When a Print Gets Treated Like a Museum Piece
Custom conservation framing in San Francisco is something we take seriously at Underglass, not as a premium option, but as the standard. This project shows what that looks like when every element of the design is working together.
The piece is a limited edition print. Abstract, heavily textured, with rich red and dark blue pulling against each other in a way that gives the work a weight and mood well beyond its size. It arrived at our Castro shop without a frame. It left as a statement piece.
The Design Decision: Float Mounting and a Silk Mat Shadowbox
The first decision was how to treat the print within the frame. We chose to float-mount it on a deeply textured golden silk mat, lifting the print off the surface so the full edge of the paper is visible and air can circulate behind it. Float mounting does two things at once. It protects the piece by keeping it from direct contact with any surface, and it signals to the viewer that this is art, not just a print in a frame.
The mat material itself is golden silk with a heavy weave. The color has a warmth to it – amber, ochre, fall tones – that plays against the cooler blues in the print and brings out the red. The texture of the fabric echoes the texture of the artwork. Neither one overwhelms the other.
From there, we built the inside walls of the frame from the same silk mat material, turning the whole design into a shadowbox. The depth this creates gives the piece its own space inside the frame. It reads as an object, not a flat image behind glass.
The Frame: Beveled Walnut
For the outer frame we chose a beveled walnut moulding. Dark, grainy, with a solidity that anchors the whole composition. Walnut is one of those frame materials that adds contrast without competing, the grain is interesting enough to reward a close look, but it never pulls attention away from the art. The bevel catches light along the edge and adds a clean line between the shadowbox interior and the wall.
The combination of the warm silk interior, the textured print, and the dark walnut creates a layered design where every surface is doing something.
Conservation Framing Throughout
Custom conservation framing in San Francisco means every element inside the frame is archival grade and at Underglass, that applies to every piece we frame, not only the ones that arrive with documentation or a high price tag.
For this print we used museum glass with 99% UV filtering. UV light is the primary cause of fading and color shift in prints on display. Standard glass does not block it. Museum glass does, and with no visible reflection or green tint, so the colors in the print read exactly as the artist intended.
The hinges holding the print to the mat are Japanese washi hinges, made in-house at our shop from mulberry fiber paper and wheat starch paste. This is the same reversible mounting technique used by museum conservators. The hinge is designed to give before the artwork does. Nothing about the mounting is permanent.
The backing is fully archival, and the framing package is sealed against dust and moisture.
The Result
A limited edition print, framed to the same standard as a painting in a permanent collection.
This is what custom conservation framing in San Francisco looks like at Underglass. If you have a print, a painting, a photograph or an object that deserves this kind of attention, bring it in to our Castro shop and we will work with you to find the framing it deserves.
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Underglass Custom Picture Framing · Castro District · San Francisco
Custom design · Conservation framing · Delivery & install · Open 7 days