Mat boards

Bainbridge Artcare Alphamat Matboard

A museum quality mat board that is a great choice for conservation matting. It is naturally inert, acid free, and features the Bainbridge Art Care Archival Systems with Micro Chamber Technology. This Art Care Treatment allows it to actively protect the image from airborne pollutants and acid by-products within the picture frame.  Recommended for valuable works of original art, rare and antique documents, fine art prints, limited edition prints and photographs. 

Crescent Cotton Rag Matboard

Mat board made of cotton is typically referred to as “rag” board or “museum” board and is composed of separate piles of cotton board dyed for color and layered together in 2, 4, 6, or 8 ply. The best picture framing mat that you can buy is rag mat board. We normally use 4 ply boards which is about 1/16 inch thick which in most cases give sufficient protection. These mats are recommended for valuable works of original art, limited edition prints, rare and antique documents, and photographs. Rag board is buffered with Calcium Carbonate to an Alkaline Reserve of 3-5%.  Unbuffered rag board is available for certain types of photographs and textiles that require a low alkaline environment. Unbuffered mat boards are not available in many colors.  Any time framing requires rag mat boards the mount board should be rag board also.

Crescent Select Matboard

Whether you choose from the broadest collection of colorful paper surfaces, luxurious fabrics and textures or solid color cores, know that all components of Crescent Select products are acid-free, lignin-free and meets the industry’s highest standards for conservation matting. In other words, your artwork is both beautifully enhanced and protected with Crescent Select mat board.

Crescent Moorman Fabric Matboard

All Moorman Fabric Mat Board with a premium white conservation core and backing paper are fade and bleed resistant. The Black Core has a high-quality fade and bleed resistant suede surface on decorative black core and backing. There are many types of fabrics to choose from.

Peterboro Matboard

These mat boards are available in Rag Board, Conservation Quality White Core, and Fabrics. These mats are usually less expensive than other conservation mat boards.  We keep in stock a large selection of these boards.

Decorative Matboard

Not all mats are created equal, if the acid and lignin are not permanently removed, artwork can be damaged over time. This mat board is not acid or lignin-free. Bainbridge, Crescent and Peterboro all have a big selection of decorative paper mats that are not conservation quality. The paper on the back of the mat may say acid free this is only for the backing paper not the core of the mat, although they have been buffered they should not be confused with conservation quality mat board. This mat board is the least inexpensive and generally considered a temporary solution for framing that do not require any conservation measures or archival framing. It is recommended for non-conservation decorative picture framing and general presentations, open-end reproductions, posters and decorative art.  These mat boards are not recommended if you want the art work to last more than five years, may be less if placed in a non-controlled climate area where there is heat and high humidity and strong lighting.