At times, we frame oversized artworks that require a large, seamless panel to accommodate pass-through hinges, where the hinge material is literally passed through slots on a backmat, so that the work can be secured. In making the backing panel for these works, we use our 79″ wide Bark White Paper, a special ultra-smooth white paper we had made just for us.
First, 100% cotton rag board is mounted to Dibond. Rag board isn’t made in sizes large enough for some of the art we frame, so we have to make a panel using two pieces of ragboard, faced with Bark White Paper.
Above, you can see where two pieces of 100% cotton rag board mounted to Dibond panel meet. We leave a space between them to accommodate any kind of shift, expansion or contraction, that might be due to changes in humidity or temperature. If we did not leave that space, the whole panel might shift, damaging the art.
We then mount a layer of the Bark White Paper over the Dibond and rag board to create a seamless panel, and one that is also then sealed off, as we would not want to hinge the art to rag board where adhesive or any other material is exposed that might hurt it. Covering the panel with Bark White — which has a Ph level of 7.5% (nearly neutral) — makes it archival. The built up panel serves as a heartier support for these large works. The process is detailed below.
