Matting Your Quilling Part # 2

Matting your work –Part 2

When my husband went to framing school, (he really went because we needed to learn more about framing so I could frame my quilling) it opened a whole new world to me. As I explained in Part 1, I learned to work out the back of frames so I could use all different kinds of frames that previously I believed would not accommodate quilling. Quite a few pieces in the custom pieces folder are in what would be considered regular frames, (not shadowboxes). The mats are attached to the back of the frame. But today we are going to be talking about the matting, which is just as important, maybe even more so, than the frames.

There are lots of things to take into consideration when you choose matting for your work. The colors mats you use on a given piece can make it look very rich (like ivory on ivory), dramatic (black and white) or fun (like the primary colors in the cat in the hat piece. You can use soft neutral colors or strong vibrant colors. You can choose colors based on what colors are in the piece, for example you can be matting a multi colored bouquet of quilled flowers and change the whole “feel” of the piece by the colors of the matting. I like to do floral on a fairly neutral background mat so the quilling shows well against the background. Then I choose colors that are in the quilling for the matting; if I want to keep the piece on the neutral side, I might do the matting in soft shades of green, picking up the colors from the greens in the piece. If I want the piece to stand out a little more, I might use one of the other colors in the piece, for example: if I have lavenders in the piece, I might mat the piece with a lavender mat and a darker purple mat liner or I might choose another color from the flowers, like light blue with a darker blue mat liner.

Rather than just putting the quilling on a mat and framing it, I like to use the mat to create a “frame” within the mat. You can see examples of this on the Unicorn, Quilled filigree cross, and the Victorian fan. All three of those pieces are done on suede mats. Instead of just framing the pieces, I created a frame within a frame by cutting a second mat (in the same suede) and raising it slightly to give the piece a little depth and to draw the eye right to the quilling.

When I do butterflies and birds, I like to use an oval
opening with a v-groove. I usually have the quilling extend beyond the mat opening; I think it is a more interesting look. There are so many interesting things you can do with matting, especially if you are adding quilling. In the Florida Gulf Coast piece in the pics/Custom Works folder the “sand” at the bottom of the frame is a second mat which I hand cut to fit across the piece, the blue sky is a second mat which I put behind the “sand”.

Matting can come to the rescue when you are working with ready made frames and have an item that just isn’t the right size or shape for the frame, especially if you are going to be adding quilling to the piece. Let’s say you have a long narrow invitation that needs quilling/matting/framing. I will, either mat the invite off to one side and do the quilling down the other side, or I might center the invitation and then do some quilling on either side of the piece. I’d like to give you visuals for all of these examples, but rather than having you hop around between picture files and the blog, I’m going to see if I can figure out how to link the visuals in the blog itself. If any of you know how to do this . . . HELP!!!! If not I will keep working at figuring it out, but I am going to post this anyway . . . you’ll just have to come back to see the pictures! Pretty sneaky, huh?

Matting Your Quilling Part # 1

Matting your work - Part #1

In my framing blog, I mentioned that my earlier work was put on wooden plaques. I’d like to tell you a little story about why I started matting my work. I was teaching classes for Lee Ward’s (which is now Michaels). After one of the classes I had a former student come in to visit. She told me she had just completed the quilling for the wedding invitation of her best friend. She had come in to the store to have the framing department cut a mat for the invitation. She had decided to put the quilling on the mat around the invitation. She told me it had taken her so long to do the quilling that if her friend ever got divorced, she could dump the invitation and put in a picture of her dog! I cracked up when she told me this, but it made me start thinking about it. I started matting my work which made it look much more professional along with an added bonus for my customers. If the bride received another invitation gift (on a candle, dish, tray etc.) she could take the invitation out of the frame and put her wedding picture in the quilled frame instead. At this time I was still selling in stores and doing some craft shows. Framing and matting made my pieces ready to sell right off the shelf . . . now to talk about the matting process . . .

There are lots of matting options. Of course you can take your pieces to a frame shop and have mats cut by a “professional”, but be prepared to pay! My sister had a beautiful invitation which I wanted to put in an oval opening. I took it to a frame shop since I hadn’t learned how to cut ovals yet. I ordered a double mat with an oval opening which cost me $26.00 . . . that was just for the mats, no frame and that was about 15 years ago. I now have “professional” mat cutting equipment, but for years, I cut my own mats with the systems sold in craft and hobby shops. I have used both Alto and Logan systems and preferred the Logan, especially for ovals. I found the Alto templates hard to use for ovals. I used the simplest Logan mat cutter which sells for about $80. For straight cuts and the Logan Oval/Circle cutter which sells for about $70.00. Just based on the price of that one double mat you can see how cutting your own mats can be very cost effective. You can go to Dick Blick (and no he is not a guild member) and look at the Alto and Logan systems and also several books on how to cut mats. You will be surprised at the difference matting makes and you’ll save big bucks if you can do it yourself.

Where do you buy mat board? You can probably buy full sheets at your local framing or craft store. You can cut quite a few mats out of a 32”x40” sheet. When I first started cutting my own mats I went to my local frame store and spoke with the owner. Frame shops have a ton of scrap mat. They almost always save the “falls” which are the pieces that fall out when they cut a window. Lots of the falls are pretty big because they come from mats cut for posters. I asked if I could buy some of the scrap mat and the owner let me go and pick out whatever I wanted because she had so much of it. Of course you may not get the exact colors you want this way but if you are getting a deal on most of your mat board (especially if you are practicing on it), you won’t mind springing for the full sheet of burgundy suede. I still save my falls and cut them up into smaller pieces to send out to teachers etc

Matting your work makes it look much more professional. The colors and textures you choose can really dress up a piece. When I teach a matting class, I start out with an invitation and show a simple single mat. Go to our pics file and choose the reference folder, then the matting file(s). A single mat is one sheet of mat board with a window, the color can one of the colors in the invitation or the color of the ink on the invitation. I like to use a mat the color of the paper in the invitation because I know my quilling will show up better on a white or ivory mat. I have however, used a darker color mat and done all of the quilling in white, which is very dramatic. Then again, white quilling on a white mat can be very rich, it really is a matter of personal taste, yours and your customers.

