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Choosing a Picture Frame Mat

By Autumn Lockwood

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 28Aug2011 Word count: 3137 Viewed: 91 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

For most viewers of art, wider mats provide a visual breathing space between the art and the picture frame that is more comfortable. Once used mainly by museums and art collectors for highly valued pieces, wide mat borders are now popular for all types of framed art.

The right choice of mat borders is mostly personal preference which may change over time. It is a good idea, when trying to decide your preference, to look at framed art in magazines, in museums, in other people's homes, or really anywhere art can be found.

Besides the width of the mat border, there are different styles that have developed over the years, some to suit different styles of art as well as decor. Create the mood of the art that you display with different styles of mats borders.

Single Mat, Equal Borders

The most basic standard mat has equal widths all the way around and provides a simple presentation for just about any type of art. The color and texture of the mat board's surface can provide the overall character of the artwork.

Multiple Opening Mats

With this type, which is usually utilized for photographs, multiple openings are cut into one mat board to allow the display of more than one picture, each in its own individual window. The openings can be all the same size and shape, or a variety of sizes and shapes. This type of mat can also be used to display collections, like trading cards or stamps. When framing multiple items within one frame, its usually better to select simple frames, such as plain silver plated picture frames or other solid colored wood picture frames.

Double Mat

A double mat is really just two mats on top of each other. A small amount of the bottom mat is revealed in the top mats' opening, usually from an eighth of an inch up to half an inch. Most often the two mats are different colors, but they don't have to be. This type of mat creates both physical and visual depth. Artwork utilizing a double mat is also considered to be a more finished, professional looking piece.

Weighted Bottom

A slightly extended, or wider, bottom border is what a weighted bottom mat is all about. Some say it gives the feel of a solid base and suits the eye. This style is very popular for a variety of types of art framing.

Museum Mat

This type of mat has significant borders at the top and sides and a distinctly wider lower border. Art museums usually use this type of mat to display drawings, engravings, and watercolor paintings, which is where the name comes from. Museums normally prefer using neutral mats such as white, gray, and off-white, but for use in home decor, some prefer more density in the color of their matting.

Oriental Mat

Meant to mimic the proportions of art on scrolls, this type of mat has two narrow opposite sides, with much wider borders on the two remaining sides. Typically, the narrow sides are one third to one fourth the width of the other sides. This type of mat works well with elongated art, but is typically seen with Asian art prints and paintings.

Arched Mat

For a classical, traditional, or even romantic feel, go for a curved arch mat. This type of mat gives artwork a feeling of antiquity and would be great for vintage photographs. It's also a good choice for romantic photos such as from a wedding or anniversary.

Print Mat

With wider sides and a narrow top and bottom, this mat gives a piece of art a contemporary character and is great for prints on oversized pieces of paper.

Oval Mat

An oval opening in a mat has an old fashioned feel, as well as romantic. Due to the fact that the corners of the art being framed will be hidden, this type of mat works best when your image is centered. You'll see oval mats used often to frame vintage photos, wedding pictures and silhouette portraits.

Fabric Covered Mat

You can easily add depth and dimension with the texture of a fabric mat. Most often these are found covered with linen, silk, suede, and velvet.

French Mat

The French mat has ink lines surrounding the opening and panels of watercolor washes between the lines. These can have just two lines with one wash of color, or they can have a series of lines and color panels.

Embellished Mat

You can apply stickers or any other decoration to the surface of a mat, like a simple monogram in one corner or a tiny decorative design on all four corners. Make your artwork playful or even elegant and formal, depending on what kind of embellishment you choose to do.

Now that you see what type of mat styles you can choose from, have some fun when you frame your pictures. You can really enhance your pictures with the type of mat that you use.

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