The Ansel Adams Project

Today I framed a photographer.

They're gonna hang him.

😮

Who could it be now?

This mount is an archival mount, for this rare photograph of Ansel Adams taken in 1946.

The piece is quite valuable both for its rarity and the historic value of such a well taken image of the man behind the iconic images. The piece is an original rather than a modern reproduction or “print.” It is irreplaceable.

This means EVERYTHING must be entirely reversible and acid free. This is the quality difference that you get when you go to a professional frame shop rather than a box store.

Art is NOT taped to your mat. Ever.

Your mat is hinged to the backer rather than left loose to rattle about in the frame.

When your image goes in the frame I don't just pick every particle of debris from between the glass and the image, I then measure the visible mat from the front, through the glass, to assure your image is centered and stays centered and then set it with a staple to avoid any possible shifting.

This mounting is a recessed mounting, made up of an acid free foam core build up that the image sits inside, with a cotton rag mat liner behind the image for additional protection.

There is ZERO. NO. NONE. Adhesive, tape, tacking in contact with the art. It is set into a channel in the foam core and another very (very very) narrow strip of foam core (1/32nd inch) is used to tension the piece into place.

In this mounting we've used half inch bottom weighting to draw attention to the signature and title on the image. We repeated the bottom weighting in the mat, at 3/16ths of an inch increase at the bottom margin to build layering and depth in the image, which is double matted with a 45 degree bevel and a 3/16ths inch reveal. When choosing proportions in framing, we use patterns to create proportions that compliment the image. When the math is correct, the aesthetics follow. A repeating ratio creates symmetry throughout the piece.

The bottom mat is an archival cotton mat, and the top is an acid free linen topped mat in 'Pepper' by Bainbridge.

You can also see that in addition to working on layers of butcher paper over foamcore, I use an additional layer of foam material on my table top to reduce the risk of striation in the frame finish.

This piece was a pure joy to work with. It is a joyful experience to be around amazing art and this piece and the mount came together beautifully.