To get back to the matting class, I next show the same invitation with a double mat. A double mat is just what it sounds like, two mats, one on top of the other. A narrow band of color from the bottom mat shows around the window. I almost always use a double mat, the only time I use a single mat is if I am quilling a border on it. You will see in the matting folder examples of single and double mats with oval and rectangular windows. But to get back to this invitation, I then show some variations on matting it. In one case, I actually mounted the invitation on a piece of deckle edged colored paper and then raised the whole thing by putting a piece of foam core behind it and then put a single mat on the piece for the quilling. In the last case I used a double mat, but since the invitation was in color, instead of having the narrow band around the window, I cut a panel V-Groove into the upper mat and let the lower mat show through. This piece has the quilling on it as well. Now, I know you do more than quill around wedding frames so the next time we will talk about matting things other than wedding invitations and photos.





Here are smome other samples of mat cuts:

Single Mat with Rectangular window












Single mat with oval opening & oval v grove

Double mat with oval opening

Double mat with oval opening and panel grove












Double mat rectangular opening with panel grove

Framing Your Quilling

Framing Your Work

We get lots of questions about matting and framing here at Whimsiquills. When I first started selling my work, (lol), those many years ago, I would put my quilling on wooden plaques. But my customers wanted the quilling under glass. Those of you who have been quilling for a long time may remember the metal frames put out by Intercraft. They had a plastic insert that kept the mat away from the glass, they were inexpensive and gave just the right amount of room, but they didn’t hold up very well and over the years the quality became poorer and poorer. . . and finally they became harder and harder to find. I became frustrated, just like every other quiller, trying to find a nice frame that wouldn’t look “cheap”, but that I could afford. That’s when my husband, who was in the process of changing jobs, went to framing school. Boy did he (WE) learn a lot! It took us a couple of years, but we finally found a company which mad a special double rabbet frame for us, which was really perfect for quilling! Unfortunately, we have since lost that supplier because we were only purchasing five to six hundred frames a year, Whimsiquills is just too small. (I guess everything in this country has to be supersized to make it).

When I look at a frame, the first thing I check for is the depth of the frame. The space between the lip where the glass sits and the back of the frame is called the rabbet. (We will put up pictures of everything on a sheet called Framing in the reference folder of the pics file; you might want to print out the framing sheet to refer to while reading this so it makes more sense.) The rabbit needs to be at least ½” deep, in order to accommodate fringe flowers and/or roses.

The ideal frame would have a double rabbet, (see Figure 1 on framing) one to put the glass on, and a second (lip/rabbet) a minimum of ½”back. This is where the quilled mat and whatever backing you use would rest. (The majority of framed pieces I sold and still sell are wedding invitations or baby frames. I like to have a frame where the invitation could be taken out and replaced with a wedding photo, or the baby photo could be updated. This was particularly important when my work was purchased in a store. The customer had to be able to do this for himself). The mats and backing would be held in by metal flex tabs that would lift up so it would be easy to remove the mat and change things like photographs in the quilled mat. The mat size in a double rabbet frame will be slightly larger than the glass size, so the mat sits on the second rabbet and doesn’t “fall” against the glass. You may be able to find double rabbet mouldings in some frame shops, where they can make up a frame for you in any size; they are however, very expensive. Oh well, let me tell you what I am doing for frames now.

Once again, I try to find a moulding that I like, (I prefer something that looks like a conventional frame rather than a straight sided shadowbox.) and check for the depth of the rabbet. If I have only a half inch to work with, I will try to work out of the back of the frame. (See Figure 2 on framing) This means I cut my mat to lay on the back of the frame, once again, this means cutting the mat slightly larger than the glass size so it doesn’t fall into the frame and against the glass. I usually leave about ¼” of the back of the frame showing all around the mat. After I have completed my quilling, I put a strip of double sided tape (framers call this ATG tape, it is made by Scotch and will say Adhesive Transfer Tape) on the back of the frame. This tape is paper backed so it is pretty easy to work with; don’t take the paper backing off until you are ready to put your mat on, cause it is really sticky. You might want to mark on the back of the frame exactly where you want your mat to be; if the mat doesn’t go onto the frame back nice and straight it gets a little tricky moving it back off the ATG without tearing the mat. If you have done this correctly, you will have about ¼” of the frame back showing around the edges of the mat. I generally put a second strip of ATG over the edge of the mat and right out to the edge of the frame. I then cut a piece of brown craft paper to cover and seal the back of the frame. (This is also available at frame shops and craft stores that do framing; it looks like the paper from brown paper bags but is a slightly lighter weight) I then trim the craft paper to fit the back of the frame exactly with a razor blade. If the paper seems too loose you can lightly spray it with water, when it dries it will fit nice and tight. Then add your hanger (I use saw tooth hangers) and plastic bumpons to keep it from marking the wall and most importantly your card or sticker on the back. I print out a business card size sticker with an explanation of quilling and all of my contact info.