Q: I just moved into a new studio apartment and have two walls next to a south-facing window (in the picture you can only see one of the walls, but it has slightly longer twin on the other side). This area is going to be my sitting area. I would like to hang two framed prints on these walls (11"x14" and 16"x20"), however, they are not behind protective glass (i.e. museum grade or UV):
They are not terribly expensive, but are a bit sentimental as I picked them up at museums on a trip to Europe. The shades will be down much of the time as the window faces a main walkway. I also have limited wall space in the rest of the apartment. Do you have any recommendations on how to protect my prints, other them having them custom framed behind UV or museum glass? I had looked into this a few years ago and its a bit more than I can afford at the moment (at least where I got an estimate)?
Sent by Mary
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You do not have to pay for full custom framing to get your prints behind museum or UV glass. You can buy a ready-made frame in the sizes you need (usually 50% off at Hobby Lobby or Michael's) and buy replacement UV or museum glass from the framing department. Fewer options than custom, but much cheaper. The frames are usually reasonable on sale and at Hobby Lobby (and maybe JoAnn's) you can use a 40% off coupon for the piece of glass.
in the northern hemisphere, even if blinds stay drawn much of the time, images that are not protected by u/v glass will fade, textiles will fade, furniture will fade near east-, south-, west-facing windows; amazing how fast it happens.
You can get fairly cheap custom UV protective plexi at American Frames. Go to their website and just pop in your dimensions. Plexi is much lighter, and if you drop the frame for any reason, it won't shatter and possibly scratch your print.
Thanks for asking this question and thanks for all the answers. I live in a house that gets a lot of light--direct and diffuse sunlight and I have been afraid to put up original watercolors for this very reason. Good to know I could get cheaper frames and UV protective glass or plexi.