Frame Design preview

Mount design

Image courtesy of Brian Wolf GCF CPF

All three mounts used around this image reflect colours in the artwork. The middle mount, which is in the strongest shade, projects less than the lower mount

Top: The strongest coloured mount, the red one, projects the least, which looks pleasing Left: These equally distanced mounts create a series of parallel lines which is visually repetitive and looks wrong Right: This dark green mount creates a border around the image and reflects a colour in the print

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Frame Design

Mount design

splash of colour. If the colour looks too dominant for delicate artwork, go for a projection of 2mm or 3mm, or re-consider the coloured core.

Some framers prefer a projection of just 1mm or 2mm, particularly if the colour is strong and the double mount is combined with other effects such as V-grooves. Limiting the depth of the projection is a way of using strong colour to ‘pull out’ colours in the artwork, but ensuring that the mount doesn’t dominate.

When creating a triple mount, it’s up to the framer whether both projections are the same width, or one is wider than the others. Again, no rules. Some framers go for a wider projection at the bottom and a smaller one in the middle, but it depends on your colour combinations and the visual impact of the artwork. Many framers feel that the two lower mounts should be different widths to add interest to the finished frame. Equal colours and parallel lines can be visually unexciting.

It may be necessary to experiment with the relative mount widths

Four mounts are used in this frame. All the mounts reflect colours used in the artwork, with the palest at the top. The framer has kept the projections and spacing of the mounts simple and equal; visual interest is provided by the stepped corners

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Mount design The framer distanced the strongly coloured middle mount from the image when designing this frame with a triple mount. The middle mount reflects a colour from the image, but not a dominant shade

when creating triple mounts. The decision will depend where you want the most highly contrasting colour. If the image is bold and includes highly contrasting colours, then the strongest mount could sit next to the artwork. If the strongest mount sits further away, then the eye would travel uncomfortably between two different highlights. A strong innermost mount will form a visual ‘barrier’ round the picture and keep the eye focused inwards.

Other framers prefer to sandwich the brightest mount between two more subdued options, which can work if even the brightest mount is more subdued than the artwork itself. An off-white top mount with two coloured lower mounts can work, possibly one bright and one midtone. In this case, you can play with the projection so that the strongest colour projects the least and the mid-tone is a little wider. It may be that the mid-tone only projects 0.5mm to 1mm more than the bright, but that can be enough to make a difference.

Or it may be the that a coloured core is all the colour you need; the coloured bevel presents as a 1.5mm ‘line’ around the image, which can be combined with a plain off-white top mount if preferred. You should be guided, as ever, by whether the artwork is being enhanced or overshadowed.

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Strong inner mounts may need to be balanced against a strong frame, which will prevent the mount from being too visually over-bearing.

Framers who make a lot of multiple mounts tend to make up chevrons of their most popular designs to hold over the customer’s artwork. They also have a sample of the same image framed in a single and a multiple mount, so customers can see at a glance how much better the latter looks.

Gold lower mounts Double-mounts that include a gold lower mount are a fashionable alternative to traditional washlines. The effect may be created by hand-painting, or decorative tapes can be used. The latter can be bought in a range of finishes, with slight distressing being popular.

Black and white engravings and Victorian watercolours always used to be surrounded by washlines, but most framers today say they haven’t been asked to produce a washline for several years. Gold lower mounts suit traditional works, and add the right dash of colour to monochrome images, but also look up-to-date. They are a good way to enhance

A hand-painted gold lower mount around an antique black and white engraving

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