just a thought.
 
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