Mat cutter makes precut mats, custom bulk mats, precut wholesale picture mats, photo mats, picture frames, black picture frames and backing from the finest mat board and foam core. Our art mats are perfect complement to any picture frame, photo frame, or poster frame.
Return to Matcutter.com home for art, photo and picture mats and frames art supplies
10 Pak Pre cut Mats Bulk & Custom Mats Specials
View Your Matcutter.com Cart Contents
You create the art, we’ll cut the mats
Bookmark this page!
Foam Core and Foam Board

Number one choice of backings.

Professional picture framers and artist that display their work at shows and galleries have made foam core

Professional picture framers and artist that display their work at shows and galleries have made foam core (foam board) the number one backing for their images .  At www.matcutter.com , foam core backs are 80-90 percent of the backing sales.

What is foam core?  Foam core, also called foam board, is a lightweight, warp resistant, strong yet easily cut material.  It is generally made up of 3 layers.  The top and bottom layers can be clay coated paper, acid-neutral paper, archival paper or archival cotton rag paper.  Although not as common, you may also see brown kraft paper.  The center is polystyrene foam .  Foam core comes in thicknesses of 1/8”, 3/16”, 1/4” and even 1/2” is available.  Although there are some bright colors of foam core, the majority is White or Black.

Foam core or foam boards sell so well because of its resistance to warping due to changes in humidity, ease of cutting and smooth consistent “base” for attaching art work.

At www.matcutter.com, we sell the following variations”

1/8” White, clay coated foam core.  The least expensive and most used, the surface is extremely smooth due to the clay coating.  The clay coating was originally created to provide a smooth base for screen printing.  It was later adopted by the art industry.

3/16” Black foam core.  Black paper on both sides with black foam in the middle. 

3/16” White, self-adhesive foam core or foam board.  This is foam core that has the standard white paper cover on both sides.  However, one side has adhesive applied with a cover sheet protecting the self-adhesive.  You would peel off the cover sheet to expose the adhesive and then apply your image to the foam core. 

3/16” Black, self-adhesive foam core.  The same as the white foam core above except all layers (top paper layer, middle foam layer and bottom paper layer) are black. 

1/8” White, archival foam core.  Archival grade paper is used on the top and bottom layer to protect the image\art work the board is backing.  The center foam materials do not emit vapors that may be harmful to art work.  Archival products provide the most protection for your images over the longest time.

1/8" Black, archival foam core.  The same grade as described above.  However, all layers are black.

1/8” White, cotton rag foam core.  Cotton is the highest grade archival product available in mat board.  This foam core has cotton rag paper paper adhered to the top and bottom of the foam core so the art work is “sandwiched” between cotton mat board and the top cotton layer of the foam core.

The only negative of foam core is that is may be too thick for use with small sizes (8x10 and smaller) of framed art because the “rabbit” or space between the glass or plastic front of the framed piece and the back of the frame may be too small to accommodate 1/8” or larger thickness.  In this case paper-based backs provide a thinner alternative. However, other than this one case, foam core is superior to paper based backings and its price is similar to most high quality paper backings. 

  Bing Johnson

www.matcutter.com

Ask Bing

 

Copyright © Zymark, Inc. 1997-2024. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Links | Login

 
We have picture frames.