Rita Kirkman's VOS, EXTRA About Glass and "Passe Partout" Framing

[@Susiachi]

Such valuable information, thank you!

[@ritakirkman]

You are so welcome!

[@ArtistInNewHampshire]

The pronunciation is “Pass-ParToo” which is french for passport. Thanks for a nice VOS!

[@ritakirkman]

Thanks! Good to know! :) (Sorry for the late reply, KZbin never sends me notifications; some glitch in my account 🤨)

[@ledamanfre1424]

Thank you for sharing! Where do you buy the spacers?

[@ritakirkman]

@@ledamanfre1424 mostly from www.unitedmfrs.com/

[@juliewoodard3510]

Great way to frame- do you spray with fixative first?

[@ritakirkman]

Hardly ever. If the surface is holding the pastel as it should, I find no need for fixative.

[@59Zeta]

Anti reflective --- does it look blurry from the side?

[@ritakirkman]

Not at all! See this glass company: www.groglass.com/ I typically use the ArtGlass AR 70. You might be thinking of the type of glass called "non-glare" which has a tiny pebbled or etched sort of surface. It does cut glare of reflections, but it also softens the image underneath almost like a fog. "Anti-reflective" glass, on the other hand, has a special film built in that, like a camera lens, reduces the reflections so that you can only see light reflected in the glass when looking exactly at the angle the light is reflecting from, and even then, it is a much dimmer reflection than ordinary glass. Art Glass from Groglass is crystal clear and shows what's underneath perfectly.

[@chriswhitehouse8982]

What if you need to remove the glass from the pastel some years down the road (like if the glass breaks?), will it damage the painting?

[@ritakirkman]

Hi Chris, in all the occasions I've had to remove glass from a painting framed in this manner, I've not had any issues with noticeable damage to the painting. A couple of times I had paintings fall on their face on a hard surface, and both times there was some "fuzzing" or "fogging" of the pastel under the glass (when it's framed right up on the glass with no spacers) but the bulk of that squeezed pastel was on the glass when removed, and there was no noticeable change to one painting and very little that needed to be done to the other painting. (Lesson to self: don't allow framed paintings to fall off a counter on to a tile floor, lol) A student of mine suggested using a burnishing roller to push the pastel more firmly into the surface before framing (covered with glassine) but I haven't tried it I'm too lazy, lol, and I don't want to take the chance it might change the painting in any way. When I've unframed older pastel paintings just to reuse the frame, etc, there's only been a faint ghosting of pastel on the glass, which doesn't change the painting at all. There are many ways and methods of "fixing" pastel, framing with or without spacers, or with mats, as many application styles (light tough vs heavy handed etc) as there are pastelists. I always suggest experimentation to find your own best methods for your own work. How I do this is just one way that has worked for me well enough to my satisfaction. Happy Painting!

[@ritakirkman]

PS: I've also had to remove broken glass a few times, and in the same way, I've found very little damage to the painting. Most times, the glass was broken from a stress point at the edge of the frame, and where it cracks out from there, it doesn't put pressure damage on the painting, so it's just a matter of removing the pieces carefully. All broken glass situations might be different, but I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at the minimal painting damage. The exception might be a hard puncture/break somewhere in the face of the painting (which has not happened to me) but that's a chance you also take with any kind of artwork, framed or not.

[@chriswhitehouse8982]

@@ritakirkman Thanks for your thoughtful reply Rita.

[@59Zeta]

pronounced passe par two

[@ritakirkman]

Thank you! Yes I had a Canadian correct me on that too 🙃