Thursday 31 January 2013

Choosing Between Regular Glass And Plexiglass In Framing Affordable Framed Artwork

By Ethel Harris


When an art lover is about to buy a piece of affordable framed artwork, he usually has to decide with which frame to purchase it. A majority of the frames available for artwork are either regular glass or plexiglass. Art lovers typically have opinions that are widely polarized when it comes to the materials to use in framing, but there are clear merits and demerits of each glass type in works of art.

Historically, the most uninhibited and clear viewing of works of art have been provided by glass. However, it has faced stiff competition from plexiglass, which has come a long way over the last several years or so, by now becoming the industry standard. The clearest view of underneath the work of art has for a long time been provided by museum grade glass. It is a great option for the framing needs of an art collector, as it has easily attainable UV-filtering options.

Since plexiglass came into the market, it has evolved over the years to the extent that it offers all the benefits that are found in glass, plus even more features. Protection from harmful rays that can destroy paintings, prints and photography that was once the mainstream of glass can now be found in plexiglass. In addition, plexiglass capable of providing a virtually glare-free viewing experience is now available for art lovers.

The most advanced form of Plexiglass can provide all the benefits museum glass dominated the market on. It is scratch resistant and anti-static, due to its anti-reflective surface capable of filtering between 50% and 75% of all UV rays, and is also a sound alternative. In comparison, glass is heavy and can easily break, with the thought of carrying around work of art made framed with glass not one many art lovers can entertain.

Plexiglass, with all its qualities that make it popular with art lovers, such as lightness and unbreakability, still has some disadvantages. As it is a material capable of combustion, this means care must be taken to ensure artworks framed using it are not displayed near fire or heat. This would necessitate the provision of equipment such as air conditioning and fire extinguishers for safety.

the other demerit associated with plexiglass is the ease of which it is scratched, despite it being hailed as scratch resistant. Many art pieces that have been framed using plexiglass have scratches visible in them, usually resulting from frequent movements. It is worth noting that scratches resulting from artwork made form ordinary glass are much worse.

Therefore, after a thorough comparison between the two major types of materials used to frame affordable framed artwork, the best material is definitely plexiglass. In particular, acrylite OP-3 is the most recommendable type of plexiglass, with most art lovers who use it happy with the results. It is affordable and has withstood the test of time for many works of art when ordinary glass framing would have failed.

A majority of the affordable framed artwork found in museums and art galleries are framed using plexiglass. This is a clear indication of the suitability and convenience of the material. Hence, art lovers will not have to waste a lot of time deciding with which material to cover their precious works of art.




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