spots on mats

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katman

MGF, Master Grumble Framer
Joined
Jan 5, 2002
Posts
559
Loc
annapolis, md., usa
Wondering if I can get some some guidance on a problem we occasionally encounter. First, understand I can be unreasonable. I don't like to see any dust in the enlargements we make in our photolab, and I don't want to see any dust inside one of our frames. I am having a problem with little "spots" on mats. We are talking real small, pin size spots--maybe one or two. Sometimes it6's a dark spot on a light mat or a white spot on a darker color. Driving me nuts. I'll look over a new piece of mat before cutting it and won't see anything wrong. Cut the mat and look at it again and it looks fine. Put the package together, still might look fine. But when it goes in the frame and gets that final inspection before the dustcover goes on there might be this little spot. One employee says no one else will notice. He's the real capitalist. My other perfectionist employee gives these things the evil eye. She's convinced if we look at any piece of mat long enough we will see a light spot or dark spot. Maybe I'm seeing these things causeI've finally graduated to bifocals, but are spot pens, colored pencils or some other tool an acceptable solution?
 
Matboard is made of natural fibers such as wood pulp or cotton, which always contain some amount of debris, much of which is microscopic. A few small flaws are a natural occurrence. Inspect before cutting and then cut around any flaws you can see.

The ink used to mark UV-filtering glass will sometimes flake off and show up as a very black spot on the mat. When that happens we refit.

And of course there are all kinds of airborne things that find their way into the frame package, which also require refitting.
 
katman - when you see those little spots, don't you always flick the glass with your finger, even though you know it isn't going to help?

Kit
 
Thanks Jim. We've tried the cut around and that works except when we need a full sheet for the face. For a while I thought I was picking up debris from the slipsheet on my cmc that was transfering and sticking. Unfortunately, not the case. Seems to be minor imperfections in coloring of the mat. Seeing it most in light shares (ivory, for example) of miller.
 
Katman,

Whenever possible, I try to use the Miller flannel boards or the Bainbridge or Crescent equivalents. That comes from the same school-of-thought that has caused many of us to beat a dinged frame with a chain so it looks intentional.

I'm still waiting for someone to introduce a dog-fur line of mat board.

I'm only partially joking.
 
Now I'm starting to understand the strategy and secrets of the business side of this framing craft. Up to this point I've been spending time recutting and throwing out perfectly good mats cause of little imperfections. Like Kit, I've spent a lot of time flicking the glass to no avail. If I use a hammer or chain I can tell the customer the effect is part of the creative presentation! Much better for my margin.
 
Katman,

Just so there's no misunderstanding: The chain is used on the EMPTY frame. Once the glass and art are in place, don't beat on the frame with anything harder than a rubber eraser.
 
I have a magnifier (20X?) and an exacto knife. When I find a pinpoint spot on an ivory mat, I check it out with the magnifier. Nine out of ten times, it is just a miniscule thread of debris that can be lifted with the point of the exacto, with no harm to the mat.
 
But then there are the pyramid-shaped boogers in the mats. The exposed tip is just barely discernible to the naked eye, but you decide to dig it out with your Exacto blade. By the time you're done digging, you have a thumbnail-sized hole in the mat, lined with a contrasting color of some unidentified material.

This only happens when it it your last scrap of matboard and the customer is on her way to pick up the finished product. If you work fast, you can invent the new birdshot mat for a really unique presentation.
 
Originally posted by mbshir:
I have a magnifier (20X?) and an exacto knife.
Click to expand...
"When I was a young whippersnaper...." as my grandfather used to say, I didn't need a magnifer. Now, by the time I get far enough away to see it, I can't reach to get the speck out! :rolleyes:

Betty
 
I'll give the knife a try before cutting a new mat or taking the chain to it. Sounds like Maryann has been inflicted by these little specks. I'll also take the art out before doing the chain treatment. If all else fails I'll recut the mat and get some of that peanut butter stuff they use in Tennessee to bait squirrels.
 
I seem to remember Jay Goltz writing something about the "arms distance away" examination. I can't bring myself to use that on all pieces.

When I managed a large production shop we had a "two lint limit", a lot of these pieces went on to live in model homes so we could get by with letting two lints go.

Even after removing the offending speck, I still know where it was, and of course my eye returns to that spot. I have a hard time attending openings of shows that I've framed just because of the pieces that have had those tiny specks removed, they now "appear" perfect to everyone else, but they cry out to me.

"You picked a dirt clod out of me instead of re-cutting!"
"You used a Magic Rub on me, I was smudged!"

If I know I have another board I can use to re-cut, I tend to "pick" a little more aggressively. Those are the ones that come out the best! It's when it is your last board and the customer is on the way when specks go Super-Nova. I only ever pick, I wouldn't ever try to cover up with pens or colored pencils, it just seems like you are adding when you should be removing.

Comfort level, and leave yourself an out.
 
We have all had them at one time or another. I've had luck filling those " craters " with dry pastel. Get a scrap of the mat board that has the crater in it. Take your pastels and mix them on the scrap until they match. Carefully pick up a small amount with your exacto or CMC blade & fill in the hole, blend it with the mat board.

When your fitting, resist the urge to use your blow gun, use a brush, stay away from the crater.

John
 
I have filled those holes the way JRB has done, but I would like to see what happens to them long term. It scares me to think what the color difference will be.

I only try to do it on the last piece of matboard I have, when the customer has to have it now.
 
