One of the most important things in preserving your photos and artwork is choosing the right glass or acrylic glazing for your frame. Each glazing option has pros and cons, from price points to physical attributes. To help you make the right choice for your soon-to-be preserved memory, here is a breakdown of all the glass and acrylics that we offer at Carden Custom Framing.
Glass Choices
Museum Glass – Our highest-tier of glass. This glass is nearly invisible to the eye, as it reflects less than 1% of nearly visible light. This is achieved by a production process that compiles microscopic layers inside a vacuum chamber under highly controlled conditions, and by using low-iron materials. It also has a 99% UV protection rating, which allows only a negligible amount of radiation to reach the framed artwork.
Conservation Clear – This glass offers 99% UV protection, giving you the same level of conservation protection as museum glass. However, this substrate reflects 8% of visible light, which is standard for glass. You will still give your piece protection from aging and yellowing, but you won’t achieve the near invisible presence you’d find with museum glass.
Premium Clear – This glass will have an identical appearance to that of conservation clear glass. However, it’s produced with only 50% UV protection, which allows us to provide a lower price option for our customers. Rest assured, this is still a significant upgrade on glass in mass-produced frames found in box stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, etc. which typically have no UV protection.
Reflection Control – This glass comes at 99% and 50% UV protection levels. Its matte finish scatters and distorts light, which reduces the total glare upon the framed artwork. We only recommend this glass for certain projects, as this glass affects the clarity of the artwork within the frame, giving a slightly blurred appearance. In particular, it works well for artwork that has a similar blurred quality (like pastel) or for adding an artistic filter to damaged or weathered vintage photos.
Acrylic Choices
Before we get into our specific acrylic offerings, what are the benefits of choosing an acrylic covering over glass? Whereas glass is fragile, heavy, and can break into a million pieces if dropped, the molecular structure of acrylic makes it hardy, lightweight, and shatter-resistant (although it can still easily scratch, so please still treat your piece with care). This molecular structure also means it doesn’t condensate like glass, which helps prevent photo bonding.
Photo bonding is prevented with glass framing by placing space between the framed object and the glass, usually with matboard or spacers. However, when a piece is placed directly on glass, bonding and permanent damage can occur if the glass is in a climate the creates condensation. Acrylic offers superior thermal-insulating properties that prevents condensation (unlike glass), so it is far less risky to place your framed object directly onto acrylic without fear damage.
Optium Museum Acrylic – Our highest tier of acrylic covering. This acrylic offers the same near invisible clarity and 99% UV protection of museum glass, but with the added benefit of being anti-static. One of the major downfalls of acrylic is that it normally attracts dust and lint like no other, making cleaning a major chore. But with Optium’s anti-static properties, as well being lightweight, shatter resistant, and condensation-free, it makes it our best, top-quality glazing choice–surpassing even museum glass.
Conservation Clear Acrylic – This acrylic offers 98% UV protection. It has the same reflection value as conservation clear glass, with 8% of visible light being reflected off its surface. It also carries our basic acrylic benefits of being shatter-resistant, condensation-free, and lightweight. However, it is not treated with anti-static properties, which means it will attract dust and lint easily.
Premium Clear Acrylic – It has the exact appearance and properties of conservation clear acrylic, but with a 50% UV protection to offer a lower-price option for our customers. (And remember, this is still an upgrade from box stores whose mass-produced frames usually offer 0% UV protection.)
Reflection Control Acrylic – This acrylic comes at 98% and 50% UV protection. Like its glass counterpart, its matte finish scatters and distorts light, which reduces the total glare upon the framed artwork at the cost of image clarity.
What’s the Best Choice?
Truthfully, there is no wrong answer when it comes to your choice of glazing. We do our best to honor our customers’ preferences and to deliver a framed piece that will meet the appearance, handling, and budgetary needs of our clients. No matter what, we want you to leave our store with a piece you can cherish for years to come, and we promise every type of glass and acrylic we offer has the ability to give our customers joy.
All of our glass and acrylic glazing is sourced from Tru Vue — a glass and acrylic manufacturer that has been a leader in the business for over 75 years and sets the standard for durability and performance. Visit their website to learn more.
Have more questions we didn’t cover here? Give us a call or text at 701-224-0802 or email us at carden@midconetwork.com. We can’t wait to make your memories last through artful framing services!
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