Cleaning your glass: use a liquid or foam glass cleaner and a soft cloth to remove smudges and oils from glass. Brush away dust or lint with a soft brush.

Cleaning your acrylic: Clean with a plastic cleaning product. Never use an ammonia-based glass cleaner – it will cause permanent clouding.  Use a soft cotton or micro fiber cloth;  paper towels can scratch the surface. Try to avoid brushing off the plexiglass – brushing, even with natural bristles - can enhance the inherent static charge of the plexi and end up attracting and holding dust. Canned or compressed air can help with this.

Preparing your mat package:  Brush dust and lint off of the mat and artwork using a soft brush. Be careful with high gloss photos – brushing can scratch the surface.  

Smudges on the face of the mat can easily be removed with a white plastic eraser.

Lay glazing on top of the art package (mat, art, mountboard), invert and position in the frame.

If you received an unassembled wood frame from us, you can find detailed instruction of how to join it here.

With a wood frame you need to hold the art package securely within the frame with either glazier’s push points or framing points inserted with a point driver.

Glazier’s push points are dart shaped and can be manually inserted into your wooden frame using either a Fletcher Pushmate tool or a slot head screwdriver. Lay the points on top of the mountboard and push your tool against the upright prongs so that the pointed end bites into the raw wood of the frame. Push the point in until it fits tightly in the wood but still sits over the mountboard.

A point driver is like a staple gun in that the grip is squeezed to activate it. Place the front of the driver against the raw wood of the frame with the base of the driver resting flat upon the mountboard. Squeeze the handle and points will shoot laterally into the frame. Bracing a block or heavy book against the outside of the frame can help with this step.

Position either kind of points every 4 to 5” around the perimeter of the mountboard.

Clean your glazing and lay it on top of the art package.

Build your metal frame into a U shape with the last moulding leg left off. It’s easiest to turn the frame upside down for the fitting.

Slide the art package into the channel just under the lip of the frame.

Add the 4th leg of the frame to complete the rectangle, tighten all corner plate screws.

Insert the metal spring clips between the mountboard and the back lip of the frame to secure the art package within the frame. (Depress the springs to make them fit and slide them under the lip). Note: The safest way to remove or reposition spring clips is to grab them with needle-nosed pliers.

Insert the wire hangers into the frame channels on the vertical legs and tighten the screws.

Please read a more detailed description of how to put a metal frame together on our Metal Assembly Instruction page. 

A dust cover functions as one more protective barrier for your artwork – keeping out dust and insects.  It is applied to the back of wood frames only . (Gluing to the back of a metal frame is difficult so dust covering them isn’t advised.)

Steps:

1. Lay a strip of ATG double sided tape around the perimeter of the raw back edge of the wood frame, run a finger over the protective paper to make sure it sticks - peel off the protective paper to reveal the other side of the sticky film. (you don't need a gun to use the ATG tape. Visit this page to see how to use ATG tape without a gun).

 2. Cut a piece of craft paper about 3-5 inches larger than the frame and lay it down on top of the exposed tape. 

3. Pull the paper tight so that it doesn’t sag in the middle and then run your finger over the frame edge to ensure that the tape grabs hold of the craft paper. 

4. Trim the paper to the frame size by using an utility knife or a paper trimming knife. the paper trimming knife is a great tool that makes trimming so easy and safe. If using a utility or exacto knife, be careful. Iif the blade slips it can damage the side of the frame – or worse – your fingers. 

Wood Frame Steps: You will be sent 2 strap hangers and 2 wood screws for the wire.

1. Place the hangers on top of the dust cover about 1/3rd of the way down from the top of the frame. Position them so that one of the holes in each hanger sits in the middle of the moulding and the other hole extends inward over the back of the artwork.
2. Gently tap a starter hole with an awl and hammer.
3. Place screws into the starter holes, through the ring, and tighten with a screw driver. Hangers should be tight against the frame so they don’t move when the wire is attached.
4. Put a foam bumper on the bottom 2 corners of the frame. 

Metal Frame Steps:

1. Insert your metal frame hangers into the back frame channels. (please see a more detailed discussion of metal frame assembly on our Metal Assembly Instruction page).
2. Position them about 1/3rd of the way down from the top of the frame
3. Tighten the screw until each hanger is tight.
4. Put a foam bumper on the bottom 2 corners of the frame. 

Adding hanging wire:

• Wire is strung from one hanger to the other, straight across, with only a little slack.
• Cut your wire approximately 4” longer than the width of the frame
• Wrap the wire twice around each hanger to prevent slipping and wind the excess around the wire that spans the frame.