Museum Mats are not all Equal Either (re acid free)
2002-07-12 by Steadman Uhlich
Hello, Related to my earlier post on Acid Free Foam Core boards for mounting... Occasionally I have a customer who buys a portrait print...and then declines the purchase of a mat. Usually they say they want to shop around and look at places like Michael's art supply store (or they don't say it but it is easy to guess). Michaels by the way is a very popular national chain of arts and crafts supply stores (and I buy stuff there too when in a hurry...but only some things..). One day I went to Michaels and found that they have a large selection of pre-cut mats. Prominent among them were the ones with a photo of a bride and the words "Museum Mat" in large black letters on the label below the shrinkwrap. They were priced pretty low (about $6 for a 5x7 opening in a 8x10 mat). They had a thicker window mat (about 6 ply) with a deeper bevel than the usual 4 ply mats. The color was a soft white. Looked pretty good compared to the usual cheap mats they display. I bought one to test. Results: The mat that lays on top of the print (the window mat) is highly acidic! The "card" that is used to support the window mat is a combination of acidic and acid free materials...and very cheap stuff at that...very thin. Bottom line...these do not have the quality of the "museum mats" I use which are cut from Crescent or Bainbridge 100% rag cotton 8ply board. The point...the "cheap stuff" is not always what it seems...in this case the Michaels "museum mat" is a very cheap item that may damage your fine prints. I kept the Michaels mat in the shrink wrap (only unwrapping the corner) and use it as an example with clients now...they can see the differences side by side...and even use the ph test pen themselves and notice the difference...they sell themselves now. Hope that helps someone, Steadman