The center of the mat board. It is the portion of the mat you see in the bevled edge of the mat window.

Other than Cotton Rag mats, mat board is made up of a "core" with a paper cover on the front (the "color" you see on the top of the mat) and a paper cover on the back of the mat board.

Cotton Rag mats are one piece. The top, bottom and center are one piece of cotton. No paper cover has been applied to them.

Unfortunately ACID FREE has become a somewhat misunderstood term and, actually, is misleading. The proper term is "Acid Neutral". An ingredient called calcium carbonate (the main ingredient in Maalox) is added to the mat materials. This is a good thing and makes better mats just like Maalox makes my stomach better. It neutralizes the natural acidity in standard core mats. When measured with a PH meter, these mats measure "Acid neutral". A good thing.

Some big bad marketing genius decided that "Acid Free" sounded better than "acid neutral". But, this is where the misleading part comes, it is not permanent. It helps to retard the return of acidity it does not cure it.

So, a good thing (better mats) got turned into a misleading thing (They are cured!, They are cured! And it's free!).

Alpha Cellulose mats are mats made of paper like Standard Core mats. However, the materials go through additional cleaning and purifying so they approach the archival standards of Cotton Rag, the standard in archival mats.

In addition, the quality of the ingredients are increased. For example, pigmented inks are used in the top paper cover, the one that provides the overall color of the mat. Pigmented inks resist fading more than other inks. This increases the general longevity of the mat.

Our "Photo Rag Mats" are archival cotton rag mats that do not have calcium carbonate added to them.

Some conservators believe that too much "alkalinity" (basically the absence of acidity) can harm certain kinds of photographs. These photographs are albumen, chromogenic, dye transfer and cyanotypes. Basically, our Photo Rag Mats are great mats without any buffering.

Cotton Rag mats are made from 100% Cotton (not rags, it is a traditional industry term). 100% Cotton mats are historically used by museums and galleries because cotton is naturally free of acid. They are a solid sheet or board of cotton rather than a core with a top paper cover and a bottom paper cover.

Alpha Cellulose mats are made of paper. They were created primarily to allow greater color flexibility. Since they have a paper cover, they come in many more colors than cotton rag.

Alpha Cellulose mats are cleaned and purified more rigorously than standard core mats so they approach Cotton's natural archival properties.

Orientation comes in 3 flavors. Centered (the window is placed in the center of the mat) Portrait (the window is taller than it is wide). Landscape (the window is wider than it is tall).

Centered windows allow you to turn the mat in any direction and the window will be just fine. So it can be used for both vertical and horizontal pictures.

Portrait mats have a vertical image. Because the mat has a larger Bottom Margin than the Top Margin, the mat can only be used with a vertical image.

Landscape orientation has a horizontal window. It can only be used with a horizontal image because the Bottom Margin (the distance from the bottom of the mat to the window) is larger than the Top Margin (the distance from the top of the mat down to the window).

For those of you who want a PHD is this subject you can consider that a mat could be a portrait mat with a landscape window, a portrait mat with a portrait window, or a landscape mat with a portrait window, a landscape mat with a landscape window or you could simply purchase a centered mat and go out and buy a frame that can hang either way!

Riddle: What is a mat that doesn't have a window? A Back!

Almost all mats and backs have been buffered--calcium carbonate (the main ingredient in many antacids for your stomach) has been added to the board. This ingredient retards the accumulation of acid. Paper based mat boards have calcium carbonate added in order to retard the natural acidity of paper.

Most cotton rag mat boards also have calcium carbonate added even though they are naturally "acid free". The calcium carbonate combats environmental pollutants that can increase acidity.

Traditionally, fine mats have been cut with a knife. The window(the part of the mat cut out so you can see the art) has a 45 degree beveled edge that slopes from the top of the mat down to the art.

This bevel cut exposes the core of the mat and is more elegant than typical cheap mats that were stamped out with a die. The bevel can be used to accentuate the art. For example, a black core in a white mat produces a black accent around the art.

Yes. Why is this an issue? Some less expensive mat cutting machines only cut with one knife. Therefore, you get a beveled edge on the mat window AND on the outside edge of the mat. This bevel cut is sharp.

Core color is a great design tool.

A white core and, hence, a white window bevel color has one effect in a white color mat versus a black mat with the same bright white core. It can be used to outline the image or blend with it. Our black core mats provide the opposite color combination.

Primarily, it dictates the color of the window bevel. It can either contrast with your image or blend with it. A white mat with white core will have a white beveled window. A black mat with a black core will be solid black in appearance. A white mat with a black core will have an black accent around the image.

Two mats stacked on top of each other.

Normally the window for the "top" mat is larger than the window in the bottom mat so you see the color of the bottom mat next to the image and the overall color of the top mat.

No, because there are so many different kinds of backs and different preferences; the mats and backs are sold separately. Artists just don't seem to fit into a "cookie cutter" format.

One exception is our ONE STEP program. There, you can purchase a mat ALREADY ATTACHED to the back and get the resealable Plastic Presentatin Bag as well. See ONE STEP in the main MAT menu.