I wrote this for DECOR but they have never used it. I think it is a subject that really needs discussion. I have not included the whole article.
After a framer reads through all of the sources available on preservation framing to find out about terms, techniques, and materials, listens to different educators and sales reps, reads marketing material from different companies, instead of being informed, she/he are likely just bewildered. The help that is provided to clear up confusion is the main reason I so passionately support FACTS, an acronym for Fine Art Care and Treatment Standards. FACTS provides guidelines for framing art on paper and defines terms. For instance, some framers and artists still think that “acid-free” in relation to mat board means that any material that says it’s “acid free” is OK for all levels of framing. I have a friend who sells scrapbooks at parties she hosts, Scrapbooking is a very popular pastime for people at the moment, and she proudly says to me that her paper is acid free. I ask if it’s lignin free, she shrugs her shoulders because she doesn’t know what lignin is, has never heard the term. She understands that her pens for scrapbook use need to be acid free and fade resistant, but other than that, she gets very fuzzy. “Lignin”, as the Random House dictionary defines it, “1) is an organic substance that with cellulose, forms the chief part of woody tissue, 2) impure matter found in wood pulp”. When the lignin has been removed from wood pulp, it's been purified and can be used in preservation grade matboard. It’s extremely important to not only know whether preservation materials are acid free, but also they must be lignin free.
I was reading some material prepared for an industry test and the word “rag” was constantly used to define a preservation grade matboard made from cotton pulp. There is no manufacturer in the picture framing industry that uses rags for making matboard anymore. In the past, old rags were bleached, purified and processed into pulp and used for paper which was found to be very stable, if harmful things such as alum, a sizing, was not added. Today preservation matboards are made from cotton linter pulp and purified wood pulp with the lignin removed. Both, if made properly, it’s largely agreed, are interchangeable in use as matboard for preservation framing. Rag has become a marketing term used to delineate cotton linter pulp from purified wood pulp. Because rag is so often used in reference to preservation materials, some framers think it’s the only material suitable for use with fine art, which is not true.
The question that needs to be asked in reference to preservation grade mat board is whether the material is suitable for preservation framing, not what pulp it's made from. FACTS Standard Guide for Preservation Framing (FRM-2000) 4.05 states "Material permanence" shall be determined by ANSI/NISO 39.48 1992 and /or FACTS Guide for Permanence in Paper Mat and Mount Boards 2000. FACTS PMMB-2000, can be found at
www.artfacts.org where there is information about how the standards are set and what they mean. You will find that a preservation grade mat board has to meet certain standards as to fiber; can be cotton, new rag or other high alpha-cellulose content virgin pulp or purified wood pulp. Both cotton and wood pulp come from plants and are both alpha cellulose.
Other standards a mat board has to meet to be a preservation grade product which can be used on any art if the application is suitable, is thickness, color fastness, non bleeding colors, packaging, sizing, dimensions, adhesives and even identification markings. Fillers used in preservation board can be charcoal to filter out pollutants, or zeolites which also filters out pollutants from the environment and the art itself, Carbonate is added to achieve and maintain neutral ph.
How do we explain this to cusomers easily? I would love for FACTS to produce a simple flyer that explains the terms for the consumer, not for the framer, but for the consumer. Our PPFA chapter, many years ago prepared a Consumer Guide to Conservation framing which was very useful to explain what the whole thing meant in clear concise language. It's out of date now and I really miss it. Wouldn't it be nice to just say we frame to FACTS standards. Fine Art Care and Treatment Standards. Sounds good huh?
Nona Powers, CPF
www.nonapowers.com
San Diego