Like you said, only if I have to. I have never had one come back due to color change, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. On regular paper mats, I think it would just about be guaranteed to happen in time. On rag mats, I'm not so sure. Good quality dry pastels, may just hold their color for many years, as would a quality rag mat. The hole is usually pretty small, so even a slight discoloration may go completly unnoticed. That sure is a very valid point, that I hate to admit, I had never considered. Next time it comes up I will give it a LOT more thought, before doing it.

Thanks,

John
 
I find them a lot more on TruVue...especially the white spots on dark mats. I, too, am a perfectionist, but I am trying to adopt Jay Goltz's 'arm's length' theory. I have been known to color in the spots with pastel or colored pencil. Colored pencil is best and one quick little dab with the point usually does the trick.
 
I've become a master at picking the spots with the end of a razor blade. It it becomes a dig out, we re-cut. We strive for a zero tolerance on specks. We have three sets of overhead lights in the work room, and a small vacuum is our saving grace. We vacuum the glass, the frame and the artwork.
 
Well all, thanks for the help. Approached the razor trick the same way I approach taking a splinter of glass or wood out of my finger. Didn't have to dig deep enough to draw blood. I know there is a little recess in this mat, but it looks fine. I'll try the pastels on an in-house piece and forget about it for a while.
 
Sherry, what kind of vacume do you have? What is the brand name, what type of head is on the nozzle? Where did you get it?

We have been using large paint brushes and air blow guns for as long as I've been in the business, think I'd like to try something different.

Thanks,

John
 
A trainee framer in my shop starts as an assembler. After they have assembled a few frames and are shown the spots and had to take the frame apart a few times they simply don't want to see spots. The glass is in place and it's about to go in the frame and I see spots but they don't. I'm convinced that there is some kind of phsycological avoidance to seeing them because of the dread of taking the frame apart. I let them complete the job before pointing out the dirt and then then treat the dissassembly like it's no big deal and part of the job. After a few of these the new employees seem to settle down, see the spots and have to take few apart.

Then we give them a black suede mat!
 
JRB

Sherry will get back to you about that vacuum, but I thought I'd let you know that we, too, use a vacuum system rather than a blower. The canister is about 15" long with about a 7" diameter, with all the usual attachments, but the brush works best for our purposes (never on plexi, though). The label states it is made by the Metropolitanm Vacuum Cleaner Company, Model MDV-3.

It is meant to be portable, and I believe had a strap on it to carry on one's back. It was bought through a car gadgets catalog, and I saw one recently in another catalog. I also bought some attachments that are tiny for fishing around inside the finished art/glazing package, but don't use them often.

I've never had a blower so can't compare the benefits, but it seems to make sense to suck that stuff out of the room, rather than blow it around.

Mel
 
John I bought the vac at Sears. It's just a small portable one that has the usual attachments. We only use the brush end, but get one that has a good brush that will stand up to repeated use. I bought the shop in 1995 and this was the way the two previous owners got the glass and artwork clean and it's works great. Tips: small vacuums don't have a mechanism that tells you when the bag is full so make sure you check/change the bag fairly often... don't use the vacuum for anything else in the shop... clean the glass and vacuum before inserting in the frame... don't buy one that has a really forcible suction.
 
I use a regular vacuum which I keep on the floor covered up so it doesn't spread stuff. I made a long extension and use miniature vacuum attachments I bought from a model builder catalog. I have also improvised a very long slender attachment which gets between the glass and the mat without removing all the 810 although that has greatly cut down on the need to vacuum.
 
Thank's you guys, I have to try this. We're making a run up to Sears in a few days, I'll pick one up and give it a shot.

Thirty eight years in the industry & still learning new tricks.

John
 
We HAD a vacuum also. It worked pretty well for cleaning dust out of frame packages. We got the idea from Bossy Ellen, she uses one in her shop and says she almost never has to refit a piece. Ours was a Sears canister vac and it started to get noisy. I figured it had some crud in the motor bearings so I took it out back in the parking lot and blew the dust out of it with an air gun. I pluggged it in and started it and it was still making a noise like a cat with someone standing on it's tail. So I tried squirting a little WD40 into the motor. I closed it up, plugged it in and turned it on. KAABOOOM. The stinkin thing exploded, flames shot out of it and everything. Maryann came runnin to see what I had done. Apparently Vacuum repair is not what I should be doing.
 
Originally posted by Bob Shirk CPF:
....So I tried squirting a little WD40 into the motor. I closed it up, plugged it in and turned it on. KAABOOOM. The stinkin thing exploded, flames shot out of it and everything. [/QUOTE)
Great Bob, now both the terrorists and Ron have the recipe for making a vacumn bomb.
Click to expand...
 
Oh heck. Curly, I've been blowing up electric motors since long before I ever thought of framing pictures. I used to be a returned-materials analyst for a company that makes electric timers. On a good day I could blow the circuit breakers for half the plant and set off the fire alarms before lunch.

Think of me the next time your frostless freezer sticks in defrost mode or the stop light stays red forever.
 
I've dug my share of holes in mats, trying to get rid of spots that turned into giant monster fibres, which of course only happens when its your last piece of mat and the customer has been promised it for the next day...
In desperation I have actually shaved a tiny sliver off the surface of the same colour of mat (the fallout), and using the tip of a needle as a tool, applied glue to the offending crater in the mat, and filled it with the shaved bit of mat. Presto!!! I used to use pencils/pastels, more often than not the result was disappointing.
Unfortunately this doesnt work on vellum mats; the repair is just too obvious.
 
I know this is bringing back an old topic but....

Office Depot has a small hand held vacuum for $20 for cleaning computers. Has anyone tried using one of these to clean specks off artwork, glass, etc.?
 
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