Field notes 5 MIN READ
Framing a route print without ruining it
A mount, a frame colour and a glass choice. Three decisions, and only one of them is close.
The print is designed to be framed simply. Most of the ways to get this wrong involve adding something.
The mount question
A mount — the card border between print and frame — exists to give an image breathing room and to keep it off the glass.
A route print already has the breathing room. The layout puts a wide margin around the drawing on purpose, because a line needs empty space to read as a line rather than as a diagram. Add a mount and you get a border around a border: two rectangles of white at slightly different tones, which looks like a mistake rather than a decision.
The exception is a deep box frame, where a mount does structural work holding the print off the glass.
If you do use one, make it wide — 6 cm or more — and the same white as the paper. A narrow mount in a different white is the worst of both.
The frame colour
The print is two colours on a large plain field. It has one accent, and the frame should not be a second one.
Natural oak and black both recede. Black defines the edge more sharply, which suits dark stock. Oak is warmer and suits natural paper.
White works on a coloured wall and disappears on a white one, taking the edge of the print with it.
Brass, gold and anything glossy compete. There is already a bright line on the sheet, and it should be the brightest thing there.
Glass
Standard glass is fine in most rooms with a matte print.
Anti-reflective glass is worth the money where there is a window opposite. It is a real improvement, just a smaller one than it would be on a glossy photograph, because you have already avoided the main problem by not printing on gloss.
Acrylic is lighter and safer at 70×100, and scratches if you clean it carelessly.
Standard sizes on purpose
30×40, 50×70 and 70×100 are standard European frame sizes. Every high-street shop and every flat-pack retailer stocks them, which means the frame is a twenty-minute errand rather than a commission.
Questions people actually ask
- Do I need a mount?
- Not usually. A route print already has generous white space built into the layout, and a mount adds a second border around the first, which reads as indecision.
- Which frame colour?
- Whichever disappears. The print is two colours on a large field, and a frame that competes with it is one element too many. Black oak and natural oak both work; brass and white gloss do not.
- Is anti-reflective glass worth it?
- In a bright room, yes. On a matte print it is a smaller improvement than on a photograph, because matte paper is already doing most of the job.
- Can I use a standard IKEA frame?
- Yes. 30×40, 50×70 and 70×100 are standard European sizes and every high-street frame maker stocks them.
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