Choosing the Right Mounting Materials
Choosing the Right Mounting Materials
When mounting art or photography, it’s important to use the right products. Mounting tapes and other products help secure artwork to a mat or backing board. Many tapes contain acids that could harm your artwork. Here are some recommendations to make sure your artwork is kept safe and secure.
Adhesive Mounting Options
Adhesive mounting requires adhesive to be in contact with the artwork. The materials and adhesives used are incredibly important. To keep your artwork safe, they must be pH-neutral or acid-free.
Self Adhesive Linen Hinging Tape
Linen is ideal because it’s archival quality, pH neutral, and made from strong, high thread-count cotton. Its greater tensile strength (resistance to breakage under pressure) is preferred for mounting heavier papers, such as watercolor papers, because it can withstand the weight of the artwork and won’t tear. This white, flexible, self-adhesive tape is used for hinging window mats to backing board, and attaching art and photographs to backing boards. It’s sold in a 150' roll or in 15" strips.
Ideal for attaching art and photographs to backing boards
Abaca Self-Adhesive Hinging Tape
When mounting artwork or photographs on thin, lighter, brittle papers, Abaca tape is preferred. It’s made from the strong fibers of the Abaca plant, so it’s thinner and lighter than linen. It won’t show through thinner papers, but is as strong as linen. Abaca tape is acid-free, archival quality, and biodegradable. It’s sold in a 150’ roll.
Good for mounting on thinner paper
Non-adhesive Mounting Options
For the greatest degree of conservation, having adhesive coming in contact with the art should be avoided altogether. This also ensures that the mounting can be reversed without damage.
Polyester Archival Mounting Corners
These pressure-sensitive triangle corners can be attached to the backing board. Artwork slides into the corners without coming into contact with adhesive. The corners are made from clear archival polyester, are acid-free, and contain no harmful plasticizers. Corners are sold in packages of 240.
Allows you to mount your artwork directly to mounting board
Archival SeeThru Mounting Strips
These clear mounting strips are made of mylar and used instead of corners to mount the edges of larger artwork. It’s a hingeless, archival, reversible mounting method in which no adhesive comes into contact with the artwork. The strips can be attached to the mounting board, then the artwork can slide through the mylar. Strips are sold in packages of 60.
Used to mount the edges of larger artwork
For more advice on mounting your artwork, contact our in-house framing experts.
