Yes, we use Matisse art varnish, it produces a hard, non-yellowing, UV protected coating, giving the art a clear gloss varnish, designed to give your canvas print that final “glow”, but with the added benefit of UV protection. This makes it ideal for varnishing items that will be exposed to daylight or for extending the light fastness of items that are not traditionally so e.g. printed images from your home printer. the Matisse art varnish will slow the rate of fading of printed material as it reduces UV light spectrum by more than 99%.
Our stretcher bars are:
32mm in profile
Kiln-dried making our stretched canvas prints more sturdy and even less likely to warp over time
Bevelled edges to prevent cracking
Bevelled contour to prevent ‘ghosting’ – an impression of the canvas touching the stretcher bar
The first thing to consider is whether or not it’s been kiln dried. Wood is a porous material, that is, it absorbs water. When it absorbs water, the wood expands and as it dries it shrinks. All this expanding and shrinking causes the wood to warp over time, much like the pages of a book that gets wet – they irreparably ripple. Kiln-dried wood is protected from warping and this means you don’t have a canvas unevenly sitting on your wall.
The next thing to consider is the quality of the wood used. Low-quality wood is likely to crack over time or break if the canvas is dropped. Blue Horizon Prints uses wood that does not leach tannins (tannic acid).
Then there’s the shape of the bars themselves. “Square” bars rest against the back of the canvas and over time create a visible impression – not good! To prevent this we use bevelled stretcher bars, which are slightly cutaway on the side that faces the canvas so that the only contact point on the facing side is on the very very edge – and NOT the entire width of the stretcher bar. This edge is also rounded off so the canvas doesn’t stretch over a sharp, 90 degree angled frame edge.
We use Sustainable Plantation New Zealand Pine Kiln Dried with a routed lip, bought from a major Australian picture framing supplier, this is then glued and underpinned in house.
Then there’s the physical depth (profile) of the stretcher bar. A stretcher bar that is very small will not sit out from the wall, losing the depth that a canvas print or painting would normally have. We use 3.2cm thick stretcher bars, what we think is the optimal depth for canvas printing.
ABOUT FRAMED PRINTS & PAPER PRINTS
We use the highest quality Italian timber picture frame mouldings imported directly from Italy for our Framed Prints, giving them the look and feel of quality! They are 20mm x 20mm for small sizes up to a 20mm x 38mm depth for larger sizes with a clear framing acrylic front to avoid damage in transport.
Custom made framing Includes 5cm matt border with cut out insert for the print to suite smaller frame sizes or a non printed 5cm paper border out to the timber frame for larger sizes.
Finishing includes hanger & fittings with brown framers tape & felt bumpons on the back.
We print on premium grade 160gsm matt paper and use high-quality frames and assemble the frames in our studio in Noosa allowing us to create frames fast and well and to create a wide range of sizes. We include a bevelled edge card mat on the framed prints. We can also offer other paper options such as a gorgeous archival, museum-grade rag paper that is 300gsm MOAB Bright Rag fine art paper.
We offer 3 colours as standard but more options are available on request. The 3 colours are Black, White and Mahogany, we also offer a premium Tasmanian Oak available on request.
For the ‘Small’ size Framed prints we print a 20mm white border, using a card mat makes the art too small as the card mats are 50mm, the printed border gives the impression of a small mat, for example on the 12×18″ size, it looks better, the frame thickness is 20x20mm.
*The card mat is shown on the above section, ‘About Framed and Paper prints’, it is the white or cream card mat inside the frame.
All frames between 18 x 27″ (457mm x 686mm) up to 900mm on the long edge have a 20x20mm thick frame and 50mm matt border.
12 x 18″ 20mmx20mm thick frame and 20mm printed white border
18 x 27″ 20x20mm thick frame and 50mm matt border
24 x 36″ 20x20mm thick frame and 50mm matt border
40 x 60″ – frame thickness is 30x20mm, no card mat, we will print a white border by default but can print all the way to the frame on request when ordering.
*The rule of thumb is, the frame size is 20x20mm for frames up to 1mtr long and 30mmx20mm depth over 1mtr long frames.
We currently not for a black or white floating frame a standard but we also have a premium grade Tasmanian Oak that is available on request.
