Digital BW, The Print

Hello Michael,

>I'm curious to learn how you guys handle the considerable chore of 
>matting your prints; more specifically, arriving at matts with 
>windows.  Do you opt for matts with pre-cut windows (and therefore 
>print for the pre-cut size), cut your own windows (and therefore 
>print for the image, not the matt), have them cut locally, or custom 
>cut from an online supplier? I've got this issue coming up pretty
>soon and it feels like an enormous undertaking; your various 
>perspectives and tips will be appreciated.

I sell matted prints in four sizes through a gift shop.  I buy 4-ply
100% rag standard sized blanks (5x7, 8x10, 11x14, 16x20) from
redimat.com and cut my own windows with a Logan mat cutter.  So I'm
not cutting down large boards to size, just cutting the windows.

Not all my images are the same proportion, but there are four or five
 that are used over and over.  So I have a template (a precut window
mat) for each of those for each size, used to quickly draw the
rectangle.  So all the careful measuring is only done once.  If I ever
add a new print to the lineup that uses something different, I do the
measuring and cut two of them, one becoming the template for future
ones.  The templates make it a pretty quick operation. 

RediMat has good prices and their blanks are always cleanly cut and
have square corners.  I've used them for several years now.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm
I-Trak 2.1   http://www.cjcom.net/itrak.htm